cannabisnews.com: Colombian Drug Suspects Take to Web





Colombian Drug Suspects Take to Web
Posted by FoM on June 13, 2000 at 21:38:45 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: New York Times
Colombian drug lords have tried murder, kidnapping and terrorist bombings to avoid being extradited to the United States. Now they're taking their fight to the Internet. With a flashy new web page, www.extradicion.org, they're apparently trying to turn public opinion against plans by President Andres Pastrana to extradite more drug suspects. 
The page has angry diatribes against U.S. ``imperialism'' and includes interviews with prisoners and a poll purporting to show Colombians oppose extradition. The page was discovered by local media on Tuesday. It was set up by ``The Extraditables,'' a group of drug suspects arrested last year and awaiting their possible extradition. One of the Internet-savvy inmates is Jorge Ochoa, a former Medellin cartel boss who was among a group of 30 people arrested in October in a dragnet dubbed Operation Millennium, Ochoa's sister, Martha Nieves Ochoa told The Associated Press. In November, Pastrana extradited the first Colombian to the United States since 1990, a heroin suspect indicted in New York. The country outlawed the practice in 1991, capitulating to a wave of bombings and assassinations by the Medellin cartel. Pastrana acted under a 1997 reform reinstating extradition, and has pledged to keep sending Colombian suspects abroad. On their web page, ``The Extraditables'' argue Pastrana is kneeling before Washington to curry support for more than billion dollars in anti-drug aid being debated on Capitol Hill. U.S. officials have long pressured Colombia to turn over its nationals for trial in the United States. Drug traffickers have received very short sentences in Colombia for crimes that would earn them life sentences in the United States. On the Net: http://www.extradicion.org/Bogata, Colombia (AP) Published: June 13, 2000Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company Related Articles:Legendary Colombian Police Chief Resigns http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6048.shtmlBreaking Rank for Human Rights http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5770.shtmlDrug Control or Bio Warfare? http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5616.shtml 
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