ESTHER.- We made the proposal to engineer Montañez and had no problem. He said
That we ask the bank to approve the transfer of the mortgage
On behalf of the company Produmédicos Limitada and the next day we would write
trading. Rafael said good, but we wanted to pa** us
immediately. If that was the case, once we moved we would start
Pay fifty thousand pesos a month that we would lose if we did not approve the mortgage.
But, in addition, we would continue to pay this same amount until the moment of
Vacate the house If the mortgage was approved he would pay these items to us.
initial fee.
BLUE WHALE OPERATION
J HOLLMAN MORRIS
Movement April 19, M-19
Collective Juvenile Carlos Pizarro Leongómez
14
Seeing our urgency, he decided to press us too. He told us that it was almost an end
Of the year and that if the bank delayed approving the loan it was losing
Interest on the million pesos of the mortgage, which at two percent were twenty thousand
Monthly pesos of interest, which we would lose when the loan was approved.
RAFAEL.- To talk about the operation of the Blue Whale you have to go back. To the
Which was the company Produmédicos Limitada. I speak of 1975, when the Organization
Received good money in exchange for the release of Donald Cooper, then manager
Of the multinational company Sears Roebuck, retained by a command of the Eme (M-19).
Once these funds were put into dollars, Bateman told me that there was
Need to establish a legal and concrete company, open to trade and the public, for
Which I should present to you as soon as possible a plan to structure it. He saw
The urgency that this money should become productive and begin to solidify the
Economic self-sufficiency of the Organization.
Bateman said that the Eme had become rich with Cooper's arrest, thanks to
Whose exchange managed to handle a fairly high budget, a million dollars, and explained
That thanks to these monies the arcas were filled to develop the political project
With more depth.
At that time, he had been working in the line of products for about a year
In a small and dynamic company and there I knew more about that medium,
So that by the end of the year we founded Produmédicos Limitada. Then my mindset
Was reduced and when the initial capital was discussed I told Bateman that I would
Calculated in half a million Colombian pesos; He burst out laughing. "With that not
We arrived at the curb of the front, "he told me and ordered me to deliver fifty thousand
Dollars, which at that time were about two million pesos: a fortune.
Within weeks we imported and distributed materials for clinics,
Private and official hospitals, surgical instruments, machinery and equipment for
Medicine throughout the country. Produmédicos Limitada was a company that moved a lot
Money and therefore enjoyed a great bank credit. He was very punctual in his
Obligations and was taking a lot of prestige in the middle. When to start
The operation to reach the Blue Whale, Produmédicos financed the Eme in
Two hundred thousand pesos a month, which were its profits, and, I repeat, in that
Moment they represented a fortune.
Earlier this month we were ready to diversify and grow a lot,
Importers and distributors were going to move to industrial
Which would already cover the large areas of health such as Social Insurance. Y
BLUE WHALE OPERATION
J HOLLMAN MORRIS
Movement April 19, M-19
Collective Juvenile Carlos Pizarro Leongómez
fifteen
Being in these cabals and with such possibilities I presented the project to
Bateman and he said it was good, solid, but he had another better for us. In
That moment was when he spoke of the a**ault on the PM truck to get some weapons and
Then Produmédicos happened to the background. From that moment all our
Attention was for the weapons.