El cartel (TV series)

El cartel
El Cartel de los Sapos
Genre	Action, drama, Narconovela
Based on	El cartel by Andrés Lopez
Written by	Juan Camilo Ferrand
Directed by	Luis Alberto Restrepo
Starring	Manolo Cardona Karen Martínez Diego Cadavid Robinson Díaz
Country of origin	Colombia
Original language	Spanish
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	107
Production
Production locations	Colombia United States Mexico Venezuela Ecuador
Running time	45 minutes
Original release
Release	June 4, 2008 (2008-06-04) – May 21, 2010 (2010-05-21)

El Cartel de los Sapos (English title: The Cartel of Snitches) or El Cartel is a Colombian television series that first aired on June 4, 2008 on the Colombian network Caracol TV. El Cartel stars Manolo Cardona, Karen Martínez, Diego Cadavid, and Robinson Díaz and is based on the 2008 novel by the same name by Andrés López López, alias Florecita ("Little Flower"), a former drug dealer who, while in prison, wrote the fictionalized account of his experiences in the Cali Cartel and of what happened within the Norte del Valle Cartel. In the TV series, which Lopez also wrote, the characters and locations from the book were changed.

Synopsis

Two friends enter the illegal drugs business, thinking it is the fastest way to become rich. The illegal drug trafficking world seems attractive to all these middle-class people, who overlook the associated dangers and legal problems.

This choice begins a turbulent and troubled lifestyle that will change their fates forever. Martín, alias "Fresita", gets a job in a drugs lab sponsored by the big boss Óscar Cadena (Fernando Solorzano). Martín learns the business quickly and starts to send illegal drugs to the United States, while his boss makes an alliance with the Villegas Brothers, from the West Cartel, to take down the biggest drug dealer ever: Pablo Escobar.

With Escobar down, a new cartel is up: The Pacific Cartel in Colombia, led by Óscar Cadena, so Óscar (the teacher) and Martín (the student) make a pact of friendship and business.

Martín becomes a rich man and he falls for Sofía (Karen Martinez), a beautiful woman, but he wins her heart by lying to her. But Sofía discovers the origin of Martín's wealth, and he has to choose: Sofía or the business.

Óscar helps the police finish the West Cartel. The snitches (sapos) make war between these criminal machines to the point of breaking.

Oscar has been killed and decided to make Martin as the owner of the cartel. Martín refuses to take part in this war and decides to go to Miami with Sofía and his children, unaware that Miami is no longer a safe place. He continues his illegal activities, meanwhile watching enemies kill his old friends.

As increasing numbers of his business partners and brothers die or get caught, Martin is forced to run to Mexico, looking for protection. He realizes too late that, in this business, you can never win. So he becomes a sapo and tells his tale to the DEA.

In the second season, Pepe, after being captured by the FBI, and now released to be a snitch, tells the rest of the story, which leads to the arrests and deaths of several drug traffickers.

Characters

Caracol decided to change the characters' real names, their aliases, and some locations from the book, although the filmmakers maintained some physical resemblance between the real-life characters and their portrayers. The following tables detail the names of the characters, their portrayers, and the real life people they represent in the series. The first table also highlights the first season characters who also appear in the second season.

First Season

Character Name – Aka	Actor	Real name – Alias
Martín González – El fresita	Manolo Cardona	Andrés López López – el Florecita (The Flower)
Sofía (Martín's wife)	Karen Martínez	María del Socorro Patiño
Milton Jiménez – El cabo	Róbinson Diaz	Wílber Alirio Varela – Jabón
Pepe Cadena	Diego Cadavid	Fernando Henao Montoya - El Grillo
Oscar Cadena	Fernando Solórzano	José Orlando Henao Montoya- el Hombre del Overol
Álvaro José Pérez – Guadaña	Julian Arango	Luis Alfonso Ocampo Fómeque – Tocayo
Amparo Cadena (esposa de Julio)	Sandra Reyes	Lorena Henao Montoya
John Mario Martínez – Pirulito	Juan Pablo Raba (1.ª season) Camilo Saenz (second season)	Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía – Chupeta
Julio Trujillo	Fernando Arévalo	Iván Urdinola Grajales – el Enano (The Dwarf)
Conrado Cadena – El mocho	Álvaro Rodríguez	Arcángel Henao – el Mocho
Alfonso Rendón – Anestesia	Andrés Parra	Carlos Zapata – el Médico
Humberto Paredes – Humber	Juan Ángel	Efraín Hernández – Don Efra
Samuel Morales	Luis Alfredo Velasco	Miguel Solano – Miguelito
Mario Lopera – Don Mario	Santiago Moure	Diego Montoya – Don Diego
Gonzalo Tovar – Buñuelo	Juan Carlos Arango	Hernando Gómez Bustamante – Rasguño
Apolinar S. Santilla – el Negro Santilla	Elkin Córdoba	Jorge E. Aspirilla – El negro Aspirilla
Eliana Saldarriaga (esposa de Pepe)	Juliana Galvis	Cristina Santana
Juanita Marín	Nataly Umaña	Natalia Paris Gaviria
Juliana Morales o Estupiñán	Natalia Betancurt	Rosario Molano o Santibañez
Agente Sam Mathews	John Gertz	Agente Romedio Viola (DEA)
El Ovejo	Harold Córdoba	Óscar Varela García – Capachivo
Fermín Urrego – el Tigre	Waldo Urrego	Victor Patiño Fómeque – la Fiera
Cdte Ramiro Gutiérrez	Alberto Palacio	Colonel Danilo González Gil
David Paz	Armando Gutiérrez	Baruch Vega – el Fotógrafo
Hugo de la Cruz	Pedro Mogollón	Hélmer Herrera – Pacho Herrera
Gral. Javier Ibarra (Policía Nacional)	Germán Quintero	Gral. Rosso José Serrano
Leonardo Villegas	Victor Cifuentes	Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela
Enmanuel Villegas	Hermes Camelo	Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela
Ignacio Nacho Sotomayor	Néstor Alfonso Rojas	José Santacruz Londoño
Novio de Hugo de la Cruz	Andrés Toro	Novio de Hélmer Herrera
Tulio de la Cruz – Doble Rueda	Alberto Barrero	José Manuel Herrera – el Inválido
Pedro Tejada – Revolver	Jimmy Vásquez	Julio Correa – Julio Fierro
Susana de Cadena (esposa de Conrado)	Carolina Cuervo	—
Francisco José Trujillo (hermano de Julio)	Mauricio Vélez	—
Silvio Méndez (chofer y amante de Amparo)	Giovanny Álvarez	—
Caremico	Christian Tappan	Orlando Sánchez Cristancho – Trompa de Marrano
Kevin – Kevin Izquierdo	Juan Calderón	Richard Martínez
Guillermo Polo – Guillo	Dorian Keller	—
Ita (abuela de Martín)	Consuelo Luzardo	—
Perla (hermana de Martín)	Carolina Lizarazo	—
Esposa de Samuel Morales	Tania Falquez	—
Rene Zamudio (amigo de Samuel)	Federico Rivera	José 'Chepe' Puello
Giselle (esposa de Anestesia)	Angeline Moncayo	—
El Contador	Mauricio Navas	– el Secre.
Omar Godoy – Navaja	Rodolfo Silva	Juan Carlos Ortiz – Cuchilla
Adolfo Aguilar (jefe de Las AUC) – El Halcón	Mauricio Mejía	Carlos Castaño
Belinda (amiga de Juanita)	Linda Lucia Callejas	—
Soledad (esposa de Óscar)	Majida Issa	—
Myriam de Saldarriaga (madre de Eliana)	Rita Bendeck	—
Gargajo	Rafael Uribe Ochoa	Rafael Ángel Uribe Serna
Señuelo (Trabajador de Eliana)	John Alex Toro	—
Cristián	Julio Ocampo	-
Jhonatan de la Cruz	Roberto Marín
Israel de la cruz	Héctor García
William Torres	Nelson Tallaferro	—
Gral. Jorge Contreras/Capitán Harvey Racines	Julio Correal (1.ª season) Tommy Vásquez (second season)	Jaime Hernán Pineda 'Pedro Pineda' or 'Pispis'
Agente Katherine (DEA)	Paulina Gálvez	—
Steven Douglas	Brandon Fokken
Becky Clarkson	Vivian Ruiz
Alias "Lagartija"	Johnny Acero

Second Season

Character – Alias	Actor	Real name – Alias
Andrea Negrete – La Mera Mera o la Reina	Patricia Manterola	Sandra Ávila Beltrán – la Reina del Pacífico
Victoria "Vicky" Puerta	Carolina Guerra	Yovanna Guzmán
– Antenas	John Alex Toro	Ramón Oliveros 'Parabólica'
John – el Gordo John	Luis Eduardo Arango	William Tamayo Hernández – Mazinger
Mayor Luis Madero – el Caza Narcos (Unidad Antinarcóticos)	Alejandro Martínez	Mayor Elkin Leonardo Molina Aldana
Rodolfo Villate 'Rockie'	Juan Sebastián Aragón	—
Holger Prado 'el Puma'	Víctor Mallarino	Juan Diego Espinoza – el Tigre
Diego Casas – Caliche	Carlos Mario Echavarría	Luis Fernando Lopera – Casadiego
– El primo	Luis Fernando Montoya (actor)|Luis Fernando Montoya	Carlos Alberto Renteria – Beto
Aracely - Tía de Johanna	Marcela Agudelo	—
Johanna Lesmes	Angélica Blandón	—
El mariachi de "El piloto"	Gustavo Ángel	—
María Luisa Higuera (amante de "Caliche")	Margarita Muñoz	—
Lina María Acevedo (amor de "Don Mario")	Andrea Noceti	Paula Andrea Betancourt
Blanca (Esposa de Racines)	Paola Dulce	—
Larissa Márquez de Casas (esposa de "Caliche")	Paula Barreto	Gloria Patricia Gomez Osorio
Zully Carmona	Diana Hoyos	Nancy Cadavid
Olga (esposa de "Pirulito")	Patricia Castañeda	Yessica Paola Rojas Morales
Agente Katherine (DEA)	Paulina Gálvez	—
Agente Peter McAllister (DEA)	Anthony Guzmán	Agente Terry Cole (DEA)
Agente Lilian Young (DEA)	Michelle Manterola	—
Oliver Carmona o García (esposo de Zully)	Ramiro Sandoval	Albeiro Monsalve
Patricia Carmona (hermana de Zully)	Sandra Guzmán	Libia Cadavid
XL	Ramón Medina	José Luis Ledezma – el JL
Wilson Gamboa – Paredón	Joltzman Núñez	Carlos Arturo Patiño – Patemuro
Pedro – el Manteco	Ulíses González	Weimar Pérez – Grasoso
Teniente Calero	Julián Álvarez	—
Juan B. Guillén – el Piloto	Esteban Franco	Amado Carrillo Fuentes – el Señor de los Cielos
– el Golfo	Guillermo Quintanilla	Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo – el Padrino
Sebastián Bonera	Carlos Humberto Camacho	—
Farid Duarte	Ismael Barrios	—
Jaime Vélez – el Pajarraco	Bernardo García	Carlos Robayo – Guacamayo
Weimar Castro – Caremotor	Carlos Sánchez	Wenceslao Caicedo – el Señor de la Motosierra
– Mogollo	Giovanni Galindo	Gilmer H. Quintero – el Cabezón
Milton de Jesús Jiménez – Jimenito	Juan Hugo Cárdenas	Wilber Felipe Varela Camacho – Varelita
Luisinho	Bárbaro Marín	Fernandinho Beira-Mar
Lucía (esposa de Buñuelo)	Mónica Franco	—
Abogado Eddy Doménico (defensor de Bonera)	Gilberto Reyes	—
– la India (esposa del Rockie)	Yesenia Valencia	—
Joyce (esposa de Luisinho)	Viña Machado	Jacqueline Alcântara Morais
Antonio Villegas	Jhonny Rivera	Sigifredo Rodriguez Orejuela
Alias "El Pariente"	Carlos Mario Jiménez - Macaco	Manuel Gómez Gutiérrez
Doctor Rayo	Carlos Serrato	Doctor Wilfrido Barrios Chávez
Agente Navarro	D'Michael Haas	—
Agente DEA	Ilja Rosendahl	—
Julián Levy	Guy Davidyan	—
General Gervasio Morales	Rafael Lahera	General Hugo Armando Carvajal
Gildardo Jiménez	Jarol Fonseca	—
Bodyguard of "El Golfo"	Carlos Arrechea	—

Associated media

The book upon which the TV series is based also inspired the film El Cartel de los Sapos (2011). Lopez has also written several additional books based on his and his associates' experiences in the drug trade.

Prequel

A prequel series; The Snitch Cartel: Origins was released by Caracol Televisión in 2021.

External links

• (in Spanish) Official website
• (in Spanish) Telemundo El Cartel Website
• El cartel at IMDb