Colombia Reports

The U.S. on Tuesday imposed a series of economic sanctions of 25 Colombian, Spanish and Dutch companies for their alleged links to the infamous Cali drug Cartel.

The imposed sanctions involved the freezing of these companies assets in the United States as well as their prohibition of conducting transactions with U.S. financial institutions, reported Colombian media.

According to authority reports, some 16 of the companies have direct links to the Colombian business tycoon Hernando Mejia Uribe, who acted as a liason between this Spanish, Dutch and Colombia network.

Mejia Uribe was arrested in February on charges of money laundering. U.S. authorities state that Mejia controls numerous businesses, mainly located in the Caribbean city of Cartagena.

All of the 25 companies and some 14 individuals are believed to have supported brothers Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orjuela, the leaders of the infamous, though now defunct, Cali drug Cartel. The Orjuela brothers were detained and extraditied to the U.S. in 2005.

In February this year, along with Mejia Uribe, the three children of Gilberto Rodriguez Orjuela were also arrested on charges of money laundering and creating a network of front men in order to hide property for their father.

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