Guillermo Alejandro Pallomari González (born October 1, 1949),
nicknamed Reagan,
is a
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
an
accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy.
Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...
who worked for the
Cali Cartel and participated in a scandal involving financial fraud during the
1994 Colombian presidential election that bestowed
Ernesto Samper
Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 3 August 1950) served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998. From 2014 to 2017 he served as the Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). He is a lawyer, economist, academic and pol ...
(now former president) as winner of the respective elections. Pallomari is currently under the
Witness Protection Program
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after trials, usually by police. While witnesses may only require p ...
of the United States.
Biography
Pallomari was born on October 1, 1949, in María Elena,
Antofagasta Region
The Antofagasta Region (, ) is one of Chile's Administrative divisions of Chile, sixteen first-order administrative divisions. Being the second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta, El ...
, Chile, to Lilian González and Guillermo Pallomari Astudillo.
Pallomari obtained a degree in
accounting
Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...
, although he never formally worked in that sector. He also obtained a degree in
systems engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their Enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering uti ...
a few years later.
In 1973, during the
military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)
An authoritarian military dictatorship ruled Chile for seventeen years, between 11 September 1973 and 11 March 1990. The dictatorship was established after the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende was overthrown in ...
, Pallomari moved with scarce economic resources, to Colombia. During those years, he obtained a work as bank supervisor and later on, in a textile company.
He married Gladys Patricia Cárdona, and along with her, founded a technological company called Universal Link''.'' They had two children.
In 1990, he began working for the Rodriguez-Orejuela brothers, as chief accountant to manage their illicit drug trade.
Pallomari was arrested in his office by the
Search Bloc
The Search Bloc () is the name of three different ad hoc special operations units of the National Police of Colombia (Policía Nacional de Colombia). They were originally organized with a focus on capturing or killing highly dangerous individua ...
on July 8, 1994, and was released 24 hours after admitting to working for the Cali Cartel.
A few days after the arrest of Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela in August of 1995 he turned himself into the DEA, receiving their protection from the cartel in exchange for testimony. After collaborating with information concerning Ernesto Samper's electoral fraud (in which he received more than USD $6 million to finance his campaign expenses; equivalent to $10.5 million in 2020)
and Cali's illicit operations, he moved to the United States to testify and is under the
Witness Protection Program
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after trials, usually by police. While witnesses may only require p ...
.
In popular culture
* The character Guillermo Palomino in the TV series ''
En la boca del lobo'' is based on Pallomari. He is played by the Colombian actor Cristobal Errázuriz.
* Pallomari was featured in the third season of ''
Narcos
''Narcos'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Set and filmed in Colombia, seasons 1 and 2 are about Colombian narcoterrorist and drug lord Pablo Escobar, leader ...
'', where he was portrayed by Spanish actor
Javier Cámara
Javier Cámara Rodríguez (born 19 January 1967) is a Spanish actor.
He became known for two television roles as a priest in '' ¡Ay, señor, señor!'' and ''Éste es mi barrio''. He has since featured in films such as '' Torrente, the Dumb Arm ...
.
See also
*
Proceso 8000
The Process 8000 () is the unofficial name given to the corruption scandal surrounding accusations that Colombian Liberal Party candidate Ernesto Samper's 1994 campaign for President of Colombia was partially funded by drug money. The name came f ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallomari, Guillermo
Cali Cartel traffickers
1949 births
Living people
People from Antofagasta