The story of Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela is not one of black and white, it is a story of nuances, of humanity, in which this man from Tolima spent a few years From the path of legality to the corridors of drug trafficking
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September 16, 2004 Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela. (Source: Colprensa)
It is most likely that some Colombians do not know who Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela is,, but it is most likely that they have once shopped at a pharmacy in Drogas La Rebaja and have you heard of The Cali Cartel.
Now, what does this have to do with a pharmacy with the Cali Cartel? It has everything to do,A name links them: Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela. The business path of this man, who was born in Mariquita, Tolima on January 30, 1939, began in the seventieshand in hand of his brother in the city of Cali, when they opened their first drug store La Rebaja,a business that despite the shadow of illegality continues to grow today, with a presence in more than 200 municipalities in Colombia and has more than 900 commercial premises.
Gilberto went from being an entrepreneur and merchant to being the top boss of the Cali Cartel. In the 1980s and 1990s, he had power and control over cocaine shipments to the United States. As I can determine the DEA (United States Drug Enforcement Administration), at the time, 4 out of every 5 grams of cocaine sold in New York was supplied by the Cali Cartel.
The decision of Orejuela, the chess player
In 2004, Orejuela, or as he was better known: the chess player, agreed to an interview with Julio Sánchez Cristo, just before his extradition to the United States, after being arrested in 1995.
The question is how a man who had the ability to set up a bank, a radio organization and was the founder of Drogas La Rebaja, at a time when it was a renowned businessman in Valle del Cauca, takes a wrong path and dedicates himself to drug trafficking.
“I had to live with, I already had the setup for Drogas La Rebaja, I had contracts and tenders with Social Security, so I think that due to a lack of maturity, education and schooling, men make certain mistakes and it is at that moment that I I deviated and went to the side that should never have gone, today it weighs me down and it hurts”, the ambition led him to do that, he stated in the middle of the interview, 18 years ago.< /p>
More than a moment,Orejuela recalled the circumstances, he recalled a Cali with the marijuana boom, the cocaine boom, partygoer, partygoer, where many friends were linked to the business, “the proposals came, my branch was the pharmacies but The proposal arrived and you begin to earn easy money and it is very difficult to back down until the real misfortune arrives.”
The mess for La Rebaja Drugs
In 1999 a group of workers from this company was linked to the crime of money laundering, which is why they filed a tutela in 2020, but on April 18, 2022 the Constitutional Court announced that The conviction against the associates of Droguería La Rebaja remained firm.
A storm brewed over the pharmaceutical business: Drugs La Rebaja was accused of laundering mafia money, was included in the Clinton Listfor having signs of links with drug cartels, and was blocked by the financial sector when it began to be managed by the Copservir Cooperative.
The future looks promising
< p class=”paragraph”>Following a resolution issued by the Superintendency of the Solidarity Economy, Drogas La Rebaja left the intervention process to which it was subjected on May 2, 2005. Currently, The Rebaja continues to be administered by the Copservir cooperative after signing a contract with the Special Assets Society (SAE), with the intention of protecting the jobs generated by the company. The Cooperative was formed by the workers in 1995 to avoid its liquidation.
The company continues to walk towards the future with giant steps, today Drugs La Rebaja continues to be one of the most recognized in the national territory, and has even bet more and more on virtual channels, which has influenced its position in the pharmaceutical market in the digital age.