Fourteen former paramilitary leaders were extradited from Colombia to the U.S. this morning. The men had been jailed after they gave themselves up under a 2003 peace agreement and includes Salvatore Mancuso (image) who alleged that several U.S. fruit companies hired paramilitaries for “security” on plantations.Colombian President Alvaro Uribe claimed that the former para leaders were extradited since they didn’t abide by the pact and continued to mastermind crimes from behind bars. They will go up for trial in several U.S. federal courts to face charges of money laundering and drug trafficking.
The extradition has raised the ire of several groups such as opposition politicos who claim that it was done so that the government could lessen the blow of the “para-politics” corruption scandal. More importantly, is the worry by hundreds of families of those “disappeared” by the paramilitaries that they will never find out what really happened to their loved ones.
Sources- CBS News, Voice of America, AFP, The Latin Americanist, International Herald Tribune, Reuters
Image- BBC News
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