The Clan del Golfo, formally the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) and also called Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, is a Colombian right-wing paramilitary group and drug cartel. The gang consisted of demobilized right-wing paramilitaries and became the dominant cartel in the country during the early 21st century.
Named for the remote Urabá Antioquia region near the Panamanian border, Los Urabeños was a successor to the AUC, which had taken over the region's vital drug trafficking routes after 1997. Los Urabeños refused to demobilzie with the rest of the AUC in 2006, and the group deployed go-fast boats loaded with cocaine to Central America and the Caribbean, moving between 10 and 20 boats per week. The group's leader Daniel Rendon Herrera expanded his empire into Medellin, long controlled by the Oficina de Envigado, resulting in a war that left 3,000 dead from 2007 to 2009. Rendon's capture in 2009 led to Dairo Antonio Usuga's takeover of the clan, which came to be the first BACRIM ("criminal band") organization with a national reach. By 2021, the clan had a a strong presence in the Colombian departments of Antioquia, Córdoba and Sucre, a moderate presence in the departments of Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Chocó, Nariño, Bolívar, Atlántico, Magdalena, Norte de Santander and a low or minimal presence in the departments of Cesar, Santander, Boyacá, La Guajira, Risaralda, Casanare, Meta and Vichada. The clan relied on at least 1,200 members in their top level of command, frequently deploying trained, armed men to rural areas to guard drug-trafficking routes. The clan also contracted local street gangs for cocaine distribution, extortion, and select assassination, and they bought coca base from FARC while refusing further collaboration. The clan continues to target political parties, unions, and leftist associations despite becoming more of a criminal group than a political one. In 2021, Usuga was captured at the culmination of Operation Agamemnon, which delivered several major blows to the group's leadership.