Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 18, 1990 TAG: 9004180675
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Police in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, hunted Suarez down after he reportedly went on a rampage with a gun and shot up several houses, including the home of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, according to Tom Bondurant, an assistant U.S. attorney in Roanoke.
According to the DEA, Suarez was killed by police on March 21, the morning after he fired into the DEA agent's home from a passing car. He reportedly also fired into the homes of a couple of other people he "considered the enemy," the DEA said. Two of his bodyguards reportedly also were killed in the shootout with police.
The home of the DEA agent is well fortified and the agent was not injured. There were no other injuries, authorities said.
In 1986, federal authorities in Roanoke indicted Suarez's father, Roberto Suarez Gomez, 58, on charges of supplying 700 pounds of nearly pure cocaine that he tried to smuggle by airplane into Roanoke. He is in prison on drug charges in Bolivia. He was identified by the DEA as one of the main suppliers of raw cocaine to the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
He was captured two years ago when Bolivian police with assistance from the DEA raided his El Sujo ranch in the Beni region of northeastern Bolivia. He had once ruled the area like a feudal lord, with a private army and drug money.
By 1986, Suarez reportedly was losing control of Bolivia's cocaine market to the Medellin cartel and younger rival drug princes in Bolivia. As a result, the DEA said, Suarez sought to bypass the cartel and smuggle cocaine directly into the United States, avoiding smuggling routes into Florida that were controlled by the cartel.
DEA agents in Roanoke set up a fake flying service that offered to use long-distance aircraft to fly cocaine for Suarez directly to mountain airports in Western Virginia. The drug was then to be sold along the East Coast and back to Florida.
That investigation led to the seizure in Roanoke of 700 pounds of cocaine, the indictment of Suarez and the conviction of 19 others, including Suarez's son-in-law, Gerardo Caballero.
Donald Lincoln, the DEA agent who conducted much of the undercover operation, said in an earlier interview that Suarez sent Caballero to handle the arrangements because he was afraid to risk his son again.
Roberto Suarez Jr. had been tried in Miami in 1982 on drug-smuggling charges, but managed to get the charges dropped. When he returned to Bolivia, his father was so happy that he reportedly greeted him with a band, threw money to children and hosted a street party where thousands danced, drank and ate for a couple of days.
After his return from Miami, the younger Suarez reportedly stayed close to home and became less involved in his father's business, authorities said.
Lincoln said Suarez Jr. was at his father's ranch when an undercover DEA pilot went there in 1986 to pick up the 700 pounds of cocaine that was flown to Roanoke. Lincoln said Suarez Jr. was present when some arrangements were discussed. But, Lincoln said, the pilot did not speak Spanish well enough to know whether Suarez Jr. was involved. As a result, no charges were placed against him.
Caballero, who is serving a 20-year sentence in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan., has maintained that he was forced by the elder Suarez to handle arrangements for the drug shipment to Roanoke. He said Suarez threatened his parents.
In a telephone interview Tuesday from prison, Caballero said he was told that Suarez Jr. was strung out on drugs last month when he went on the shooting rampage. He said Suarez not only shot up the DEA agent's house, but also fired shots at the home of an aunt and the home of Ronald Caballero, Gerardo's father.
by CNB