COLOMBIA EXTRADITES 14 WARLORDS TO U.S.

Move Could Help Free-Trade Deal Advance in Congress

Colombia extradited 14 top paramilitary warlords to face
drug-trafficking charges in the U.S., a dramatic move that could help
the country secure a free-trade deal with Washington but endangers
Colombia's fragile peace process.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said the 14 bosses of the
paramilitary, a group believed responsible for shipping tons of
cocaine to the U.S. as well as having participated in or ordered
thousands of murders during Colombia's long-running civil war,
violated the terms of their 2005 peace deal by continuing to run
criminal groups and traffic drugs from prison. "We have greatly
reduced the incidence of violence in Colombia. Therefore, we cannot
afford to react weakly to the recidivists who return to their murders
and their other crimes," Mr. Uribe said in a nationally televised
address. On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California
Democrat, doesn't appear ready to free the trade deal for a vote. But
allies of the Andean nation seized on the extraditions Tuesday as
fresh evidence of the need for action on the deal, which would
tighten economic ties between the U.S. and Colombia.

Mr. Uribe, the son of a rancher murdered by guerrillas, came to power
in 2002 and has dragged the country back from the brink of chaos by
striking hard at the country's communist insurgency while making a
peace deal with right-wing paramilitaries.

As part of the deal, paramilitary leaders got reduced prison
sentences and an assurance not to be extradited in exchange for
promises to tell the truth about their crimes, compensate victims and
stop any illegal activity. Shortly after midnight, Colombian police
roused the militia leaders from their jail cells, placed them in
chains and transferred them in separate groups to a military base
near the capital, where agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration received the men and put them in a row of waiting
airplanes. The planes took off at dawn, flying to Miami, Washington,
Houston and New York -- cities where the drug lords have indictments
against them from the U.S. government.

One notorious boss, Rodrigo Tovar, known in Colombia as "Jorge 40,"
shouted obscenities as he was dragged to a plane, accusing Mr. Uribe
of betraying him, according to Colombian media reports.

The mass extradition, unprecedented in the war on drugs, should
cement Colombia's position as the Bush administration's top ally in
Latin America. Experts say the extradition likely won't slow the pace
of cocaine that Colombia sends to the U.S. -- with a street value
estimated at $12 billion a year -- because other men will take over
drug gangs. But it should ensure that this particular group of men
gets punished rather than being able to buy influence and a more
comfortable life in Colombian jails. "It's a day of historic action,"
U.S. drug czar John Walters said in an interview. Mr. Walters added
that none of the extradited men would be subject to plea deals that
could reduce their sentences -- making it likely they will get long
prison terms.

The extradition comes at a time when Colombia is trying to persuade
the U.S. Congress to pass a bilateral free-trade deal. Democrats have
put the deal on ice amid concerns about job losses in the U.S. as
well as accusations that Colombia hasn't done enough to halt
right-wing paramilitary violence against labor unions. The
extraditions will bolster Colombia's argument that it is becoming a
more tolerant, law-abiding society.

The Bush administration was quick to hail the move and urged
Democrats to respond by getting the pact unstuck. "We can certainly
hope that this would persuade Congress, the Democratic leaders in
Congress, specifically Speaker Pelosi, that she would see this as yet
another sign [of Colombia's merit]," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R., Mo.), in a statement urged "the
Speaker to demonstrate that she understands the stakes, is aware of
the consequences, and recognizes the key strategic component at the
core of this debate." The move also helps Mr. Uribe deflect attention
from a growing scandal in Colombia over links between much of the
political establishment and the paramilitary groups.

Scores of lawmakers, including many of Mr. Uribe's supporters, have
been jailed over ties to the illegal militias. An estimated one-fifth
of Colombia's congress is either in jail or has resigned in the
"para-politics" scandal. Analysts said that Mr. Uribe's move to
extradite the very people that he supposedly was close to would send
a strong signal that he was no longer -- if ever -- in the
paramilitaries' corner.

"It's a political masterstroke," said Bruce Bagley, a Colombia expert
at the University of Miami. "This should put to rest rumors that he
was beholden to the paramilitaries who had been allowed to penetrate
the presidential palace." Critics of Mr. Uribe's in Colombia
suggested that he sent the paramilitaries to the U.S. to ensure they
wouldn't taint his government further by implicating him or other top
officials. One of the extradited warlords, Salvatore Mancuso, last
year accused several top officials of helping the paramilitary movement.

Human-rights groups welcomed the move but also questioned whether
having the warlords in the U.S. would diminish the likelihood that
the truth about their crimes would ever be known to the victims'
families. "On the one hand, for the first time these guys are going
to be facing real prosecution and real punishment," said Jose Miguel
Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch and a critic of
Colombia's record on rights. "But the risk here is that, once again,
the victims of these massive atrocities will be the big losers."

During the past decade, Colombia has sent more than 600 people
involved in the drug trade to the U.S. for trial. But most of those
sent were seen as low-level drug dealers and those linked with the
leftist FARC guerrillas.

That began to change last week, when Colombia extradited its first
paramilitary leader, Carlos Jimenez, a 42-year-old popularly known in
Colombia as "El Macaco," a type of monkey. That move set the stage
for Tuesday's mass extradition.

The men extradited included Diego Murillo, known as "Don Berna." Mr.
Murillo started his career as a driver and alleged assassin for the
late Pablo Escobar, Colombia's most famous capo, who was killed in
1993. Don Berna stepped into Mr. Escobar's shoes and became one of
Colombia's most important drug lords.

Another is Mr. Mancuso, the son of prosperous cattle ranchers, who
studied engineering in Colombia. As part of the peace process, Mr.
Mancuso nonchalantly confessed last year to participating in or
ordering the killings of hundreds of Colombians. In a radio
interview, a Colombian journalist angrily asked Mr. Mancuso about
killing fields where paramilitaries systematically flayed and
dismembered victims. Mr. Mancuso replied: "I won't deny it, but you
have to put it into context." Reviled by some and revered by others
in Colombia, the paramilitary leaders for a while appeared as if they
were going to live well despite their crimes. At the start of the
peace process, Mr. Mancuso addressed Colombia's congress and was
applauded by many lawmakers.

The paramilitaries took part in the peace process in order to avoid
extradition. From the time of Mr. Escobar, Colombia's drug lords
repeated the refrain: "Better dead in Colombia than in a U.S. jail."
Mr. Uribe's move is sure to anger the paramilitaries and some of
their supporters. Some 47,000 people demobilized under the peace
deal, and 3,300 or so are actively in the peace process, according to
Mr. Uribe. Some paramilitaries have given up on the process and
returned to drug running. Others may question whether they should
trust the government's promises. "They will get a lot of backfire
from paras who felt they had a deal in place and now that deal has
been disrupted," said Mr. Bagley, the expert at the University of Miami.