By Mark Baber
April 5 – The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday finally lifted sanctions on Colombian professional team America de Cali, saying it has severed links to leaders of the Cali drug cartel.
America de Cali was placed on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, known as the ‘Clinton List’ in 1999, because of links with Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela who were convicted, first in Colombia and then in the USA of cocaine smuggling as leaders of the Cali cartel. The two brothers are each currently serving 30 years in prison.
Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen said: “Today’s lifting of the designation of America de Cali is a testament to the enormous efforts made in recent years by both the team and the Colombian government to completely break with the criminal influences that have overshadowed the team in the past.”
With 13 national championships, Cali is one of the most successful teams in Colombia but has suffered under the sanctions, unable to find a sponsor, and is currently still in the second flight, with an estimated $1m of assets having been frozen in the US and never having received the prize money of $200,000 from winning the Copa Merconorte championship.
Cali president, Oreste Sangiovanni, called Wednesday “a great day for America de Cali,” saying the team “has been clean for a long while now … and with this [de-listing] we’re ready to return America to greatness, only this time with legal money.”
Cocaine now accounts for less than 1% of GDP in Colombia (down from 6%) with the trade now mainly controlled from Mexico.
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