United States Drug Enforcement Administration

TAMPA, Fla. - Jorge Eliecer Cifuentes-Cuero (54, Colombia, South America) was sentenced today to 21 years in federal prison for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine while aboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

According to court documents, Cifuentes-Cuero was a principal member of his Colombian and Ecuadorean-based drug trafficking organization. He initially worked as a mechanic and mariner onboard vessels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and later, as he accumulated wealth, became an organizer of multi-ton cocaine loads transported by vessel from Colombia and Ecuador to locations in Central and Latin America. Cifuentes-Cuero is responsible for several maritime smuggling ventures in the international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. In January 2013 and July 2014, the U.S. Coast Guard interdicted loads of cocaine, totaling over 1,000 kilograms that were being smuggled aboard vessels (commonly referred to as “go-fast boats”).

This case was investigated by the Panama Express Strike Force, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) comprised of agents and analysts from the Drug Enforcement Administration Tampa District Office, the United States Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force South.   The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.   

The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.

More information about this case can be found at http://www.flmd.uscourts.gov or https://ecf.flmd.uscourts.gov