Laisand Kan

Seminal Event

What: The head of the Colombian Air Force, General Jose Manuel Sandoval, resigned after the discovery of more than seven hundred kilos of cocaine in a Colombian Air Force cargo plane.

Where: Fort Lauderdale, Florida 

When: November 10, 1998
 

Summary

Colombian President Andres Pastrana accepted the resignation of General Jose Manuel Sandoval after U.S.   customs authorities have seized 1639 pounds (743 kilograms) of cocaine, worth nearly $13 million, from a Colombian Air Force cargo plane C-130 Hercules in Fort Lauderdale. The plane was on a routine flight from Colombia capital Bogota to pick up military equipments. The six-member crew boarding the plane were questioned and released, and at least eight members of Colombia's Air Force were arrested in Bogota. The incident, ironically, coincided with President Andres Pastrana state visit to Washington in an effort to reduce Columbia's drug tensions with the U.S.
 

Timeline

10/28/98
* Colombian President Andres Pastrana meets with President Bill Clinton in Washington.

11/10/98
* Federal authorities discover more than seven hundred kilos of cocaine in a Colombian Air Force cargo plane in Florida.
* General Jose Manuel Sandoval resigns.

11/11/98
* First arrests in the case is made.

11/13/98
* Thirteen pounds of heroin have been found on the same Colombian Air Force cargo plane on which two days ago federal authorities seized seven hundred kilos of cocaine.