Colombia extradites right wing war lord/drug dealer

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Colombia extradited one of the country's most feared paramilitary warlords to the United States early today to face drug trafficking charges, the government said.

Carlos Mario Jimenez was flown to Washington, D.C., via Miami on a Drug Enforcement Administration plane, according to President Alvaro Uribe's office. The announcement came 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 committed as the leader of illegal far-right militias and paid reparations to his victims.

On Tuesday, the judiciary's high council overturned that decision.

Last year, the Colombian government stripped Jimenez of benefits offered during peace negotiations — including protection from extradition — because it said he was continuing to traffic drugs and run paramilitary operations from prison.

Far-right paramilitaries are engaged in a peace process with the government that has seen more than 31,000 fighters lay 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.

...

Prosecutors said Jimenez became involved in a new gang war in northern Colombia after surrendering under the peace deal.

Emerging drug barons are filling a void in the trafficking business created by the demobilization of about 50 paramilitary warlords.

Colombia's paramilitaries were organized and funded by wealthy landowners and drug traffickers in an effort to wrest control of the countryside from leftist insurgents.

Perhaps he can make a courtesy call on Nancy Pelosi to thank her for killing the Colombia free trade agreement. Her actions have certainly benefited his business model. What the AP left out is how the Uribe government has had success not only in destroying FARC, but also in destroying the right wing groups too. They have been able to do this through cooperation with the Bush administration. Democrats appear to oppose this cooperation.