The National Court has handed down sentences of between 10 months and five and a half years in prison and fines close to 85 million euros in the trial known as the Miami, in which 81 people were tried for drug trafficking, money laundering, documentary falsification, tax fraud, illegal possession of weapons, reception and counterfeiting of currency.

The sentences are in some cases those agreed by more than 60 of the defendants with the Prosecutor’s Office, reduced in exchange for the mitigation of confession, and in others much lower than those requested by Anti-Drug for those who did not recognize the facts.

In their 271-page sentence, the magistrates of the Fourth Criminal Section consider that drug trafficking has not been proven in some cases. It also annuls part of the evidence because it was obtained illegally. And the mitigation of unjustified delays in the processing of the case applies to all convictions.

The main defendant, Artemio López Tardón, who did not acknowledge the crimes, was asked by Anti-Drug for 15 years in prison, mainly as head of the drug trafficking operation, with all kinds of aggravating circumstances. Finally, the Court acquitted him of that crime, although he was sentenced to three years in prison and fines of close to 85 million euros – they asked for more than 400 – for money laundering, tax fraud and document forgery.

The next level of defendants had a request for nine years in prison for drug trafficking, but they have been acquitted. They are only imposed the 10 months in prison agreed with Antidroga for money laundering.

The highest sentence, five years and six months in prison, corresponds to David Martínez García for money laundering and documentary falsification.

As for Ana María Cameno, known as the Queen of Coca and previously convicted, it imposes five years in prison for drug trafficking in a notorious amount, with membership and leadership of a criminal organization, money laundering and illegal possession of weapons. In her case, the penalties are those that she agreed with the Prosecutor’s Office.

In its proven facts, the sentence indicates that for several years, from 2000 to 2010, members of a criminal organization based in South America destined to introduce huge amounts of cocaine into Europe, through Spain, in contact with individuals settled in Spain, interested in its acquisition and subsequent distribution. But “without knowing the identity of the cocaine suppliers or their recipients, the amount of cocaine introduced, how and when it was introduced, how and who distributed it, how many trips were made or, ultimately, how that import was carried out”.

The magistrates consider that despite the “set of verified evidence of this massive importation of cocaine” from South America, there is not enough evidence to hold part of the defendants responsible, headed by Artemio López Tardón.

However, if it considers it accredited that they carried out, aware of this massive arrival of cocaine in Spain, “various trade operations that allowed the introduction of the benefits obtained from the sale and distribution of imported cocaine in commercial legal traffic”. That is, they committed the crime of money laundering.

For the judges, despite the ignorance of who the cocaine suppliers and importers were, the investigations made it possible to discover (at least in the second half of that decade) who, on the Spanish side, maintained continuous contacts with the cocaine producers or suppliers. “It is about assuming a leadership role, by Ana María Cameno Antolín, unconditionally supported and followed by David Vela Narro and the three Colombians of origin, Raúl and Victor Juárez Smith and Laurentino Sánchez Serrano.”

All of them, in a collegiate manner, were aware of the details of the negotiations at all times, as was the case with respect to the brothers Néstor Mario and Carlos Mauricio Gutiérrez Ramírez who, “although they did not manage to lead the organization, maintained contacts with the suppliers and helped with the previous ones in the good end of the illicit business”.

The sentence lowers the penalties for the slowness in the case, but not as much as the defendants claimed. To this end, it alleges the complexity of the investigation, in which there were 400 defendants, the numerous accumulated proceedings from different courts, as well as the fact that those now on trial reside outside of Spain, which gave rise not only to the issuance numerous letters rogatory and requests for extradition.

All of this, he adds, “coupled with the seriousness of the facts and the absence of a stoppage other than the impossibility of holding the trial for justified reasons such as the pandemic, the existence of other preferential indications or the lack of availability of an appropriate courtroom with enough space for about 200 people (between the court, the Public Prosecutor, auxiliary personnel, defendants, lawyers, the public, witnesses or experts)”.

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