Colombian Drug
Trafficker With FARC Ties Wanted in Costa
Rica
US authorities have asked Costa Rican
authorities for the immediate capture of
Jose Cayetano Melo Perilla, a Colombian
national living in Costa Rica and alleged to
be an important figure in the Medelling drug
cartel led by the late Pablo Escobar Gaviria.
According to reports, the Colombian has
business interests in Costa Rica, using at
least four corporations as fronts to "wash"
money to finance the Colombian rebel group,
the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia (FARC).
Cayetano, who is a legal resident in Costa
Rica, is said to be tied to Carillansa SA, a
Costa Rican corporation;Carillanca Colombia
y Cía. involved in hydroponic production in
Colombia: the Carillanca S.A in Venezuela;
and Parqueadero De La 25-13 in Bogota,
Colombia.
According to US authorities they have been
successful in freezing the assets of each of
those companies with the aid of the
respective authorities and now want their
man, who US authorities say is involved in
drug trafficking and an important financial
contact for the Frente 27 of the FARFC, led
by Luis Eduardo López Méndez, alias “Efrén
Arboleda”.
In Costa Rica, the Carillansa SA, alleged to
be owned by the Colombian, although records
indicate a former Costa Rican immigration
service officails as a company director.
The company in Costa Rica owns several
properties in San Jerónimo de Moravia and
two vehicles. Cayetano is also alleged to be
the owner of El Gaucho rice company and
general manager of the Agropecuaria San
Cayetano de Costa Rica, which is registered
with the Costa Rican Promotora de Comercio
Exterior (Procomer) in 2001, but inactive
since 2002 for not renewing its export
license.
Mauricio Boraschi, director of the Instituto
Costarricense contra las Drogas (ICD),
confirmed that the Cayetano accounts and
corporations have been frozen and will
expanding its investigation into the
Colombian's activities in Costa Rica and is
working with the Ministerio Público and the
OIJ to capture him.
The Colombian obtained his temporary Costa
Rican residency in March 2004 according to
Migración y Extranjería de Costa Rica
records, which also shows that he left Costa
Rican in August 2007 when he headed for
Colombia and no record of his return to
Costa Rica.
Notwithstanding, records indicate that last
July 16, an application for permanent
residency was filed with the immigration
service.
In his file for residency are letters of
recommendations by the then Colombian
ambassador to Costa Rica, Melvin Sáenz
Biolley, who said publicly yesterday that he
signed the reference letter on the good
references giving by the businessman to the
Costa Rican consul, at the time, in
Colombia.
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