Dead is Good=Wilber Varela Drug Lord Shot Dead in Merida, Venezuela

from http://www.miamiherald.com/915/story/402640.html

Colombian drug lord slain
Posted on Fri, Feb. 01, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM print email
The Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela -- One of Colombia's most-wanted drug lords has been found slain, Venezuela's top counter-drug official said Friday.

Fingerprints of the man who was found shot to death in the Venezuelan city of Merida on Wednesday matched those of Wilber Varela, said Col. Nestor Reverol, head of the National Anti-Drug Agency.

Varela, alias "Jabon," or "Soap," was Colombia's most notorious drug trafficker on the run. The underworld is awash with tales of his brutality that made him a household name in Colombia.

Colombia's police chief, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, reminded reporters that Varela, a former police officer himself, had entered the drug underworld as a hired killer.

"Wilber Varela in the last few years was truly the main leader of Colombian drug-trafficking organizations," Naranjo said in Bogota.

Varela had a private army along the western coast of Colombia that protected cocaine routes and eliminated rivals. Varela's war with his rival within the Norte del Valle cartel, Diego Montoya, plagued the city of Cali and much of southwestern Colombia, killing more than 1,000 people in several years.

Varela was indicted in U.S. federal courts on drug trafficking charges in 2004, and the U.S. State Department offered a reward of up to $5 million for his capture.

By Sam Salmon on Feb 1, 2008, 12:15 in Politics & the war.

greg says on Feb 1, 2008, 12:43:

He`s dead ,another one takes his place ,and business as usual

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eywed says on Feb 1, 2008, 12:47:

Gezzzz talk about population control. They keep killing and killing and Killing. We should go easy on the drug lords. Think of the carbon credits they could get by lowering the Carbon dioxcide output of every one of them drug dealers.

Ay Hombe!!!!!

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Mr. Hollywood says on Feb 1, 2008, 12:49:

Who gets the $5 million?

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robi666 says on Feb 1, 2008, 17:17:

"Who gets the $5 million"
El sapo que va a delatar Los Mellizos. Si se queda con vida...

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present."

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juancegomez says on Feb 1, 2008, 17:29:

Nobody, I guess...unless this is some kind of cover-up, which is a possibility but not really clear at all.

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scotty says on Feb 2, 2008, 22:17:

yea read about that on yahoo, they said they found his body riddled with gun shots...yup he's dead alright.

Get Rhythm, when you got the blues. Johnny Cash

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billyb says on Feb 2, 2008, 22:21:

He was supposedly killed by his second in command, who goes by the name of "Comba". These organizations are like Hydra, you cut of the head and one hundred grow back. It's going to be interesting in the north valley in the next few months, specially since 56 members of "Los Machos" have turned themselves in so far this calendar year. But they say the real winner will be decided in Narino.

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