Los Rastrojos

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Los Rastrojos is a Colombian drug cartel and neo-paramilitary group engaged in the Colombian armed conflict. The group was formed by Norte del Valle cartel capo Wilber Varela, alias "Jabón" and one of his right-hand men, "Diego Rastrojo", around 2004 when Varela fell out with fellow-capo Diego Leon Montoya, alias "Don Diego". The group became independent after the murder of its main founder in Venezuela in 2008 and at its height was one of the most important drug trafficking organizations in Colombia. The group funds itself primarily by trafficking cocaine, marijuana and heroin, and illegal gold mining, thus taking advantage of high gold prices in 2010 and 2011. Los Rastrojos are, together with the Norte del Valle cartel, considered the "heirs" of the Cali cartel. Other reports allege Los Rastrojos are in fact the same as the Norte del Valle cartel, only working under a new name and taking advantage 'of a strong network of assassins, distributors and contacts in the international markets'. The group focuses on buying coca from the source, processing it themselves and selling it wholesale for international distribution or shipping it themselves through Central America and Mexico. They are believed to operate mainly in Valle del Cauca and Cali, although there are reports of them spreading their zone of influence to other parts of Colombia and western Venezuela. In 2012, membership was estimated at 1,200 to 1,500 fighters and hitmen. Several members of Los Rastrojos have been killed or arrested in Venezuela by the Venezuelan armed forces. The expansion of the group under the brothers Javier Antonio and Luis Enrique Calle Serna, both referred to as "Comba," was exponential. Since 2009, it left its traditional hub along the Pacific Coast to operate in a third of Colombia's 32 departments. The Rastrojos, who take their name from...