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Colombia: the new president no longer wants to extradite certain drug traffickers to the United States

The new Colombian president-elect, Gustavo Petro, proposed this Sunday to put an end to the system of extradition to the United States of traffickers who would submit to the demands of justice in their country.

In favor of a “process of peaceful dismantling of drug trafficking, Gustavo Petro, the new president of Colombia, proposed to end the system of extradition to the United States of traffickers who would submit to justice.

This measure would depend on “a negotiation with the United States and perhaps they do not want it. Or that if,” added the senator and former guerrilla elected on June 19 with more than 50% of the vote in an interview with the Cambio website.

Extradition “is a bilateral treaty and therefore we are two, as in any marriage”, underlined the 62-year-old leader, who will take the reins of the main ally country of the United States in the region on August 7.

Half a century of collaboration

Bogota and Washington have been collaborating for nearly half a century in the fight against drug trafficking, of which Mr. Petro is a fierce critic.

Two days after his election, Gustavo Petro spoke on the phone with Joe Biden, who was committed, he said, to “a more equal relationship”.

The US president said he hoped to “continue to strengthen bilateral cooperation”.

A vast program to change Colombia

As part of his program to transform a country marked by deep social fractures and violence, Gustavo Petro had announced during his campaign a “policy of collective submission” to justice for drug traffickers, without giving further details. .

Extradition has long been one of the main tools used to punish cocaine kingpins such as Otoniel, the former leader of Colombia’s biggest drug cartel, who was handed over to the United States in May.

Colombia remains the world’s largest producer of cocaine and the United States the main consumer of this drug.

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