Colombia Sends Drug
Warlord To U.S. For
Trial
Colombia has extradited
one of South America's
most feared paramilitary
warlords to the United
States to stand trial on
drug trafficking
charges, the government
said.
Carlos Mario Jimenez was
flown to Washington,
D.C., via Miami on a
U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration plane,
according to President
Alvaro Uribe's office,
just hours after
Colombia's top judicial
panel overturned a
Supreme Court decision
that had temporarily
blocked the extradition.
The Supreme Court had
ruled last month that
Jimenez should not leave
the country until he has
confessed to crimes he
is accused of committing
as the leader of illegal
far-right militias and
paid reparations to
victims. On Tuesday, the
judiciary's high council
overturned that
decision.
Last year, the Colombian
government stripped
Jimenez of the benefits
of a peace process —
including protection
from extradition —
because it said he was
continuing to traffic in
drugs and run
paramilitary operations
from prison.
Far-right paramilitaries
are engaged in a peace
process with the
government in which more
than 31,000 fighters
have laid down their
weapons. Commanders must
confess to crimes in
exchange for reduced
sentences.
The 42-year-old Jimenez,
better known by his
alias, "Macaco," was
among the least
cooperative warlords and
in August became the
first militia leader to
lose his benefits under
the peace deal. He is
now the first to be
extradited to the United
States.
Many victims of the
private militias — which
killed thousands and
stole millions of acres
of land — opposed
Jimenez's extradition,
arguing that his victims
would never be
compensated and that
many of his partners in
crime would escape
prosecution.
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