May 9, 2025 • 33 mins
In the early 70s, Miguel Angel Villavicencio was focused on making his most ambitious dream possible: to become a famous singer in Bolivia and across the world. And he was halfway there—his love songs were on the radio and he was appearing on TV. But to take his singing career truly international, he needed money. So he decided to work for Bolivia’s most powerful drug cartel in the 80s—a major supplier for Pablo Escobar. Choosing this path would lead him on a journey of self-destruction, unexpected betrayal and finally, redemption.
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This story originally aired in January of 2019.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In nineteen eighty six, musician miguelan Qui Villavicencio was sitting
with his friends at a restaurant in a small town
in Anjapari, Bolivia's tropical region. At the time, this place
was also an epicenter for cocaine production. The owner of
the restaurant interrupts his conversation and tells miguelankle that someone
at the door is looking for him. He gets up slowly.
(00:23):
He starts walking toward the door, and the first bullet
went through his jaw before he even hit the ground.
The second bullet hit his spine. He lay stunned on
the ground, and when he tried getting up, he noticed
that his legs weren't responding. To make sure that he
was dead, the gunman fired two more times.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
From Futromedia and PRX, It's Latino Usa, I'm Marieo Fosa,
a Bolivian drug smuggler and his long road to redemption.
Producer Andres Cabiro brings us the story of Bige lange
Via Vicencio, whose dreams of becoming the next Juliueglesias turned
into a personal battle for forgiveness and survival. Here's andres
(01:23):
with our story. It first aired in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
His friends immediately threw him in the back of a
pickup and rushed him through the jungle to the nearest hospital.
And by the way, we hired an actor to translate
Migilanko's words.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Romo the Sangrado.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
The most likely scenario was bleeding to death on the
way to the hospital. So when I realized that I
was about to die, I decided to have a conversation
with God. Imagine a drug smuggler speaking with God. But
that's what happens. The way I saw it, drug smuggling
was just the business. It wasn't a crime.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Escamo trafic.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And while he was bleeding to death, he managed to pray, money.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Don't let me die. You have to.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
If you let me live, I promise I will dedicate
what's left in my life to serving you.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Forgive me.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Three decades later, Miguelankl is certain that the reason he's
even alive today is because of that prayer on the.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Way to the hospital.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
He's convinced that that day God had mercy on him,
but the damage from the bullets that ripped through his
body left him without the use of his legs and
in a wheelchair permanently. These days, he visits churches all
over southern California, singing original songs about his spiritual awakening.
(02:47):
Migulankolis sits in an suv worked in front of a
church where he's often invited to sing. He's wearing a
button up shirt and a dark blazer, and he's waiting
for his son Louis to bring his wheelchair.
Speaker 6 (02:59):
In.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
The pastor greets him and takes him in front of
a congregation of about one hundred. Mighelanka scoots his wheelchair
up to the podium, puts on a pre recorded backing track,
and begins to sing. This song is called I'm Not Dead.
(03:26):
The lyrics talk about how God completely transformed him from
his old sinful ways in the drug business, that before
he was spiritually dead, but that now he's alive. When
Miguelan Hill was growing up in Bolivia, before he got
(03:47):
involved in the drug trade, he had always wanted to
be a singer, but back then he wasn't interested in
Christian music.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
The Joe Abbia Gusta.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Ever since I was a kid, I've loved singing. I
always dreamed of becoming.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Famous Miguelankill was raised by his grandmother in LAPAs, one
of the biggest cities in Bolivia. When he was seventeen,
he started a band with his friends, and when that
group dissolved, he auditioned solo at Restaurante Losculos, which was
apparently the place to be for live music in LAPAs.
His first time singing at Lossculos, he recalls the presenter
(04:23):
going up on stage and saying, Mason estrada, ladies.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And gentlemen, Tonight at Restaurants Esculos, a new Bolivian star
is born.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
With you, Miguel.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
That night, Miguelankill took the stage wearing a flowered button
down a dark blazer in Photus from the time. He
has brown, wavy hair with sideburns that reached down to
his lower jaw.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
And that night I sang Call.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
People started clapping halfway through the song, and in that moment,
I knew that I would be a singer for the
rest of my days.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
It's not hard to hear the roots of Migilanka's style.
Sandro the Latin American loved songs from the eighties and
nineties where a hair deeled Latin heart throw would work
the stage with those central performances unbuton shirts and so on,
(05:32):
and Migilanka starts doing really well as a singer. A
few years later, his songs were being played on the radio,
and then he even gets invited to the Francisco's saw Hiante,
(05:55):
a legendary Saturday night variety show in Latin America, which
was still based in Chile at the time. And even
though migue Lankill was on his way to national stardom,
Bolivia's music industry wasn't big enough to make him the
international sensation that he wanted to become. For that, he
needed to be in Mexico, Spain, the US and to
(06:16):
go to these places and to market himself. He needed money,
so he spoke to a friend whose family was in
the drug business.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
By then, cocaine had become a thing in the US,
so I came to the conclusion that if I got
into drug trafficking, I could easily make a fortune.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
His friend introduced him to Bolivia's most powerful drug cartel,
headed by Roberto Saris Gomez, also known as the Cocaine King.
Swatis came from a family of cattle ranchers, but when
the drug became popular in the US, he invested in
(06:55):
coca plants and started producing cocaine. As consumer demand grew,
tons of cocaine were being produced in Bolivia. Roberto eventually
retired and handed control of the business to his nephew, Rocasuadres.
Remember that name, because it's going to be important.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Coombia and this man, Rge Rocasuadis became the main player
and business partner of Escobars made yin Cartel.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
The coca leaf is everywhere in Bolivia. It's been used
for thousands of years by the Aimata in Quechua for
ceremonial purposes, and many people chew it daily to stay
awake or to get an energy kick. It's also good
for altitude sickness and to stay off hunger. At any
market in the cities, you'll likely see giant bushels of
coca leaves, and the countryside is filled with coca fields.
(07:53):
It's also, of course, the key ingredient in cocaine. Bolivia
quickly became one of the biggest suppliers of califs to
Columbia's cocaine labs, as well as a major producer of
cocaine itself. Migalankin remembers seeing the cocaine King's ranch for
the first time.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
It was an incredible amount of drugs. I'd never seen
anything like it, he said.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
The house was filled with piles of bags of cocaine base.
Back then, the cartel would sell it to the Colombians
for about nine thousand dollars per kilo. The Colombians would
then smuggle it and sell it in the US for
many times more. And so in the early eighties, Megelanki
started off by helping transport the merchandise by land or
by air, and later he became the guy who coordinated
(08:38):
bribes to local officials.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
On people as an outsider.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Going by what you see on TV, the perception is
that smugglers are bad, violent men who are always talking
about killing and so on Bolivia and Colombian drug traffickers,
At least in those days, we're easy going guys who
were nice to talk to.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
A few times Meguelankill came faith to face with Pablo.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Escobar Puantas Vesisi Sario, and.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Whenever he saw it necessary, he would get on one
of his private jets and go check on his business
associate in Bolivia.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
On three occasions, I arrived to the ranch and there
he was. I would just say hi, shake his hands,
and that was it.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I see that he stands. Mister John demnos perrode none.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Of us.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
To believe in smugglers. Escobar's business brought more than just
enormous wealth. It also brought scrutiny from the US Drug
Enforcement Agency or DEA. The DEA had been operating in
Bolivia since the nineteen seventies, and they often worked with
(09:54):
the government to crack down on illicit coca plantations and trade,
but in the eighties and nineties, the u I started
going after the cartels more aggressively. To do that, they
had to work closely with local law enforcement, but sometimes
the cartels were also working with the police Guando.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
When I arrived to work, there was already a special
anti drug trafficking force called the Leopards.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
The Leopards were Bolivia's elite anti drug force, but they
were also known to take bribes, so we.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Started bribing the commander so that he would allow the drugs.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
One day, Trocasuadis, the drug lord, asked Migilankill to deliver
a bribe to a commander. But according to Miguelankell, there
was a misunderstanding with grave consequences. He says he never
received the money to pay the commander off, so he
never ended up going through with the bribe. When the
police commander didn't get the money he was promised, he
(10:53):
got angry and retaliated with arrests and.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Academy.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
I never had a chance to communicate with Guess what
is to tell him that I never received the money?
He assumed I stole, and without thinking twice, he sent
his own criminals to kill. They were criminals, but they
were also my friends. But that's how the drug business works.
(11:18):
You have no friends. You just have accomplices who at
any moment will turn on you after a simple order from.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
The boss' contract.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Which brings us back to the day at the roadside
restaurant when a gunman walked in the door and fired
at him. That day, a bullet had shattered his teeth
and broken his jaw in two. While dying on the
way to the hospital, the first question that came to
his mind was.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Why I was a man who was doing things right.
I was an honest drug smuggler if the word honest
even fits in this type of activity.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Dentro demento Miguelankill made it to the hospital alive, but
he woke up without the use of his legs. He
was paralyzed from the waist down and he would have
to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Fearing that Rocasuarees would send more hitman to finish the job,
(12:23):
Miguelankeell fled the country for several months. When he returned
to Bolivia, he was a changed man. He had found
God and now he was focused on two things. Number one,
writing gospel songs with lyrics that talked about peace and love,
and number two, fixing his wrongdoings and seeing if he
(12:43):
could help the authorities bring down the cartel. So he
decides to get in touch with Frank mccoliney, then the
head of the DEA in Bolivia.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Espanol concerto aso at I'm.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Speaking with a Gringo accent. He tells me that I'm
a criminal, So I replied, my dear friend, I was
once a criminal, but I am no longer, and that's
exactly why I want to work with you.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
After the exchange, Mighilankle agreed to provide information about cartel
operations and to help build a case against strugg lords. Eventually,
Megilanki would have to testify against them at a US court.
In exchange, the DA would give him a cash salary,
find him a home, a car, and eventually they would
help him get situated in the US. According to Miguelankill,
(13:36):
he and his family were offered to be put on
the US government's Witness Security program, meaning they would be
relocated to an unknown place with a new identity for
their own safety. The offer, he says, was verbal, it
was never put down on paper.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
It would help me find a job so I can
work like everyone else, and then I would completely disappear.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Once the DEA built a case against Rocasuadis, Mighilankill was
asked to help find out his location and tip off
the DEA with information on his whereabouts. Through his contacts
in the drug world, Miguelankill managed to track down a
flight that Rocasuadis would soon be boarding in Miami. He
then trace his movements all the way to the nineteen
bedroom mansion that he owned in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
They arrested him, and that's when I had to immediately.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
Leave Oblivia.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Migailankin recalls quickly packing things up getting into a car
with his family and being escorted to the airport by
four DEA agents Losno.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
One was less than five and the others round seven.
They didn't really know what was happening.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Luis, who is now in his thirties, was that five
year old.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
I remember having to go from like one house to
the the other with my dad and my brothers days
before leaving Bolivia to come to the US. When you're
that small, and you think that's how the world functions,
and that's what I thought was normal.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
And when the plane took off, I could finally breathe
peacefully because I knew that I was heading towards. But
I didn't know was that once I helped him put
this guy away, the DEA would eventually betray me.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Coming up on Latino, USA, the DEA sends me and
his family to the US, where he would testify against
the drug lord Ros in exchange for a better, safer
life with his family, or so he thought. Stay with us,
not bays. Hey, we're back and we're going to continue
(16:21):
now with the story of Migelanghill, the Bolivian drug smuggler
turned religious singer. And when we left off, the DA
had taken Mielanghill to the US to seek protection and
to testify against his former boss, the drug lord Jorge Drocasuirez.
Producer Andres Cavaliro picks up the story now.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
When Miguelankill and his family got to California in January
of nineteen ninety two, they started living in a hotel.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
There was always agents around. They were pretty fun too.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Luis Milanka's youngest son, says that DEA agents would show
up to give his dad surveillance equipment for monitoring drug
activity along the US Mexico border. They would also bring
big statues of cash for him.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
To my understanding, I was part of my dad's job,
and I knew I couldn't say anything about anything. Our neighbors,
the kids would like talk about their parents and what
they did and stuff, and like I knew that I
couldn't mention anything about what my dad did.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
The DEA finally got to my house while Miguelankill waited
to testify against Prokasuadis. By then he had been passed
on to another supervisor, which worried him because Frank, his
original contact in Bolivia, had his back. This new guy,
he didn't really get along with as much. By the
(17:46):
end of the year, it was time for Miguelankill to
finally testify against Jorge Ross, and there he was in
the same courtroom, waiting for the hearing to begin.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
And let me off him.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
He looked me straight in the eyes, almost in disbelief
that I was there testifying against him. Of course, there
was the feeling of vengeance after someone orders he killed,
but those feelings went away after I became a Christian,
so in the end I just felt victory over him.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
It was an act of justice. The Hostisia.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Miglankill didn't only talk about Rokasuaris. He also outed other
drug dealers in Bolivia.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Olivia frankament, if.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
I had to go back to Bolivia, I honestly don't
know from which direction the bullet would come from.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
In part because of Mielanka's testimonys, was eventually sentenced to
thirty five years in prison. In the eight months that followed,
communication with the DA started to slow down. Mighielanka started
to worry. They stopped responding to his calls his messages.
He helped the DA catch the big fish and they
(18:58):
disappeared on him. One day, two men showed up at
his house to pick up the surveillance equipment. They also
gave him the official notice that he no longer worked
for the DEA. After several weeks, Mighelanki says, the DEA
(19:18):
informed them that in the end, he would not be
referred to the witness Protection program. Miguelankhill was floored. Not
being placed in witness protection meant that after testifying for
the DEA, he was now on his own. Not only
would he have to hide out from the drug lords
who wanted him dead, he also had to avoid being
(19:38):
deported back to Bolivia because now that his job with
the da was over, his permission to be in the
United States would vanish as well. And it wasn't going
to be easy. We called the DEA and they declined
to comment on why Mighelankhill was discharged or about whether
or not he was promised witness protection in the first place.
(20:00):
The Witness Protection program is officially called WITSEC, and the
way it works is the DEA refers candidates for the
program to the US Department of Justice. It's the Attorney
General's office that makes the final decision to approve it
or not, so the DEA on their own doesn't have
the power to guarantee that somebody will make it into
(20:20):
the program. In two thousand and three, a professor at
the University of Nebraska did a study looking at cases
of foreign informants in the witness Security program. He found
a number of instances of informants who said the DEA
did not keep verbal promises to place them in the program.
And because of the language of the Witness Security law,
US agents can make promises to potential witnesses without any
(20:44):
legal obligations to follow through. And even if agents aren't
purposefully trying to deceive witnesses, given the complexity of the process,
there's a lot of room for misunderstandings. Miglanka said he
would have never worked with the Americans unless they offer
for him and his family protection once it was all over,
and even though he didn't have it in writing, he
(21:05):
just went with it, trust him that in the end
the DEA would take care of him. Frank, the former
agent in Bolivia, is the only person who can verify
Migilankil's claim that the DEA promised him witness protection. We
try to contact Frank multiple times. We even try to
relay a message through a family member, but he never
got back to US. Now out of a job and
(21:28):
without legal status in the US, Miguelankl had to figure
out what to do next. He and his wife were
already having marital problems, and they eventually split up. She
took the older kids and he left with his youngest son, Luis,
to Virginia.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
De kekomer I had to figure out how to start
a new life.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
How was that going to eat?
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Me on a wheelchair being pushed by a seven year
old child to help me get to the nearest food
bank translating for me forget about it.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Once Mighilankill used up all of his savings, he and
Louise went on the lamb. They started sleeping in people's
garages at churches. They eventually rented a room where they
ended up staying more permanently. One afternoon, someone showed up
at their door. Louise had just gotten home from school.
He goes to the door and sees two men dressed
(22:20):
up as plumbers.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
They knock on the door and I'm like hi, and
they're like, oh, we're plumbers. The owner sent us, dude,
I'm a kid. There's no way I'm letting you in
my house because you said the owner said, even if
the owner came, there's no way you're coming in, you know.
So I was like till I'll be right back, you know.
I locked the door. I go upstairs to my dad
(22:41):
and I'm like, hey, plumbers are here, but my dad
was like, yeah, let them in.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
According to Louise, the men look at his dad and
ask him if his name was mighe lan xel Vievi
sents you yea.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
I told him yes.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
They were I INS agents in disguise. Today they're known
as Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE agents.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
We're here to detain you after getting work, that you
are a dangerous criminal.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
And that's when my dad tells the agent, if you
arrest me and you deport me, then they're going to
kill me in my country for serving your nation. And
that kind of shocked the agent a little.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
The officer asks if he had any proof of what
he was saying. Megilankle brings his passport and he shows
them the special visa that DA had issued years earlier
when they brought him to the US.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
This isn't a regular visa, it's one that you get
when you work for the government. The man looked at
me and said, yes, that's what it looks like.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Megilankin says that the immigration officers decided not to detain
him that afternoon, but they said that he would have
to fight his deportation in court. According to court documents,
Megailankel was charged for being an alien who is not
in possession of an entry document. The charges also stated
(24:06):
that the government had reason to believe he had been
an illicit trafficker or assisted illicit trafficking of a controlled substance.
To Mighi Lanki, it looked like he was being double
crossed by the DEA. They were the only ones who
knew about his history in the drug trade. On the
(24:27):
day of the hearing at immigration court, Mighi Lanka says
that the government's attorney claimed to have spoken with the
DEA about their relationship.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
With him, and.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
No loco, no semos.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
What did the agents say from the start, He never
worked for us, We don't know him.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
And my dad and I were just like, what these
agents that would go to my house they don't know him.
In my head, I was you're kidding, right, this is
a joke. No, he never worked for the DEA.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Mighlankil then gives the judge a copy of a document
he held onto an informal contract signed by he and
the DEA for his work with them. The contract refers
to him as a quote DEA cooperating individual, but the
second line from the top reads quote I have no
official status implied or otherwise as agent or employee of
(25:24):
the DEA. This meant that he was with them, but
that he wasn't really one of them. It was also
the reason he was getting paid in cash. Eventually, Frank,
now retired from the DEA, agreed to testify in Mighlankil's
favor via telephone. We got a copy of Frank Saffa David,
where he confirmed that Mighlankil helped the US capture Rocasuades
(25:46):
and that his life would be in danger were he
to be deported back to Bolivia. According to court documents,
the government did not provide any evidence for the smuggling allegations,
so the judge eventually dropped those charges, and years after
the immigration charges were settled as well. It took four
and a half years from the start of the case
(26:06):
for the official ruling to come in the mail in
two thousand and two.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
We were sitting outside on stairs when we got the mail.
I opened this envelope and there it was, and I
was a ruling in our favor, and that was it.
That was over.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Louise was also protected from deportation along with his dad.
I asked Louise, looking back at everything that happened to them,
if he felt that they had found justice.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
When the drug lord decided that he was going to
end my dad's life, he didn't end it, Thank God
for that. He just didn't know that he was condemning
his children to live in a certain lifestyle. You determine
how they're going to live for the rest of their lives,
(27:02):
and I think that is not fair.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
On one end, there was Rocasuaires, the bad guy who
tried to kill his dad but instead let him confine
to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. And
on the other end, there were the Dea, people who
were supposed to be the good.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Guys, a group of men that work to make things right,
come into your life and they tell you we're going
to make things right, and they paint you a picture
of how they're going to fix everything as long as
your dad works for them. And then at the end
of the day they bail, Then what do you turn to?
(27:42):
What do you look for?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
We should mention here that despite the murky nature of
the world of drug smugglers and informants, we have been
able to corroborate many of the elements of Megailanki's life story.
We have court documents from his immigration trial, court transcripts
of the case when he testified against Rokaswaidis, and then
we found a ton of Bolivian newspaper articles ranging from
(28:14):
the eighties unto the late nineties that confirm his accounts.
It's hard to say how common stories like meghelankiins are.
There aren't exactly a lot of hard numbers available on
people who feel betrayed by the DEA, But we do
know that US law enforcement and military so often rely
on foreigners like Megaelankil to risk their lives in order
to complete their missions. Think of the Iraqi and Afghan
(28:37):
translators who work with the army, for example. These people
are vulnerable. Often they have little to lose, and it's
worth it for them to make a bet on the
US government and hope everything works out for the best.
For some, it does, others aren't as lucky, and if
the US loses the trust of people like Miguelankil is
going to be a lot harder to put people like
(28:59):
Rogasus what is in prison. In two thousand and eight,
after more than three decades operating in Bolivia, prison Evo
Morales gave the de eight three months to leave the country,
accusing them of espionage and of fomenting violence.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Territory.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Meanwhile, Trocasuaitis was extradited from the US to Bolivia. In
twenty eighteen, mighlankly texted me a picture showing the former
drug lord walking freely on the airport tarmac, wearing plain clothes,
being escorted by three men.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
We'll see how much he suffered in prison.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Soon he will be free, but I will still be
on my wheelchair, suffering the consequences from being on a wheelchair.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
After arriving in Bolivia, Rocasuetis claimed to have health problems
while in prison. Last month, soon after being relocated to
a local hospital, trocaso Is escaped. The believing authorities are
still looking for his whereabouts. One local newspaper released a
video that allegedly showed now in his late sixties, peacefully
(30:14):
eating at a restaurant in Santana Yakuma. Let's back in
the California church where Mighelankil is invited to sing, he
finishes up his last song. Afterwards, people from the congregation
(30:43):
come up to him to take pictures with them or
buy a copy of his CD.
Speaker 6 (30:49):
Yoh.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Migilankill isn't afraid to confront the mistake he has made
in his life. They come up again and again when
he shares his testimony at church. Talking about those mistakes
and repenting for them have given him a purpose. It's
a a near death experience to inspire Mi Lankin to
do what he thought was right and help the Dea.
(31:20):
In turn, he put his faith in the Dea to
do right by him, but he now realizes that he
put that faith in the wrong place and that at
the end of the day, the only one he can
really trust is God alone.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
And here's a little update on the story you just heard.
In twenty twenty, Rocas Souadrees began operating from Peru forming
a new organization that Chipco came to the US. He
was arrested in Lima in March of twenty twenty one,
and in March of twenty twenty four, he was extradited
(32:04):
to the United States. This episode was produced by Andres
Caballero and edited by Marlon Bishop. He was mixed by
Stephanie Lebau. Special thanks to voice actor Raul Castillo, who
(32:25):
you heard as Migue Langhill is known for his work
in the TV series Seven Seconds and a Typical and
the Sun Dance Award winning film with the Animals, Gracias Raoul.
The Latino USA team includes Roxanna Guire, Julia Caruso, Felicia
do Minuez, Fernando Charvari, Jessica Elis Victoria Strada, Dominique Inestrosa,
(32:47):
Renaldo Leanos Junior, Andrea Lopez Brussado, Luis Luna, Marta Martinez,
Monica Morales, Garcia, j j Carubin, Tasha Sandoval, Nursaudi and
Nancy Trujillo Penilerami. It is Marlon Bishop, Marie Garcia myself
are co executive producers and I'm your host Bydiannie Prossac.
Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,
I'll see you on social media and remember not by
(33:09):
yes By.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation,
working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide,
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for more than fifty years,
advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world
(33:35):
at Hewlett dot org, and the John D. And Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation
In nineteen eighty six, musician miguelan Qui Villavicencio was sitting
with his friends at a restaurant in a small town
in Anjapari, Bolivia's tropical region. At the time, this place
was also an epicenter for cocaine production. The owner of
the restaurant interrupts his conversation and tells miguelankle that someone
at the door is looking for him. He gets up slowly.
(00:23):
He starts walking toward the door, and the first bullet
went through his jaw before he even hit the ground.
The second bullet hit his spine. He lay stunned on
the ground, and when he tried getting up, he noticed
that his legs weren't responding. To make sure that he
was dead, the gunman fired two more times.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
From Futromedia and PRX, It's Latino Usa, I'm Marieo Fosa,
a Bolivian drug smuggler and his long road to redemption.
Producer Andres Cabiro brings us the story of Bige lange
Via Vicencio, whose dreams of becoming the next Juliueglesias turned
into a personal battle for forgiveness and survival. Here's andres
(01:23):
with our story. It first aired in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
His friends immediately threw him in the back of a
pickup and rushed him through the jungle to the nearest hospital.
And by the way, we hired an actor to translate
Migilanko's words.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Romo the Sangrado.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
The most likely scenario was bleeding to death on the
way to the hospital. So when I realized that I
was about to die, I decided to have a conversation
with God. Imagine a drug smuggler speaking with God. But
that's what happens. The way I saw it, drug smuggling
was just the business. It wasn't a crime.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Escamo trafic.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And while he was bleeding to death, he managed to pray, money.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Don't let me die. You have to.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
If you let me live, I promise I will dedicate
what's left in my life to serving you.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Forgive me.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Three decades later, Miguelankl is certain that the reason he's
even alive today is because of that prayer on the.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Way to the hospital.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
He's convinced that that day God had mercy on him,
but the damage from the bullets that ripped through his
body left him without the use of his legs and
in a wheelchair permanently. These days, he visits churches all
over southern California, singing original songs about his spiritual awakening.
(02:47):
Migulankolis sits in an suv worked in front of a
church where he's often invited to sing. He's wearing a
button up shirt and a dark blazer, and he's waiting
for his son Louis to bring his wheelchair.
Speaker 6 (02:59):
In.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
The pastor greets him and takes him in front of
a congregation of about one hundred. Mighelanka scoots his wheelchair
up to the podium, puts on a pre recorded backing track,
and begins to sing. This song is called I'm Not Dead.
(03:26):
The lyrics talk about how God completely transformed him from
his old sinful ways in the drug business, that before
he was spiritually dead, but that now he's alive. When
Miguelan Hill was growing up in Bolivia, before he got
(03:47):
involved in the drug trade, he had always wanted to
be a singer, but back then he wasn't interested in
Christian music.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
The Joe Abbia Gusta.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Ever since I was a kid, I've loved singing. I
always dreamed of becoming.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Famous Miguelankill was raised by his grandmother in LAPAs, one
of the biggest cities in Bolivia. When he was seventeen,
he started a band with his friends, and when that
group dissolved, he auditioned solo at Restaurante Losculos, which was
apparently the place to be for live music in LAPAs.
His first time singing at Lossculos, he recalls the presenter
(04:23):
going up on stage and saying, Mason estrada, ladies.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And gentlemen, Tonight at Restaurants Esculos, a new Bolivian star
is born.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
With you, Miguel.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
That night, Miguelankill took the stage wearing a flowered button
down a dark blazer in Photus from the time. He
has brown, wavy hair with sideburns that reached down to
his lower jaw.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
And that night I sang Call.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
People started clapping halfway through the song, and in that moment,
I knew that I would be a singer for the
rest of my days.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
It's not hard to hear the roots of Migilanka's style.
Sandro the Latin American loved songs from the eighties and
nineties where a hair deeled Latin heart throw would work
the stage with those central performances unbuton shirts and so on,
(05:32):
and Migilanka starts doing really well as a singer. A
few years later, his songs were being played on the radio,
and then he even gets invited to the Francisco's saw Hiante,
(05:55):
a legendary Saturday night variety show in Latin America, which
was still based in Chile at the time. And even
though migue Lankill was on his way to national stardom,
Bolivia's music industry wasn't big enough to make him the
international sensation that he wanted to become. For that, he
needed to be in Mexico, Spain, the US and to
(06:16):
go to these places and to market himself. He needed money,
so he spoke to a friend whose family was in
the drug business.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
By then, cocaine had become a thing in the US,
so I came to the conclusion that if I got
into drug trafficking, I could easily make a fortune.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
His friend introduced him to Bolivia's most powerful drug cartel,
headed by Roberto Saris Gomez, also known as the Cocaine King.
Swatis came from a family of cattle ranchers, but when
the drug became popular in the US, he invested in
(06:55):
coca plants and started producing cocaine. As consumer demand grew,
tons of cocaine were being produced in Bolivia. Roberto eventually
retired and handed control of the business to his nephew, Rocasuadres.
Remember that name, because it's going to be important.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Coombia and this man, Rge Rocasuadis became the main player
and business partner of Escobars made yin Cartel.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
The coca leaf is everywhere in Bolivia. It's been used
for thousands of years by the Aimata in Quechua for
ceremonial purposes, and many people chew it daily to stay
awake or to get an energy kick. It's also good
for altitude sickness and to stay off hunger. At any
market in the cities, you'll likely see giant bushels of
coca leaves, and the countryside is filled with coca fields.
(07:53):
It's also, of course, the key ingredient in cocaine. Bolivia
quickly became one of the biggest suppliers of califs to
Columbia's cocaine labs, as well as a major producer of
cocaine itself. Migalankin remembers seeing the cocaine King's ranch for
the first time.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
It was an incredible amount of drugs. I'd never seen
anything like it, he said.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
The house was filled with piles of bags of cocaine base.
Back then, the cartel would sell it to the Colombians
for about nine thousand dollars per kilo. The Colombians would
then smuggle it and sell it in the US for
many times more. And so in the early eighties, Megelanki
started off by helping transport the merchandise by land or
by air, and later he became the guy who coordinated
(08:38):
bribes to local officials.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
On people as an outsider.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Going by what you see on TV, the perception is
that smugglers are bad, violent men who are always talking
about killing and so on Bolivia and Colombian drug traffickers,
At least in those days, we're easy going guys who
were nice to talk to.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
A few times Meguelankill came faith to face with Pablo.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Escobar Puantas Vesisi Sario, and.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Whenever he saw it necessary, he would get on one
of his private jets and go check on his business
associate in Bolivia.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
On three occasions, I arrived to the ranch and there
he was. I would just say hi, shake his hands,
and that was it.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I see that he stands. Mister John demnos perrode none.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Of us.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
To believe in smugglers. Escobar's business brought more than just
enormous wealth. It also brought scrutiny from the US Drug
Enforcement Agency or DEA. The DEA had been operating in
Bolivia since the nineteen seventies, and they often worked with
(09:54):
the government to crack down on illicit coca plantations and trade,
but in the eighties and nineties, the u I started
going after the cartels more aggressively. To do that, they
had to work closely with local law enforcement, but sometimes
the cartels were also working with the police Guando.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
When I arrived to work, there was already a special
anti drug trafficking force called the Leopards.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
The Leopards were Bolivia's elite anti drug force, but they
were also known to take bribes, so we.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Started bribing the commander so that he would allow the drugs.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
One day, Trocasuadis, the drug lord, asked Migilankill to deliver
a bribe to a commander. But according to Miguelankell, there
was a misunderstanding with grave consequences. He says he never
received the money to pay the commander off, so he
never ended up going through with the bribe. When the
police commander didn't get the money he was promised, he
(10:53):
got angry and retaliated with arrests and.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Academy.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
I never had a chance to communicate with Guess what
is to tell him that I never received the money?
He assumed I stole, and without thinking twice, he sent
his own criminals to kill. They were criminals, but they
were also my friends. But that's how the drug business works.
(11:18):
You have no friends. You just have accomplices who at
any moment will turn on you after a simple order from.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
The boss' contract.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Which brings us back to the day at the roadside
restaurant when a gunman walked in the door and fired
at him. That day, a bullet had shattered his teeth
and broken his jaw in two. While dying on the
way to the hospital, the first question that came to
his mind was.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Why I was a man who was doing things right.
I was an honest drug smuggler if the word honest
even fits in this type of activity.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Dentro demento Miguelankill made it to the hospital alive, but
he woke up without the use of his legs. He
was paralyzed from the waist down and he would have
to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Fearing that Rocasuarees would send more hitman to finish the job,
(12:23):
Miguelankeell fled the country for several months. When he returned
to Bolivia, he was a changed man. He had found
God and now he was focused on two things. Number one,
writing gospel songs with lyrics that talked about peace and love,
and number two, fixing his wrongdoings and seeing if he
(12:43):
could help the authorities bring down the cartel. So he
decides to get in touch with Frank mccoliney, then the
head of the DEA in Bolivia.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Espanol concerto aso at I'm.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Speaking with a Gringo accent. He tells me that I'm
a criminal, So I replied, my dear friend, I was
once a criminal, but I am no longer, and that's
exactly why I want to work with you.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
After the exchange, Mighilankle agreed to provide information about cartel
operations and to help build a case against strugg lords. Eventually,
Megilanki would have to testify against them at a US court.
In exchange, the DA would give him a cash salary,
find him a home, a car, and eventually they would
help him get situated in the US. According to Miguelankill,
(13:36):
he and his family were offered to be put on
the US government's Witness Security program, meaning they would be
relocated to an unknown place with a new identity for
their own safety. The offer, he says, was verbal, it
was never put down on paper.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
It would help me find a job so I can
work like everyone else, and then I would completely disappear.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Once the DEA built a case against Rocasuadis, Mighilankill was
asked to help find out his location and tip off
the DEA with information on his whereabouts. Through his contacts
in the drug world, Miguelankill managed to track down a
flight that Rocasuadis would soon be boarding in Miami. He
then trace his movements all the way to the nineteen
bedroom mansion that he owned in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
They arrested him, and that's when I had to immediately.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
Leave Oblivia.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Migailankin recalls quickly packing things up getting into a car
with his family and being escorted to the airport by
four DEA agents Losno.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
One was less than five and the others round seven.
They didn't really know what was happening.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Luis, who is now in his thirties, was that five
year old.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
I remember having to go from like one house to
the the other with my dad and my brothers days
before leaving Bolivia to come to the US. When you're
that small, and you think that's how the world functions,
and that's what I thought was normal.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
And when the plane took off, I could finally breathe
peacefully because I knew that I was heading towards. But
I didn't know was that once I helped him put
this guy away, the DEA would eventually betray me.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Coming up on Latino, USA, the DEA sends me and
his family to the US, where he would testify against
the drug lord Ros in exchange for a better, safer
life with his family, or so he thought. Stay with us,
not bays. Hey, we're back and we're going to continue
(16:21):
now with the story of Migelanghill, the Bolivian drug smuggler
turned religious singer. And when we left off, the DA
had taken Mielanghill to the US to seek protection and
to testify against his former boss, the drug lord Jorge Drocasuirez.
Producer Andres Cavaliro picks up the story now.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
When Miguelankill and his family got to California in January
of nineteen ninety two, they started living in a hotel.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
There was always agents around. They were pretty fun too.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Luis Milanka's youngest son, says that DEA agents would show
up to give his dad surveillance equipment for monitoring drug
activity along the US Mexico border. They would also bring
big statues of cash for him.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
To my understanding, I was part of my dad's job,
and I knew I couldn't say anything about anything. Our neighbors,
the kids would like talk about their parents and what
they did and stuff, and like I knew that I
couldn't mention anything about what my dad did.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
The DEA finally got to my house while Miguelankill waited
to testify against Prokasuadis. By then he had been passed
on to another supervisor, which worried him because Frank, his
original contact in Bolivia, had his back. This new guy,
he didn't really get along with as much. By the
(17:46):
end of the year, it was time for Miguelankill to
finally testify against Jorge Ross, and there he was in
the same courtroom, waiting for the hearing to begin.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
And let me off him.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
He looked me straight in the eyes, almost in disbelief
that I was there testifying against him. Of course, there
was the feeling of vengeance after someone orders he killed,
but those feelings went away after I became a Christian,
so in the end I just felt victory over him.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
It was an act of justice. The Hostisia.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Miglankill didn't only talk about Rokasuaris. He also outed other
drug dealers in Bolivia.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Olivia frankament, if.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
I had to go back to Bolivia, I honestly don't
know from which direction the bullet would come from.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
In part because of Mielanka's testimonys, was eventually sentenced to
thirty five years in prison. In the eight months that followed,
communication with the DA started to slow down. Mighielanka started
to worry. They stopped responding to his calls his messages.
He helped the DA catch the big fish and they
(18:58):
disappeared on him. One day, two men showed up at
his house to pick up the surveillance equipment. They also
gave him the official notice that he no longer worked
for the DEA. After several weeks, Mighelanki says, the DEA
(19:18):
informed them that in the end, he would not be
referred to the witness Protection program. Miguelankhill was floored. Not
being placed in witness protection meant that after testifying for
the DEA, he was now on his own. Not only
would he have to hide out from the drug lords
who wanted him dead, he also had to avoid being
(19:38):
deported back to Bolivia because now that his job with
the da was over, his permission to be in the
United States would vanish as well. And it wasn't going
to be easy. We called the DEA and they declined
to comment on why Mighelankhill was discharged or about whether
or not he was promised witness protection in the first place.
(20:00):
The Witness Protection program is officially called WITSEC, and the
way it works is the DEA refers candidates for the
program to the US Department of Justice. It's the Attorney
General's office that makes the final decision to approve it
or not, so the DEA on their own doesn't have
the power to guarantee that somebody will make it into
(20:20):
the program. In two thousand and three, a professor at
the University of Nebraska did a study looking at cases
of foreign informants in the witness Security program. He found
a number of instances of informants who said the DEA
did not keep verbal promises to place them in the program.
And because of the language of the Witness Security law,
US agents can make promises to potential witnesses without any
(20:44):
legal obligations to follow through. And even if agents aren't
purposefully trying to deceive witnesses, given the complexity of the process,
there's a lot of room for misunderstandings. Miglanka said he
would have never worked with the Americans unless they offer
for him and his family protection once it was all over,
and even though he didn't have it in writing, he
(21:05):
just went with it, trust him that in the end
the DEA would take care of him. Frank, the former
agent in Bolivia, is the only person who can verify
Migilankil's claim that the DEA promised him witness protection. We
try to contact Frank multiple times. We even try to
relay a message through a family member, but he never
got back to US. Now out of a job and
(21:28):
without legal status in the US, Miguelankl had to figure
out what to do next. He and his wife were
already having marital problems, and they eventually split up. She
took the older kids and he left with his youngest son, Luis,
to Virginia.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
De kekomer I had to figure out how to start
a new life.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
How was that going to eat?
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Me on a wheelchair being pushed by a seven year
old child to help me get to the nearest food
bank translating for me forget about it.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Once Mighilankill used up all of his savings, he and
Louise went on the lamb. They started sleeping in people's
garages at churches. They eventually rented a room where they
ended up staying more permanently. One afternoon, someone showed up
at their door. Louise had just gotten home from school.
He goes to the door and sees two men dressed
(22:20):
up as plumbers.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
They knock on the door and I'm like hi, and
they're like, oh, we're plumbers. The owner sent us, dude,
I'm a kid. There's no way I'm letting you in
my house because you said the owner said, even if
the owner came, there's no way you're coming in, you know.
So I was like till I'll be right back, you know.
I locked the door. I go upstairs to my dad
(22:41):
and I'm like, hey, plumbers are here, but my dad
was like, yeah, let them in.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
According to Louise, the men look at his dad and
ask him if his name was mighe lan xel Vievi
sents you yea.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
I told him yes.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
They were I INS agents in disguise. Today they're known
as Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE agents.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
We're here to detain you after getting work, that you
are a dangerous criminal.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
And that's when my dad tells the agent, if you
arrest me and you deport me, then they're going to
kill me in my country for serving your nation. And
that kind of shocked the agent a little.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
The officer asks if he had any proof of what
he was saying. Megilankle brings his passport and he shows
them the special visa that DA had issued years earlier
when they brought him to the US.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
This isn't a regular visa, it's one that you get
when you work for the government. The man looked at
me and said, yes, that's what it looks like.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Megilankin says that the immigration officers decided not to detain
him that afternoon, but they said that he would have
to fight his deportation in court. According to court documents,
Megailankel was charged for being an alien who is not
in possession of an entry document. The charges also stated
(24:06):
that the government had reason to believe he had been
an illicit trafficker or assisted illicit trafficking of a controlled substance.
To Mighi Lanki, it looked like he was being double
crossed by the DEA. They were the only ones who
knew about his history in the drug trade. On the
(24:27):
day of the hearing at immigration court, Mighi Lanka says
that the government's attorney claimed to have spoken with the
DEA about their relationship.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
With him, and.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
No loco, no semos.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
What did the agents say from the start, He never
worked for us, We don't know him.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
And my dad and I were just like, what these
agents that would go to my house they don't know him.
In my head, I was you're kidding, right, this is
a joke. No, he never worked for the DEA.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Mighlankil then gives the judge a copy of a document
he held onto an informal contract signed by he and
the DEA for his work with them. The contract refers
to him as a quote DEA cooperating individual, but the
second line from the top reads quote I have no
official status implied or otherwise as agent or employee of
(25:24):
the DEA. This meant that he was with them, but
that he wasn't really one of them. It was also
the reason he was getting paid in cash. Eventually, Frank,
now retired from the DEA, agreed to testify in Mighlankil's
favor via telephone. We got a copy of Frank Saffa David,
where he confirmed that Mighlankil helped the US capture Rocasuades
(25:46):
and that his life would be in danger were he
to be deported back to Bolivia. According to court documents,
the government did not provide any evidence for the smuggling allegations,
so the judge eventually dropped those charges, and years after
the immigration charges were settled as well. It took four
and a half years from the start of the case
(26:06):
for the official ruling to come in the mail in
two thousand and two.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
We were sitting outside on stairs when we got the mail.
I opened this envelope and there it was, and I
was a ruling in our favor, and that was it.
That was over.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Louise was also protected from deportation along with his dad.
I asked Louise, looking back at everything that happened to them,
if he felt that they had found justice.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
When the drug lord decided that he was going to
end my dad's life, he didn't end it, Thank God
for that. He just didn't know that he was condemning
his children to live in a certain lifestyle. You determine
how they're going to live for the rest of their lives,
(27:02):
and I think that is not fair.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
On one end, there was Rocasuaires, the bad guy who
tried to kill his dad but instead let him confine
to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. And
on the other end, there were the Dea, people who
were supposed to be the good.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Guys, a group of men that work to make things right,
come into your life and they tell you we're going
to make things right, and they paint you a picture
of how they're going to fix everything as long as
your dad works for them. And then at the end
of the day they bail, Then what do you turn to?
(27:42):
What do you look for?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
We should mention here that despite the murky nature of
the world of drug smugglers and informants, we have been
able to corroborate many of the elements of Megailanki's life story.
We have court documents from his immigration trial, court transcripts
of the case when he testified against Rokaswaidis, and then
we found a ton of Bolivian newspaper articles ranging from
(28:14):
the eighties unto the late nineties that confirm his accounts.
It's hard to say how common stories like meghelankiins are.
There aren't exactly a lot of hard numbers available on
people who feel betrayed by the DEA, But we do
know that US law enforcement and military so often rely
on foreigners like Megaelankil to risk their lives in order
to complete their missions. Think of the Iraqi and Afghan
(28:37):
translators who work with the army, for example. These people
are vulnerable. Often they have little to lose, and it's
worth it for them to make a bet on the
US government and hope everything works out for the best.
For some, it does, others aren't as lucky, and if
the US loses the trust of people like Miguelankil is
going to be a lot harder to put people like
(28:59):
Rogasus what is in prison. In two thousand and eight,
after more than three decades operating in Bolivia, prison Evo
Morales gave the de eight three months to leave the country,
accusing them of espionage and of fomenting violence.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Territory.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Meanwhile, Trocasuaitis was extradited from the US to Bolivia. In
twenty eighteen, mighlankly texted me a picture showing the former
drug lord walking freely on the airport tarmac, wearing plain clothes,
being escorted by three men.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
We'll see how much he suffered in prison.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Soon he will be free, but I will still be
on my wheelchair, suffering the consequences from being on a wheelchair.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
After arriving in Bolivia, Rocasuetis claimed to have health problems
while in prison. Last month, soon after being relocated to
a local hospital, trocaso Is escaped. The believing authorities are
still looking for his whereabouts. One local newspaper released a
video that allegedly showed now in his late sixties, peacefully
(30:14):
eating at a restaurant in Santana Yakuma. Let's back in
the California church where Mighelankil is invited to sing, he
finishes up his last song. Afterwards, people from the congregation
(30:43):
come up to him to take pictures with them or
buy a copy of his CD.
Speaker 6 (30:49):
Yoh.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Migilankill isn't afraid to confront the mistake he has made
in his life. They come up again and again when
he shares his testimony at church. Talking about those mistakes
and repenting for them have given him a purpose. It's
a a near death experience to inspire Mi Lankin to
do what he thought was right and help the Dea.
(31:20):
In turn, he put his faith in the Dea to
do right by him, but he now realizes that he
put that faith in the wrong place and that at
the end of the day, the only one he can
really trust is God alone.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
And here's a little update on the story you just heard.
In twenty twenty, Rocas Souadrees began operating from Peru forming
a new organization that Chipco came to the US. He
was arrested in Lima in March of twenty twenty one,
and in March of twenty twenty four, he was extradited
(32:04):
to the United States. This episode was produced by Andres
Caballero and edited by Marlon Bishop. He was mixed by
Stephanie Lebau. Special thanks to voice actor Raul Castillo, who
(32:25):
you heard as Migue Langhill is known for his work
in the TV series Seven Seconds and a Typical and
the Sun Dance Award winning film with the Animals, Gracias Raoul.
The Latino USA team includes Roxanna Guire, Julia Caruso, Felicia
do Minuez, Fernando Charvari, Jessica Elis Victoria Strada, Dominique Inestrosa,
(32:47):
Renaldo Leanos Junior, Andrea Lopez Brussado, Luis Luna, Marta Martinez,
Monica Morales, Garcia, j j Carubin, Tasha Sandoval, Nursaudi and
Nancy Trujillo Penilerami. It is Marlon Bishop, Marie Garcia myself
are co executive producers and I'm your host Bydiannie Prossac.
Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,
I'll see you on social media and remember not by
(33:09):
yes By.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation,
working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide,
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for more than fifty years,
advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world
(33:35):
at Hewlett dot org, and the John D. And Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation
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