Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Extradition from Colombia

Nazih Richani writes at NACLA that more Colombian narcotraffickers want to be extradited to the United States.

Between 2000 and 2010, 1,121 narcotraffickers were extradited to the United States. I suspect that through their negotiations with the U.S. judicial system, these narcotraffickers have found that they can obtain benefits outweighing the costs. Some of the perks include prison terms reductions, protections for themselves and their families, and securing part of their wealth. The new Citizen Security Law offers the added bonuses of an expedited extradition and possibly even better benefits.



This is a big change.  In the past, the Colombian judicial system was seen as so corrupt and porous that people fought to stay in the country, and for years the U.S. constantly pushed for extradition laws.  Alvaro Uribe opened the floodgates.

This is a glass half empty/half full issue.  Richani sees it as empty:

With all of the above we have to ask if extradition is truly an effective tool to fight crime. More and more evidence says it is not. Especially for those that have committed war crimes, extradition has become a safe haven since they will only be tried for “narcotrafficking” while their “crimes against humanity” are largely forgotten.
However, it is also worthwhile to ask whether the Colombian judicial system has improved to the point that it cannot be gamed as much as in the past.

1 comments:

Defensores de Democracia 2:43 PM  

This is excellent for the Colombian Taxpayer. He does not have to pay the stay in jail of some scoundrels and murderers.

After they return from prison in the USA their henchmen and accomplices may have stolen power from them and robbed their possessions and territories.

Remember that Pablo Escobar was hunted because the Criminal Pepes sided with the Colombian Government and turned their guns against Pablo's men.

Nothing like a Mafia War : a War between mafiosi to diminish their numbers.

Paul "Big Paul" Castellano (1915 – December 16, 1985), also known as "The Howard Hughes of the Mob" and "Big Paulie" (or "PC" to his family), was an American Mafia boss in New York City. He succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family, at the time, the nation's largest Mafia family.

Castellano and his bodyguard were shot to death outside Sparks Steak House in Manhattan on the orders of John Gotti and with the help of Sammy "The Bull"...

This cleared the way for the FBI and the District Attorneys to clean New York from a lot of mafiosi.

....

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