FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

The Treasury Department today added the names of Ivan and Julio Fabio Urdinola Grajales, among the most wealthy and powerful drug kingpins operating in Colombia today, their fronts from the North Valle drug cartel, and additional fronts belonging to Cali cartel kingpins Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela to the list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs).

The Treasury action blocks the assets of SDNTs found in U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits Americans from doing business with them, further exposing, isolating, and incapacitating Colombian drug cartels and their agents. The two drug kingpins named to the SDNT list today by Treasury have risen to prominence with the decline of the Cali cartel and are responsible for huge volumes of drugs that have entered the United States. In addition to the two drug kingpins, Treasury added 20 businesses and 9 associated individuals that it has determined are acting as fronts for the North Valle and Cali drug cartels.

This action is part of the ongoing interagency effort of the Treasury, Justice and State Departments to carry out President Clinton's Executive Order 12978, signed on October 21, 1995, which applies economic sanctions against the Colombian drug cartels. The list of SDNTs includes kingpins, associates and businesses from Colombia's Cali, North Coast and North Valle drug cartels.

With the addition of the names released today, the assets of a total of 527 businesses and individuals are blocked under the 1995 Executive Order and are prohibited from American financial and business dealings. The list of businesses and individuals named by Treasury today as SDNTs is available at www.treas.gov/ofac. The list will be published in the Federal Register at a later date.