US Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter this week to Attorney General Merrick Garland in which he asks him to stop the extradition of former paramilitary Salvatore Mancuso to Colombia until he is excluded as a peace manager for the government of President Gustavo Petro.
¨Mancuso’s appointment as “peace manager” is problematic, especially since he has been convicted by US federal courts for drug trafficking and by Colombian courts for more than 1,500 cases of murder or forced disappearances. Although he is currently incarcerated in the United States, he has yet to serve any sentences for his convictions in Colombia. Therefore, I urge you to reject any request by the Colombian government for Mancuso’s extradition, until his appointment as “peace administrator” is revoked, or there is credible assurance that Mancuso will comply with the sentences imposed by the Colombian courts,” he says. Blond.
In the letter, Rubio insists that “allowing Mancuso to not only walk free in Colombia, but also to represent the Colombian government in negotiations with the drug traffickers who are currently working to flood our communities with narcotics, would be an insult to the thousands of Colombians who They are victims of Mancuso’s crimes. I thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.
Mancuso finished serving a 15-year prison sentence in the US and has been fighting ever since to prevent him from being deported to the country. This week, this newspaper revealed that on May 26 an immigration judge denied his asylum request and therefore he is very close to being deported to the country.
Last month, President Petro appointed him as a “peace manager” as part of his total peace strategy to negotiate the subjugation of criminal groups and the ELN.
What Rubio’s letter does not explain is what path it suggests for Mancuso, given that he has already served his sentence and therefore the US only has three options: give him asylum, deport him to Colombia or send him to Italy, a country from where he also is a citizen
SERGIO GOMEZ MASER
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
On Twitter @sergom68
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