Top Colombian drug trafficker to sell out former partners to US authorities

[Judi Lynn]

Top Colombian drug trafficker to sell out former partners to US authorities

Colombia has extradited to the US one of the "Twins", a powerful drugs trafficker, who has vowed to cooperate fully with the justice system and sell out his former partners and the members of the security forces who helped him move hundreds of tons of cocaine.

By Jeremy McDermott in Medellin
Last Updated: 7:11AM GMT 05 Mar 2009



Miguel Angel Mejia: If Mr Mejia does give up all he learned in more
than two decades in the bowels of the Colombian underworld, the
implications could be dramatic for cocaine smuggling Photo: REUTERS

"He has told me that he wants to fully cooperate with the justice system," said Angélica Mari­a Marti­nez, a lawyer for Miguel Angel Mejia, who is now on US soil awaiting trail on drugs trafficking charges.

If Mr Mejia does give up all he learned in more than two decades in the bowels of the Colombian underworld, the implications could be dramatic for cocaine smuggling. Miguel and his twin brother, Victor, whose organisation became known as the "Twins Cartel", worked their way up the criminal ladder, starting as assassins, then specialising in moving large cocaine shipments by sea, into the US and into Europe via Albania.

The Twins were largely unknown until 2001, when $35 million (£24 million) in cash was found in two of their flats in Bogota. The Twins then bought their way into the illegal Right-wing paramilitary United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (known as the AUC), setting up a private army and a fiefdom in the eastern province of Arauca, astride the strategic smuggling route into Venezuela.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/colombia/4940623/Top-Colombian-drug-trafficker-to-sell-out-former-partners-to-US-authorities.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombian ex-paramilitary head extradited to US

Colombian ex-paramilitary head extradited to US
Published: Thursday 05 March 2009 18:05 UTC
Last updated: Thursday 05 March 2009 18:05 UTC

Colombia has extradited a former leader of the paramilitary movement the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) to the United States on drugs and money laundering charges. The extradition of Ever Veloza, known as "HH", who has admitted involvement in some 3,000 killings while heading the umbrella organisation set up to counter left-wing guerrilla groups, has angered families of the victims. They feel that hundreds of murders and kidnappings will now go unsolved.

Human rights campaigners say the extradition of Veloza means the whereabouts of mass graves may never be found. President Alvaro Uribe has been a loyal ally in helping the United States to fight drug trafficking in the world's leading cocaine producer.

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/6203269/Colombian-exparamilitary-head-extradited-to-US

[struggle4progress]

2. Colombia extradites paramilitary leader to US over rights groups protests

Hebert Veloza Garcia's extradition will stymie efforts to find justice for his victims, say Colombian human rights groups.

By Arthur Bright
posted March 06, 2009 at 9:53 am EST

Colombia has extradited Hebert Veloza Garcia, one of its "most feared" former paramilitary leaders, to the United States on drug-trafficking charges, despite requests from Colombian human rights groups that Mr. Veloza's extradition be delayed until he had more completely detailed the crimes committed under his command.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Veloza was flown to New York in US Drug Enforcement Administration custody Thursday, and will face trial on drug charges in the US. Veloza, also known as "HH," led paramilitary fighters in northern Colombia who killed hundreds of leftist guerilla sympathizers and displaced thousands more before being captured in 2007, but human rights groups believe that he has yet to reveal all the crimes in which he was involved ...

The Associated Press reports that the US has promised to give Colombian prosecutors access to Veloza, but the human rights groups, which had already successfully delayed his extradition by six months, believe that Veloza's departure will leave many of his crimes unresolved ...

Along the same lines, Reuters cited CRIC, a Colombian indigenous peoples' group, which said in a statement that "When paramilitaries are extradited, the country and especially the families' victims lose out, they lose the truth and they lose justice." ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0306/p99s01-duts.html