This article is something I found on www.arteysportweb.com and thought it was worth translating. Only in South America.
This article should have been about the presentation of the new apparel range by a football club. A few loose details regarding this news have piqued our curiosity, and that's how in the past few days we became determined to investigate the details of a complicated set of events, intimately related to the recent history of a city, a country and international politics.
We told ourselves that if we hadn't been so curious, we could have limited our report to the routine: America de Cali (Colombia) presents a new collection for the upcoming season, with the peculiarity of counting on very different designs for the games used in the national championship of Colombia, and the ones to be used for Copa Santander Libertadores.
America de Cali jersey made by NAS for the Colombian Copa Mustang
For some time now we have been asking about the brand on the America jerseys. We thought it was curious that a club of America's size wouldn't be in business with an important international brand to distribute their licensed products. Not only because America has a decorated history and an undeniable popularity, but also because they are the reigning champions of the Colombian league and have also made a relatively successful return to international competition. We assumed the brand we saw on their jerseys during the last Copa Sudamericana were of some local brand, surely a well known company within Colombia. We weren't entirely wrong, but there was much more to the real story.
After wearing a few different models from Kappa at the beginning of the 2000's, America de Cali switched to a Mexican brand named Keuka in 2004. Then in 2007 they switched again, this time to a brand called FSS ("Fabricamos Su Sudadera", translates roughly to "We Make Your Jersey"). We have mentioned in previous articles that FSS is a sporting goods manufacturer from Bogota founded in 1987, and have been suppliers to some of the world's biggest brands (for example, the Reebok Colombia home jerseys are in fact made by FSS for Reebok). In the past few years the company decided to launch their own brand.
The relationship between America and FSS remained strong in 2008, even when the club decided to experiment with their own brand. This new brand was called America Sportswear, more commonly known as ASW. The new jerseys displayed the ASW logos, yet the design and the manufacturing of the jersey were still in the hands of FSS. The fans received the new jerseys with moderate approval. Most were happy with the design and quality of their club's new in-house brand, but some were unhappy and called for what they felt was absolutely necessary: a club as big as theirs should have the logo of an international brand as an irrefutable sign of prestige. Even though their protest was debatable, they even went as far as creating a user group on Facebook to organize their demands.
The opposition voice of the fans becomes furious
2009 started off with strong rumors of a possible deal between America and Adidas, rumors probably founded on the new contracts signed by Millonarios of Bogota and Atletico Nacional of Medellin with the three-stripe brand, as well as the urging of their own fans. Although no one from the club took it upon themselves to either deny or confirm the rumors, the fact was that America had began their participation in the Copa Mustang of Colombia and the Copa Santander Libertadores wearing new designs for each tournament. Both were made by their own brand, designed and manufactured by FSS. ASW though was gone as the club was forced to create a new label due to legal problems. The new brand would be called Nuevo America Sport, or simply NAS. Disillusioned by the latest twist in this story, the fans became unanimous in their rejection of the new shirts: the shirt was described as "horrible", "atrocious", "unjust" and much more. Exagerated? Maybe, if we take into account what those so-called prestigious brands sometimes come up with.
The question naturally was, what were the legal problems that forced America de Cali to invent a second proprietary brand? The Colombian press barely mentioned the change offering up only minor details. In any case, when we started investigating the issue we ended up finding unforseen twists and turns that took us by surprise.
Maybe our readers in Colombia already are familiar with the whole story, and what follows is simply redundant, but to the rest of us that only have a basic understanding of Colombian football, it was a shock to learn America de Cali is on the "Clinton List" by the government of the United States. What exactly was the Clinton List? Not exactly a shopping list for the new US Secretary of State. It is an official black list of companies suspected of having economic ties to the drug cartels of Colombia. Created during the Bill Clinton presidency and official named the "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List" (SDN), the list is published and maintained by the Foreign Affairs department of the United States Treasury Office, and was voted into law on the 21 of October, 1995. The law was written by senators Paul Coverdell and Dianne Feinstein as part of a group of measures to combat drug trafficking and money laundering. Those appearing on the list are not allowed to have business in the United States, and American companies doing business with them are subject to punishment.
Of course, just because someone is listed on the Clinton List it doesn't mean necessarily they have done something illegal, but what is a fact is that if you are on the list it is almost impossible to conduct business in almost any country. For example: a great number of banks, especially those that operate in many countries, participate in international agreements to block the transfer and laundering of funds related to terrorism or drug trafficking. Therefore, almost all the international banks refuse to do business with anyone named on the Clinton List, which in turn makes doing business for those named to conduct business in the absence of, for example, a legitimately registered bank account. It's because of these obstacles that America de Cali, since being added to the list in 1998, has been tied up in numerous legal and economic conflicts that have seriously damaged the club's finances and public image.
So you ask, is the accusation of the club's involvement with the drug trade based in some kind of factual evidence? For now it appears that way. Everyone in Colombia knows that the most powerful men in the drug cartels have always maintained close ties to the biggest football teams in the country, with few exceptions. Everyone remembers, for example, that Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, heads of the feared Medellin Cartel, were the men behind Atletico Nacional and Millonarios respectively. The power of these rich and powerful men became evident in the 80's and early 90's when they didn't think twice about buying off, threatening, or even assassinating players, referees and club directors. The sensational signing of football stars and their success on the field made people forget those "incidents" and helped cement the incredible popularity of the drug lords.
That's the way things were until recent years when the influence of the organized drug cartels in Colombian football, while still have an effect, began to diminish considerably. After the iconic Pablo Escobar's death in 1993, and the subsequent demise of the Medellin Cartel, the control of the drug trade moved to the guerilla groups, primarily the notorious FARC, who until that point had only used the narcotics trade a secondary form of generating income.
In any event, after all these years for America to be the only Colombian team named on the Clinton List can be attributed to the history of two brothers, Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, founders of the Cali Cartel, one of the biggest organized drug cartels in the country rivaling (and in some cases surpassing) the Medellin Cartel.
The brothers came to America formally in 1979, and with their generous checkbook the team was able to capture some of the best players in all of South America. That began the most successful period in the club's history winning five Colombian titles in a row from 1982 to 1986. We all remember of course, that they made it to three Copa Libertadores finals in 1985, 1986, and 1987. (Editors Note: In 1986 they lost to none other than River Plate!)
The Cali Cartel though was unable to escape the crisis crippling the drug cartels. Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, alias "The Chess Master", was the first of the big drug lords to be captured alive on June 9, 1995. Shortly after, on the 6th of August, his brother would also be arrested. Several other high ranking members of the cartel would also be either captured or killed in the following months. The Rodriguez Orejuela brothers were convicted in 1998 and sentenced to 15 years in jail, reduced to 7 on account of good behavior. It was clear that the jail was a farce, since the brothers continued to operate their crippled empire from their cells. Regardless, they couldn't avoid being placed on the Clinton List that very same year, and all businesses that listed the brothers as participants also got thrown on the list, including Corporation Deportiva America de Cali.
The new NAS jersey for the Copa Libertadores debuts in a loss.
When the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers were about to be set free, new charges were brought up against them in US courts. The political climate didn't favor the brothers: the new president Alvaro Uribe was determined to end once and for all the power of the old cartels as well as the paramilitary guerilla groups. So Uribe decided to expand the denominated "Plan Colombia" initiated by his predecessor, Andres Pastrana, that oulined how the United States government would assist their Colombian counterparts with money and military equipment with the objective of defeating the drug cartels and paramilitary groups. In return, amongst other things, Colombia vowed to reinstate the law that allowed extradition for trial of drug traffickers and other criminals indicted in US courts.
Both Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela were extradited in late 2004. They were charged and convicted by the United States Justice Department, although in exchange for their confessions to the majority of their crimes they were given the "reduced" sentences of 30 years each, as well as offering to drop the charges against 28 other family members who were indicted. Among them was Juan Miguel, son of Miguel, who had taken over administration of America, even though he was not registered formally as part of the club's corporation. Despite the charges against Juan Miguel being dropped, America de Cali continued to appear on the Clinton List.
It was not enough even when in 2006, from his cell in the USA, Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela announced in a written document his complete and total departure from anything to do with the club. A similar declaration by Juan Miguel last August was also futile. So long as the current corporation exists, there is nothing that can get them removed from the Clinton List. The National Colombian Narcotics agency, a governmental group that legally seized 4% of the shares in America, threatened on more than one occasion to remove the rest of the share holders, which would imply a legal take over of the club. They never were able to make this happen.
While America hangs in legal and economic limbo, different plans have surfaced to try and get the club taken off the Clinton List in order to return to normal financial and institutional operations. The plan that seems to have the most steam is the one proposed by the current mayor of Cali, Jorge Ivan Ospina Gomez. The mayor wants to create a new corporation to replace the current one, and whose shareholders must show they have no ties to the Orejuela brothers or any other drug lords. To do this, Ospina needs to gather at least 2000 new share holders for the new corporation, to be named Nuevo America de Cali, and he must accumulate at least one million dolars in capital to avoid impending bankruptcy and negotiate the debt with the municipality valued in the billions of Colombian pesos.
Ospina confirms the support of the governor of Valle de Cauca (the state which Cali is the capital of) as well as the US ambassador to Colombia, who has suggested this plan would be a good way to start getting the club taken off the list. After a transition period of 8 months, during which the municipal government of Cali would assume administration of the club, the new share holders would gain control of the new corporation and assign a new management board. The major hurdle of course is to convince the current share holders to relenquish their shares, which is difficult to say the least.
Since Ospina proposed this new plan last January, and with a dramatic call to save the club to all the fans, the future remains clouded. Their coronation in the last Copa Mustang tournament and the return to Copa Santander Libertadores have given new hope to America fans, but will hardly help solve the deeper problems facing the club. With this complicated panorama, it would be wise not to expect any superstar signing, or agreement with any international brands. Maybe NAS isn't to the liking of the fans, but today America de Cali has very different priorities.
PostScript: Fans of America de Cali claim one last relative of the Orejuela's is among those share holders refusing to give up control for the formation of a new corporation. The fans say the drug cartel's remaining members want to rule the club from the shadows, without regard to the club's financial situation.
