Extradited Colombian death-squad leaders leave valuable information behind

[AlphaCentauri]

Amid a flurry of secret dealings, 14 former Colombian paramilitary commanders accused of drug trafficking left Bogotá in the predawn hours of May 13, 2008, headed for the United States under an extradition pact. Along with another former commander extradited the preceding week and two more in 2009, a total of 17 leaders of the right-wing death squads were taken from the country.
The events went largely unnoticed in the United States, but were devastating for Colombia. The reason? Although their extraditions were related to drug trafficking affecting the United States, these were the same men who had been masterminds in Colombia's internal armed conflict for two decades.

Their crimes had important implications for the United States and Colombia, although not in the same way. For Colombia, the men were privy to invaluable inside information about the conflict: about the Colombian army officials who might have assisted them; the political leaders who might have turned a blind eye to their crimes or, worse, turned to paramilitaries in their bids for power; and about the people, corporations, civil organizations, and even U.S. multinational corporations that might have funded their activities, including Chiquita Brands, which in 2007 agreed to pay $25 million in fines for making payments to the paramilitary groups officially labeled terrorists by the U.S. government.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/17/AR2009121703007.html