First images of the extradition of Álvaro Córdoba, brother of Piedad Córdoba, heading to the United States

At 7:00 am, the plane that would send Piedad Córdoba’s brother to the United States was expected to head towards that country. In the early hours of this Thursday, men from the Inpec special forces arrived to transfer him to the El Dorado airport, where a DEA plane was already waiting for him. Five other extraditables would travel with Córdoba.

Córdoba Ruiz is requested by a Court of the Southern District of New York for crimes related to drug trafficking. In his last statement, the congresswoman’s brother apologized to his family and friends.

From the early hours of the morning, in Catam the movement has been felt. WEEK It is in the place, where dozens of members of the country’s special forces have arrived to accompany this transfer. Police cars and Interpol have made the movement of the prisoners.

The extradition of Álvaro Córdoba took place after obtaining the permission of the Supreme Court of Justice and the signature of President Gustavo Petro, who they hoped would stop the extradition based on the statement he gave, according to which he would evaluate the extraditions if those were requested they still had information to provide to the authorities in Colombia.

It should be remembered that Córdoba Ruiz was captured on February 4 in the middle of the road in the El Poblado neighborhood, in Medellín, because it was required by the United States District Court, for the Southern District of New York, for crimes related to illicit drug trade. Along with Córdoba, a woman identified as Libia Amada Palacio Mera was arrested, who was also wanted by the authorities of this country.

“In order to execute the handover of persons to officials of the Government of the United States of America, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it requests to coordinate what is necessary with the Criminal Investigation Directorate and Interpol for the execution of delivery in extradition ”, reads in another part of the document dated January 18, 2023.

The file is revealing. For example, the testimony of the agent appears Mathew S. Passmore, who detailed how the congresswoman’s brother operated by providing services for criminal organizations.

The court document that the DEA agent stated there was a meeting on or about December 17, 2021, in response to a security question.

His testimony indicates that Córdoba Ruiz “declared that, in the Farc camp, where a commander was, there were at least 300 men armed to the teeth, even with weapons to shoot down objects (an apparent reference to surface-to-air missiles).”

What does the defense say?

WEEK cHe consulted the defense of Álvaro Córdoba, who explains that, for now, nothing else is planned other than that the brother of Senator Piedad Córdoba insist that there is no evidence, as he had said in a video also revealed by this means, in which he appears on an exercise bike hoping that he was not going to be sent to a cold cell in North America.

The explanations that Córdoba will give to the North American justice have to be clear. According to the evidences, Córdoba Ruiz was in charge of getting the drugs with the despondent head of the Farc dissidents in southern Colombia, Miguel Botache Santillana, alias Gentil Duarte., with whom he had established contacts for more than a year. He would have attended meetings to negotiate deals in Bogotá and Medellín.

Once the purchase of cocaine through Córdoba was completed, the FARC dissidents promised to take the merchandise to the Pacific, in three key points: Tumaco (Nariño), Cauca and Buenaventura (Valle). It was not easy for the authorities to find this link because he handled a profile different from the usual drug traffickers, who are used to being surrounded by luxuries. On the contrary, Córdoba went unnoticed and preferred to make contacts in discreet places and in person. For obvious reasons, he avoided talking about these issues over the phone and only did so to set up a few meetings.

But that is not all. Córdoba was part of a whole network that negotiated and trafficked drugs and weapons with tentacles in countries like Venezuela, Mexico and the United States, with the support of Gentil Duarte, former commander of the Farc dissidents, who died in Venezuela.

A few days ago, Álvaro Córdoba broke the silence and, prior to being sent to a maximum security prison in the United States, spoke about his legal case; He threw several darts at President Gustavo Petro and hinted at his despair in the face of the acute legal process against him.

“President Petro passes over the reasons of political and legal expediency. The facts of which I am accused are under investigation and they happened in Colombia, which implies that judicial sovereignty prevents the extradition of a compatriot in these cases,” he said, in dialogue with Blu Radio.

And he added in the interview with the radio medium: “Too bad that President Petro he ignored all this, he had no consideration, all the observations that were made about the anomalies in my case were ignored by the president.”

At that moment, Córdoba also mentioned the visit made by Juan Fernando Petro, brother of President Gustavo Petro, to former congressman Iván Moreno, brother of former Bogotá mayor Samuel Moreno, in which he was promising a “social pardon” or a profound modification to justice through a reform.

“He sent a message to President Petro not to forget a large number of people who are being held in La Picota, in the extradition yards. They were waiting for the government, actually headed by Dr. Gustavo Petro, as it did in the campaign, to really review the extradition cases that exist today and that a great majority are cases of entrapment“, I note.

And he went further by warning that he is innocent of the case for which he is being investigated and the extradition process to the United States is advancing: “I am innocent of the charges against me, the evidence delivered to the United States is illegal. I have never trafficked weapons or drugs, I have not belonged to any insurgent group, like my family, we have not lived off drug trafficking because we are not drug traffickers”. According to him, the law is applied to their accommodation and they use it to selectively persecute political enemies.

President Petro’s decision

Last November, high-level sources from the Casa de Nariño confirmed to WEEK that the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, signed the extradition to the United States of Álvaro Córdoba, brother of Senator Piedad Córdoba, a determination adopted by the Colombian president when resolving an appeal for reversal filed by the defense of Córdoba.

“To confirm Executive Resolution No. 196 of September 7, 2022, through which the United States of America was granted, the extradition of the Colombian citizen Álvaro Córdoba, in accordance with what is stated in the motivational part of this resolution”, emerges from one of the sections of the resolution signed by President Petro.

And the document also indicated that “it was complied with in full observance and observance of due process, that it has the prior and favorable concept of the Supreme Court of Justice and that with this appeal no new elements of judgment were provided that lead, to vary the initial decision, the national Government, by virtue of the power that assists it, will confirm in all its parts Executive Resolution No. 196 of September 7, 2022″.