The Venezuelan who 'knew too much'

[Bacchus39]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110124/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_colombia_venezuelan_narco

VALENCIA, Venezuela – By the time the White House designated him an international drug kingpin in May 2009, Walid Makled had risen comet-like from petty smuggler to port mogul and airline owner through the good graces of Venezuelan power brokers.

So closely was the Syrian immigrant's son tied to what Washington has deemed a narcotics-trafficking cabal of military men loyal to leftist President Hugo Chavez that arrest last year in a Colombian border city had U.S and Colombian drug agents beaming.

He would be extradited to the United States to stand trial for shipping an estimated 10 tons a month of cocaine to North America and Europe, Colombia's national police director Oscar Naranjo announced. Except now, it appears, he won't be.

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos decided that Makled should instead go to Venezuela, where he faces drug trafficking and murder charges. Privately, U.S. and Colombian officials say the decision could mean forfeiting the opportunity to build criminal cases against some of Venezuela's most powerful figures.