Colombia extradites warlord to US to face charges

A June 12, 2007, file photo shows former paramilitary leader Carlos Mario Jimenez arriving for a court hearing in Medellin, Colombia. In a statement, President Alvaro Uribe's office said Carlos Mario Jimenez was flown early Wednesday, May 7, 2008, to Washington, D.C. on a DEA plane. (AP Photo/Luis Benavides,file)

BOGOTA, Colombia—Colombia extradited a paramilitary warlord to the United States on Wednesday for trial on drug charges, accusing him of violating a peace pact by selling drugs and commanding illegal militia fighters from prison.

A grim-faced Carlos Mario Jimenez, handcuffed and wearing a black bulletproof vest, was escorted onto a Super King 350 plane in a Bogota airport hangar shortly after midnight -- a scene shown in a video released by police.

Authorities said he was flown to Washington via Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Later Wednesday, officials announced the seizure of 25 homes, 23 vehicles and six businesses belonging to Jimenez that they valued at US$20 million (euro13 million) -- as well as goods including 26 watches and 14 Mont Blanc pens.

The extradition sends a message to other jailed warlords that they, too, could be shipped abroad to face stiffer prison sentences if they revert to crime.

Colombia's police chief, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, told Caracol radio that authorities have some evidence other militia bosses are continuing to run criminal groups from jail, "but not enough to make judicial decisions."

The Supreme Court ruled last month that Jimenez should not leave the country until he confessed his crimes and provided reparations to victims.

Colombia's top judicial panel overturned that decision on Tuesday, and he was hustled out of the country hours later.

The 42-year-old Jimenez, known by the alias "Macaco," surrendered in December 2006 as part of a peace pact with the government. More than 31,000 paramilitary fighters have demobilized under the 2003 deal, which requires top commanders to confess to crimes in exchange for reduced sentences.

But Jimenez was among the least cooperative of some 50 warlords, and in August he became the first to be stripped of peace deal benefits that include protection from extradition. Now, he is the first to be extradited.

In February, the U.S. Treasury Department listed him as a specially-designated narcotics trafficker, freezing his assets in the U.S. Washington also accuses him of money laundering and financing terrorist groups.

Many victims of the private militias -- which killed thousands of people and stole millions of acres of land -- opposed Jimenez's extradition, arguing that sending him overseas would hurt efforts to seek compensation for his victims and prosecute his partners in crime.

Attorney Alirio Uribe of the National Victims' Movement said Jimenez's absence means the bodies of many victims will never be found.

But Judge Angelino Lizcano, speaking for the seven-judge panel Tuesday, said prosecutors can still travel to the United States seeking information to help victims.

In a statement Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington and Colombia "share the concerns of the victims of paramilitary crimes for discovering the truth and seeking justice and reparations."

Legal instruments exist in the United States to ensure that extradited Colombians continue to provide information to prosecutors in their homeland and that civil remedies could also be pursued, McCormack said.

Before his surrender, Jimenez was accused of ordering massacres and shipping tons of cocaine to the United States. Prosecutors say that while in jail, he became involved in a new gang war in northern Colombia.

Colombia's paramilitaries were organized and funded by wealthy landowners and drug traffickers in an effort to wrest control of the countryside from leftist insurgents.

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Associated Press writers Vivian Sequera and Tatiana Guerrero contributed to this report.