Search Bloc

The Search Bloc (Spanish: Bloque de Búsqueda) was the name of several Special Operations units of the National Police of Colombia (Policía Nacional de Colombia).

History

The original Search Bloc was created in 1992 by the President, Cesar Gaviria. Search Bloc officers were assembled with the sole objective of the apprehension of drug lord Pablo Escobar and his associates. Its original commander was Colonel Hugo Martinez.

The members of Search Bloc received training from the U.S. Army's Special Forces and were specially selected for being impervious to police corruption from the drug cartels. Throughout its mission, Search Bloc faced many obstacles such as a spy within the group, allegations of collaboration with the anti-Escobar vigilante groups such as Los Pepes, which would have included vigilantism within Search Bloc pertaining to suspicious deaths of Escobar's subordinates.

Escobar was killed on December 2, 1993 in a shootout with members of Search Bloc.

After dismantling the Medellin Cartel, the Search Bloc was transferred to Cali to find and shut down the structure of the Cali Cartel.

Search Bloc was revived in 2004 to root out cocaine and heroin traffickers in the southwest of Colombia. The mission of the new Search Bloc was to take apart the Norte del Valle cartel and arrest its leader, Diego León Montoya Sánchez.

In 2007 the Colombian government again ordered the creation of a new Search Bloc against the Águilas Negras and classified this organization as a gang of former paramilitaries.^[1]

See also

• Pablo Escobar
• La Catedral
• Los Pepes

References

• Mark Bowden, Killing Pablo (a copy of Bowden's serial articles in the Philadelphia Enquirer is available here : )
• Jane's Jane's Terrorism & Security Monitor Mar 01, 2004

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Police of Colombia.

v t e Colombian conflict (1964–present)
Participants			Timeline	Key aspects
			• La Violencia (1948-1958) • Marquetalia Republic • The National Front • Dominican Embassy (1980) • Palace of Justice (1985) • Patriotic Union Party extermination • Humanitarian exchange • Mapiripán Massacre (1997) • Peace process (1999-2002) • Bojayá massacre (2002) • Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis (2002-2009) • El Nogal Club bombing (2003) • Parapolitics scandal (2006–7) • Operation Emmanuel • Andean diplomatic crisis (2008) • Operation Jaque	Lawsuits  • Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola (2001) • Rodriquez v. Drummond (2003) • Doe v. Chiquita (2007)  Kidnappings  • Kidnappings in Colombia • List of political hostages held by FARC  Illegal drug trade  • Illegal drug trade in Colombia • War on Drugs • Narcoterrorism  Government aspects  • Democratic security • Plan Colombia • Plan Patriota • Colombia–United States relations • Human rights in Colombia • Politics of Colombia
Guerrillas	Government of Colombia	Paramilitaries
• FARC-EP • ELN • EPL • List of FARC attacks Former guerrillas • M19 • MOEC • CGSB • ERP • Jorge Alberto Rodriguez The 400 • Movimiento Armado Quintin Lame Linked to • PCCC • Foro de São Paulo • PCC(M-L) • Cuban revolutionaries • Provisional IRA • ETA • ANNCOL • Fighters+Lovers • Colombian drug cartels • Some politicians	Military Forces of Colombia: National Army Air Force Navy Colombian Naval Infantry National Police Other: DAS intelligence Attorney General units Former government program • CONVIVIR Linked to • DynCorp International •  United Nations •  United States •  European Union	• Águilas Negras • Los Rastrojos • Los Urabeños Former paramilitaries • AUC • AAA Linked to • Spearhead Ltd • Colombian drug cartels • CONVIVIR • Some Colombian military personnel • Some politicians
	Colombian armed conflict at Wiktionary  Colombian armed conflict at Wikibooks      Colombian armed conflict at Wikiquote  Colombian armed conflict at Wikisource       Colombian armed conflict at Commons  Colombian armed conflict at Wikinews