U.S. Authorities Want Jimenez Extradicted

Colombia's foreign minister on Monday said that he U.S. is requesting the extradition of an alleged paramilitary warlord who was kicked out of Colombia's peace process last week on suspicion of running a drug smuggling ring from jail.^[1]

Fernando Araujo asserted that U.S. authorities want to extradite Carlos Jimenez on federal charges of conspiracy to import more than 11 pounds of cocaine to the United States.^[2] Jimenez, better known by the alias Macaco, would be the first militia leader extradited for allegedly breaking his pledge to stay out of criminal activity and provide confessions to prosecutors investigating atrocities committed by the paramilitaries.^[3]

Before disarming in December 2006, Jimenez was blamed for mass murder and smuggling untold tons of cocaine into the United States as head of one of Colombia's largest right-wing militias, the Central Bolivar Bloc.^[4] On Friday, Jimenez became the first jailed militia boss to lose special benefits conceded under a 2003 peace accord that led paramilitary leaders to demobilize 31,000 of their men in exchange for reduced prison terms and protection from extradition.^[5]

Several leaders of the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia, a paramilitary umbrella group, have been indicted by U.S. courts on drug-trafficking charges, and the U.S. State Department considers the militias a foreign terrorist organization.^[6] Since taking office in 2002, President Alvaro Uribe's government has extradited more than 500 suspected drug traffickers to the United States.^[7]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has also previously discussed the transnational crime of drug trafficking in his blog, here, and the specific occurrence of narco – terror, here.

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^[1] Joshua Goodman, U.S. wants Colombian warlord for drug trafficking, Associated Press Newswire, August 27, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.