Colombia to reassess policy of extraditing drug traffickers to US

Critics also said Uribe was simply currying favor with the United States, especially as it related to the extradition of suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In a seeming response to both accusations, the Supreme Court blocked several high profile extraditions towards the end of Uribe's term.

President Santos has seemingly continued the trend of sending large numbers of suspected traffickers to face trial in the United States. The president has authorized the extradition of at least 300 Colombian nationals so far (link in Spanish).

However, according to legal experts consulted by El Colombiano (in Spanish), many Colombian drug traffickers still see extradition as a more promising option than remaining in Colombia, as US officials continue to offer favorable plea bargains in exchange for information on Colombia’s criminal underworld. US law enforcement officials dispute these claims.

However, for Colombians, this "leniency" was illustrated recently in the case of Phanor Arizabaleta Arzayus, a ranking member of the once-mighty Cali Cartel. Arizabaleta was extradited to the US on drug trafficking charges in 2011 but was only imprisoned there for eight months, a development which was met with criticism in Colombia. When he returned to Bogota in late March, he was taken into custody again, and will now likely live out the rest of his life in prison.

These deals are especially problematic in Colombia because they can also serve to shield human rights abusers in the country’s decades-long internal conflict. As InSight Crime has pointed out, many former paramilitary warlords that have been extradited to the US have had their records sealed, meaning that they are essentially beyond the reach of further prosecution in Colombia.

One such warlord, Salvatore Mancuso, is in close sentencing, and could receive close to 10 years, sources close to the case tell InSight Crime, much less than many in Colombia expected when he was sent to the US in 2008.

But if Colombia is to rely more heavily on its own justice system, it will have to address some major structural flaws. The entire judiciary branch is chronically understaffed, and court cases are often long, drawn out processes. When a case is heard in court, judges and prosecutors are frequently intimidated or paid off by criminal networks, contributing to a situation in which impunity remains the rule rather than the exception. According to a Justice Ministry report, less than three percent of all homicide cases between 2005 and 2008 resulted in a conviction.

– Geoffrey Ramsey  is a writer for Insight – Organized Crime in the Americas, which provides research, analysis, and investigation of the criminal world throughout the region. Find all of his research here.

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