Drugs downgradeone of the most iconic Colombian drugstore chains in the 80s and 90s, founded by the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers and that served as a front for the Cali cartel, will now be administered by the Ministry of Health in order to take advantage of its drug distribution channels, which are present in almost the entire country. In addition, the possibility is considered that The sale Obtain health registrations for generic drugs that, in turn, would become increasingly important in the public health system in Colombia.
(Drugs La Rebaja, to extinction of domain and passes into the hands of the State).
The company passed years ago to extinction of domain and now it is in the hands of the Colombian State that will administer it instead of looking for a private buyer, as usually happens with the assets seized from the mafia.
The State is going to risk it to preserve the property and the exercise of the chain of drugstores.
Although in Colombia The sale appeared as a legal firm, in 2005 the authorities of the USA They assured that he was still in the hands of the Rodríguez Orejuela, whom he had already requested for extradition. Gilberto Rodríguez died in a federal prison this year and his brother Miguel is still serving a sentence in the US.
(Government admits drug shortages but denies shortages).
The Rebate was part of the Clinton List until 2014the US government tool that internationally sanctions people and companies linked to drug trafficking.
The Rebate was at the hands of the State
In all these years, Drugs La Rebaja has been in charge of the Special Assets Society (SAE), which in 2021 signed a contract to allow Copservir to continue managing the chain, at least for a period of five more years.
This year, with a second instance ruling in the Superior Court of Bogotá, the company was definitively transferred to the hands of the Colombian State.
(The proposal of the Ministry of Health in the face of a shortage of medicines in the country).
Spokesmen for the previous SAE administration reported, in an interview in early 2022, that copserve has been complying with the parameters established in the contract and that an eventual decision on its sale or change of conditions would depend on the Petro Government, which now decides to keep control and operation, with new functions, of the chain.
According to the employee cooperative, nearly 10,000 families derive their livelihood from the operation of Drogas La Rebaja throughout the country.
