Colombian militia boss guilty of U.S. drug charges

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Colombian militia boss guilty of U.S. drug charges

By Christine Kearney
29 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former top Colombian paramilitary commander pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring to smuggle tons of cocaine worth millions of dollars into the United States, U.S. prosecutors said.

Diego Fernando Murillo Bejarano, 47, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court after Colombia's surprise decision to extradite him along with 13 other paramilitary leaders in May.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan say Murillo, also known as "Don Berna," was a paramilitary chief who once dominated the Medellin underworld as a leader of the United Self-Defenses Forces of Colombia (AUC). He faces up to 33 years in prison when he is sentenced December 12.

Colombian paramilitaries were established in the 1980s by wealthy landowners to defend themselves against Marxist rebels in rural areas where the state had little presence. They soon waged a bloody counterinsurgency and killed many peasants suspected of guerrilla sympathies.

U.S. authorities say Murillo was in charge of transporting the AUC's cocaine. He was considered one of the most feared men in Colombia for the AUC's campaign against peasants.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080617/ts_nm/usa_colombia_cocaine_dc

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Now it has been arranged to get him out of Colombia to stand trial for drug charges in the U.S., he won't have to answer for his part in massacres of innocent civilians in Colombia, a fact not appreciated by the families of the tortured and murdered citizens.

On edit, adding photo of "Don Berna:"

http://s3.amazonaws.com.nyud.net:8090/elespectador/files/images/34dccbe22e6179b8ea682208672952f1.jpg

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombian warlord pleads guilty to smuggling

Colombian warlord pleads guilty to smuggling
Surprise plea in New York court comes month after he was extradited


updated 1 hour, 32 minutes ago
NEW YORK - One of Colombia's most notorious warlords pleaded guilty Tuesday to drug smuggling charges that could put him in a U.S. prison for the next three decades.

Diego Murillo, formerly a top commander in the right-wing paramilitary group, United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, entered the surprise plea Tuesday in federal court in New York City, just 35 days after arriving on U.S. soil.

Speaking through an interpreter, he pleaded guilty to an indictment that accused him of conspiring to smuggle tons of cocaine into the United States.

As a condition of Murillo's extradition to the United States, prosecutors had assured the Colombian government that they would not seek a life sentence; the plea agreement calls for him to serve between 27 and 33 years in prison.

~snip~
Human rights groups also blame Murillo for hundreds of murders in Colombia, some occurring while he was a top leader of the paramilitary group AUC, and some during a long career in organized crime that stretched back to the days of Pablo Escobar.

More:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25212444/

[Peace Patriot]

2. This is an excellent example of how the Bush "justice" system produces INJUSTICE!

This guy was extradited from Colombia--suddenly, in the middle of the night--amidst a ballooning scandal about rightwing paramilitary murders and drug trafficking at the highest levels of the Colombian government (Bush's pals, Alvaro Uribe, 'president' of Colombia, his family, his political cronies, and his Medellin Cartel and AUC connections). Now Don Berna will be buried in a U.S. prison, where he can be silenced--prevented from testifying in Colombia, bullied, bribed, intimidated, tortured and murdered with impunity.

It looks like "justice." It isn't!

[Judi Lynn]

3. He'll also be safely hidden from any prosecution a future HONORABLE Colombian government

would conduct concerning the enormous number of villagers he and his pals tortured and murdered, some in conjunction with the Colombian military.