In Colombia, the humanitarian plane carried face masks and cocaine. The scandal reached a TV celebrity.
Colombian authorities found a plane carrying 446 kilograms of cocaine, with a market value of US $35 million in the United States, and 102 million Colombian pesos (US $27,000) in cash. Cocaine was hidden under 28 boxes of face masks.
On May 23, the police of Santa Catalina, a northern Colombian island off the coasts of Nicaragua, controlled a “humanitarian plane” coming from Bogotá. It proved to have more drugs and cash than aid. The aircraft was officially supposed to go to San Andrés, an island in the same archipelago of Santa Catalina, but was reportedly routing to Guatemala or Mexico.
The plane is owned by Interandes Helicopters, a company in which Miguel Jaramillo is a partner. And the businessman is also the husband of a Colombian model, TV host and actress, Alejandra Azcárate. The celebrity explained that the company provided the plane for humanitarian aid and didn’t know it was meant for cocaine.
A TV show postponed because of the scandal
In a radio interview, she defended that “my husband isn’t a low-level drug trafficker, he is a honest prominent publicist”. Miguel Jaramillo is a fan of planes and the President of the Aviación Civil General de Colombia, a club gathering civil aircrafts. “He is the President of an organization of private pilots, who owns private planes. My husband has a friend who is pilot [the partner of Interandes Helicopters] and has his own plane. […] He received a call on the necessity of lending the plane for a humanitarian aid”. The company representatives consider the two partners are victims of a fraud.
The actress accepts to speak publicly because she has full confidence in her husband. But the TV channel RCN decided to postpone the TV show ¿Quién es La Máscara?, also known as Mask Singer in other countries, in which she was supposed to appear.
Media sources and useful links:
- Interandes Helicopter fue víctima de un engaño, Ecos del Combeima, May 2021, Free access
- Esto dice Alejandra Azcárate sobre avión de su esposo detenido con cocaína, W Radio, May 2021, Free access
