He is considered the new Pablo Escobar. “Otoniel”, leader of the Clan del Golfo and Colombia’s biggest drug trafficker, was extradited to the United States on Wednesday May 4, where he is wanted by a New York court, Colombian President Ivan Duque announced. on Twitter.
The drug baron, whose real name is Dairo Antonio Usuga, was arrested in October 2021 during a vast military operation which mobilized nearly 500 members of the security forces and left one police officer dead. He has been prosecuted for drug trafficking since 2009 in a New York court and his head was put on a price of 5 million dollars by the United States, which remains the main buyer of cocaine. “Today, legality, the rule of law, public force and justice triumph”welcomed the Colombian head of state.
Relatives of Otoniel’s victims had asked for a “suspension” extradition, considering that this procedure was going “abstract from justice a paramilitary leader who has committed crimes against humanity in our country”. But Colombian justice finally gave the green light to his extradition, the drug trafficker’s defense team told AFP. And once his sentence was completed in the United States, the leader of the Clan del Golfo “will return to Colombia to pay for all his crimes committed in our country”assured the Colombian head of state.
The detention under close surveillance in Bogota of the drug trafficker was marked by several incidents and controversies. Recordings of his testimony before the Truth Commission (JEP), the body that investigates human rights violations during the armed conflict in Colombia, have been stolen by unknown persons. Colombian police also interrupted a hearing for Otoniel, saying they suspected an escape attempt.
The independent online media Cambio said some wanted to silence the drug trafficker, who allegedly accused the army of complicity with far-right paramilitaries in certain regions of the country during his hearings. According to the press, which cites a JEP document, Otoniel allegedly implicated 63 people, allegedly linked to the Golfo Clan, including a former minister, a former national director of the intelligence services, six former governors and four former members of Parliament. .