US early release of extradited drug traffickers ‘insulting’: Colombian Senator .
Source: Colombia Reports
US early release of extradited drug traffickers ‘insulting’: Colombian Senator .
Tuesday, 19 March 2013 12:38 Johnny Crisp
Colombian Senator Juan Manuel Galan on Tuesday called the United States' practice of shortening sentences for extradited drug traffickers “ridiculous and insulting.”
The Liberal senator from Bogota is calling for a "profound and serious debate" on the extradition process between Colombia and the U.S.
His statements coincide with the news of the release of Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Sierra Ramirez alias "El Tuso" from a U.S prison on March 14. Galan declared that the process has been “eroded” and claimed that in Colombia extradition has taken on an “attractive identity.”
“A cartel of intermediaries has sprung up between drug traffickers and the North American justice system, organizing the surrender of deliveries and of collaboration over [drug trafficking] routes information, so that 15 or 20 year sentences very often become as short as six years, or six months,” declared the Senator, adding that at the end of this process many of these drug traffickers “end up with Visas and all kinds of conditions.”
Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/28593-us-early-release-of-extradited-drug-traffickers-insulting-colombian-senator-.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Please check the final two paragraphs from the article:
Senator Juan Manuel Galan is the son of former presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan who was assassinated in 1989 by narcos for running on a platform that supported extraditing Colombian drug traffickers to the U.S.
This man's father was also THE man running for the Presidency from the left who was likely to win that election.
Please check the father's Wikipedia:
~snip~
Assassination
According to accounts the first assassination threats were phone calls made to Galán's home phone number after the Liberal Party Convention to nominate an official candidate. Flyers were left in the mailbox threatening to kill or kidnap his children. An attempt to kill Galán with an RPG was thwarted while visiting Medellín on August 4, 1989. The assassination attempt was frustrated by Waldemar Franklin Quintero's men who got tipped off. Quintero was the commander of the Colombian National Police in Antioquia and along with him and Galán was the Mayor of Medellín, Pedro Pablo Paláez, both of these men were killed weeks later after the assassination attempt. After this event Galán and his family restricted their travels especially during the night time.[8]
Later on Galán's staff received information from the Colombian intelligence services advising him of the presence in Bogotá of a group of hitmen with the intention to kill him. His staff advised him not to travel to the town of Soacha and that the trip to Valledupar was more suitable since he was also scheduled to attend a football match in nearby Barranquilla for the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifications and in which the Colombian team was going to play. At the last moment Galán changed his mind and ordered his staff to prepare to go to Soacha.[8]
Galán was killed as he walked onto the stage to give a speech in front of 10,000 people in Soacha. At least ten others were wounded in the gunfire.[9]
The Colombian drug cartels were worried of the possible approval in congress of an extradition treaty with the United States and political enemies feared Galán's increasing power would isolate many of them from the votes.
According to John Jairo Velásquez aka "Popeye" and Luis Carlos Aguilar aka "El Mugre", Escobar's former hitman, the assassination was planned in a farm by Pablo Escobar, Gonzalo Rodríguez aka "El Mexicano", Liberal political leader Alberto Santofimio and others. Velásquez affirmed that Santofimio had certain influence over Escobar's decision making and he had heard him say "kill him Pablo, kill him!".[10]
Other potential perpetrators were mentioned by a demobilized member of the AUC paramilitary group, "Ernesto Baez", who testified that the murder of Galán was organized by the Colombian mafia with the participation of corrupt members of the military and the DAS.[11]
More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Carlos_Gal%C3%A1n
(DAS was the name of the Colombian government's secret intelligence/spy organization which was taken down after former President Uribe's DAS personel were found to have spied upon the left, the Colombian opposition, Supreme Court, activists, labor organizers, etc., and arranged assassinations, wire-tapping opponents, etc. Some of them fled the country and had to be nabbed by INTERPOL)
[center]
Luis Carlos Galán[/center]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0Kc65V-qLeM
His assassination, news show, the camaraman on the left with the news anchor discussing the event after the news clip.
[center]~~~~~[/center]
Luis Carlos Galan: The Most Important Criminal Case You've Never Heard of
Posted: 17/01/12 00:00
It's the most important criminal case you've never heard of. A tale of political conspiracy and assassination, set against the background of the violent 1980s cocaine trade.
In life, Colombia's 1989 presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Galan, was South America's version of JFK; charismatic, visionary, admired and fearless.
More than 20 years after his murder the comparisons to JFK continue.
Galan was gunned down in public. TV cameras recorded the moments leading to and including his death. And yet, like JFK, the truth behind his killing has never emerged. Nobody, it seems, knows who killed Luis Carlos Galan.
One senior Colombian official once told me Galan's fate could be summed up in the title of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. "His life reads like the chronicle of a death foretold", he said.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/stephen-hull/luis-carlos-galan-murder_b_1208793.html