US and Colombia create task force for critical extradition cases

The United States and Colombia agreed on Thursday to create a new working group whose purpose will be to address “critical cases” in the field of extradition in case Washington strikes arise in response to a request that could be denied.

So said he Minister of Justice, Néstor Osuna Patiño, who arrived in the US capital since Monday for a series of meetings with the White House, the State Department, the Justice Department and Congress.

“Extradition has been applied according to the rules and the historical dynamics and that will continue. But we have agreed to have a specific working group based in Bogotá to analyze any critical case that may arise. At this moment there are none, but if one comes out in which we do not agree, we can discuss it, understand the reasons of the parties and agree on how to solve the difference or keep it on friendly terms,” said the minister.

According to the minister, the group -which he himself will lead- will be permanent and will review other judicial cooperation issues between the two countries.

We have agreed to have a specific working group based in Bogotá to analyze any critical case that may arise.

Likewise, they are considering sending a justice attaché to the Colombian embassy in Washington to give more fluidity to the judicial relationship.

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The government of Gustavo Petro, within the framework of its new total peace policy, has indicated that it would suspend the extraditions to the US of people who are part of guerrilla groups or criminal gangs if they submit to Colombian justice.

That decision, however, has created some discomfort -especially in sectors of the US Congress- and uncertainty among the officials of the Joe Biden administration.

According to the minister, the central objective of the visit was to “explain in detail” the new anti-drug policy and the handling that is planned to give the issue of extraditions.

“I must tell you,” Osuna said, “that what I found in all my appointments was a willingness and encouragement to work together. Those skeptical voices that speak of their mistrust of the new government were either unfounded or have been dispelled.”

According to the minister, in his meetings he did not detect any particular concern about the issue of the growth of illicit crops but rather the willingness to collaborate in the face of a problem that has been changing.

“They are aware that cocaine trafficking is changing, it has become more technical and dynamic and therefore the fight against these gangster networks has to change. They are thinking of giving us a much stronger collaboration in maritime and fluvial interdiction, help for money laundering, cryptocurrency research… and not so much for coca leaf cultivation and the usual strategies to deal with this issue that we all know have not produced the expected results,” he added.

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The Minister of Justice during his visit to Washington.

In the words of the minister, “the issue of the number of hectares eradicated is not at the center of the concerns.”

Osuna also indicated that talks have begun to expand the work that is being done with the US in three municipalities in the country to another 10 that were identified as those with the highest coca production nationwide.

Likewise, he indicated that in conversations with his counterparts in Washington, he spoke of reassessing the metrics used to measure success or failure in the fight against drugs and that, in general, are reduced to eradicated hectares and potential production of alkaloids. .

SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
On Twitter @sergom68