Colombia extradites top drug gang leader to U.S.
Source: Reuters
By Luis Jaime Acosta
BOGOTA | Wed Aug 28, 2013 1:22pm EDT
(Reuters) - Colombia extradited Diego Perez Henao, one of the country's most wanted gang leaders, to the United States on Wednesday to face charges for alleged cocaine trafficking and involvement in hundreds of murders, Colombia's prison authority said.
Henao, who goes by the alias Diego Rastrojo, was handed over to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials under tight security at a military airport in Bogota, the Colombian capital, and put on a U.S.-bound plane.
One of the heads of the Rastrojos criminal gang, Henao was captured in Venezuela in June 2012, then deported home to Colombia. A $5 million bounty was offered for his capture.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/28/us-colombia-usa-extradition-idUSBRE97R0YU20130828
= new reply since forum marked as read
From the article:
Colombia's five main criminal gangs, which have around 3,800 members, were mostly formed after the disbanding of right-wing paramilitary groups in 2006.
Many of the paramilitary units morphed into criminal gangs supplying cocaine to cartels in Mexico and the United States, making the arrest of their leaders a top priority for Washington in its battle against drug trafficking.
[center]
Diego Perez Henao, when he was a younger right-wing scum. [/center]
Anybody know the legal/political in's and out's? It happens frequently, but only from Colombia (that I've noticed). You don't see Chilean alleged gang leaders extradited to the U.S., or Brazilian, or Mexican, or even, say, Honduran (like Colombia, a U.S. client state).
I find it puzzling, given Latin American sensitivities about sovereignty. Even rightwing leaders in Latin America have to give at least lip service to their country's sovereignty. This seems to be a gross violation of Colombian sovereignty--the routine shipment of alleged gang leaders--Colombian citizens--to the U.S.
What is the reason for it? I mean, in officialdom. And what might be the real reasons for it?
It seems to me that it could be seriously abused--used to hide top level corruption. I strongly suspected this during the Bush Junta, when the whole country was being run by a criminal organization (I mean Colombia)--the Alvaro Uribe regime. About a hundred of Uribe's closest political associates, including family members, are under investigation or already in jail in Colombia for drug trafficking, ties to rightwing death squads, vast illegal domestic spying and other crimes (and Uribe himself remains a target of prosecutors, thought they haven't been able to nail him yet, probably because he enjoys CIA protection). In the midst of the horrible Uribe criminal scene, Uribe and Bushwhack ambassador William Brownfield connived on midnight extradition of death squad witnesses to the U.S., on mere drug charges, and their 'burial' in the U.S. federal prison system--by the unusual procedure of complete sealing of their cases--out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors and over their vociferous objections. What did these prisoners know--that the Bush Junta's "fixer" in Colombia, Brownfield, wanted them in Bush Junta custody so badly that they did it in secret, against Colombian prosecutors' wishes? What were they covering up?
I frankly think there is ON-GOING corruption in U.S. "war on drugs" agencies--above and beyond the "war on drugs" boondoggle itself. And I think the U.S. "war on drugs" is being used to eliminate non-cooperative drug organizations, small players (such as the FIVE MILLION peasant farmers who have been brutally displaced from their lands), and other rivals to Big Pharma/Big Ag/Big Chem, who have plans to monopolize the trade through legalization.
Also, prisoners' rights are an issue--or would seem to be. These are Colombian citizens. They likely don't speak English. They likely don't know the first thing about the U.S. legal system. Why are they "facing charges" in the U.S., and not in Colombia? ARE they first convicted in Colombia, then shipped here--a double jeopardy procedure? If not, how can they be extradited? On the basis of allegations?
And what about the death penalty? Are they subject to the death penalty here (and not in Colombia)? (I don't know if Colombia has the death penalty, but I know that it is very disfavored in Latin America and banned in most countries.) It would be relevant in this case. The man is accused of multiple murders.
Finally, I don't trust corporate news organizations AT ALL--and Rotters is one of the worst on Latin American issues. (That's why I call them Rotters.)
They seem to just re-issue U.S. State Department faxes and tout them as 'news.'
For instance, in this article:
Many of the paramilitary units morphed into criminal gangs supplying cocaine to cartels in Mexico and the United States, making the arrest of their leaders a top priority for Washington in its battle against drug trafficking.--Rotters (my emphasis)
They NEVER question shit like this (Washington's "battle against drug trafficking"
. And there is every reason to question the corrupt, murderous, FAILED U.S. "war on drugs"--from its utter failure (the cocaine just keeps on rolling in) to the obvious war profiteer corruption throughout. Really, they might as well be on the State Department payroll (or is it the CIA's payroll?).
And this:
Colombia is one of the world's top cocaine producers, making around 300 tons a year even after U.S.-backed efforts to stamp out the illegal trade. The country's leftist guerrillas, the FARC and the smaller ELN group, levy taxes on local production of coca but deny involvement in trafficking the drug.
The coca leaf is the raw material used to make cocaine.
The government has been in peace negotiations with the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, since last November. Both the FARC and ELN, or National Liberation Army, are considered terrorist organizations by the United States and European Union.--Rotters (my emphasis)
What has the FARC and the Colombian peace process to do with this news about an alleged rightwing paramilitary/cum drug lord prisoner? They just tag it onto the end of the article (trying to smear the FARC with the crimes of rightwing paramilitaries?). It has no relevance, that I can see.
I've seen such bias, such distortion, such disinformation and such outright lying about Latin America from corporate news monopolies like Rotters that I don't trust ANYTHING they print. I have reservations about every alleged fact they assert--including who this man is, what he is allegedly guilty of and why the DEA wants custody of him.
Rotters neither asks nor answers ANY of the questions that this "extradition" raises. WHY is he being extradited to the U.S.? WHY is he to "face charges" in the U.S. and not Colombia? HOW has his alleged guilt been established? When, where, by whom? WHAT does he have to say? WHO is defending him (there and here)? What the Hell is this furtive movement of prisoners all about?
I also wonder about Venezuela's role in the extradition. Venezuela is where he was captured. Venezuela long ago threw the DEA out of Venezuela, and has an excellent record of busting up big drug gangs since then (much better than when the DEA was running things). Venezuela has extradition requests to the U.S. that have not been honored, and I don't imagine that Venezuela would cooperate with the DEA on this one. But they might do so with Colombia as a peace gesture (and thus indirectly with the U.S.). Was there any objection to this in Venezuela? Has Venezuela been affected by U.S. State Department lies about their "lack of cooperation" with the failed, corrupt, murderous U.S. "war on drugs"? Have they made a poor decision because of this--turning over someone to Colombia whom they knew would then be turned over to the DEA and end up in a death penalty country (the U.S.)?
But, mainly, why would Colombia turn one of its own over to the DEA? Why was this so urgent? And why have they done that multiple times?
Lots of questions, and no answers--and not even any questions--from Rotters. They just mindlessly repeat whatever "war on drugs" war profiteers tell them.