Colombia to Suspend Key U.S. Extradition Requests, Minister Tells AFP

Colombia's new justice minister told AFP on Thursday that some key drug extraditions to the United States "will be suspended," even if it worsens already frayed ties with Washington. Eduardo Montealegre said the leftist government's priority would be to bring dissident leaders -- many of whom are deeply involved in the cocaine trade -- to the negotiating table rather than jail. "It's about achieving the same goal through different paths," he said at his office in Bogota, "dismantling organized crime, ending drug trafficking." Colombia is balking at extraditing at least two prominent guerrilla leaders wanted by Washington for drug trafficking. They are believed to include Gabriel "HH" Yepes and Willinton "Mocho Olmedo" Henao Gutierrez, the leaders of two guerrilla factions. Colombia has received billions of dollars in anti-drug and other security funding from the United States over the years.

Normally close ties between the two nations have been ruptured by public spats between leftist president Gustavo Petro - himself a former guerrilla - and President Donald Trump. There is increasing frustration in Washington that drug groups have been given a freer rein under Petro's policy of "total peace". Recent years have seen a dramatic uptick in cocaine production and myriad security crises as armed groups have expanded control of large portions of the country's south and east.