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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Colombian Gov't To Extradite Paramilitary To U.S., Captures Another |
| 2004-08-28 |
| The Casa de Nariño (the White House of Colombia) officially announced that they have authorized the extradition to the United States of Arturo Calderón Salamanca, a member of the "Bloque Libertadores del Sur", or Liberators of the South Block, which is a part of the "Bloque Central BolÃvar," or Central BolÃvar Block, one of the paramilitary factions that are currently negotiating with the Colombian government in Ralito, Colombia. Calderón was captured by the police on November 9th, 2003. He is accused of having transported "tons" of cocaine to Mexico & the United States from the Pacific coast of Colombia. The decree which authorizes his extradition, number 158, was signed this past Tuesday by Colombian President Ãlvaro Uribe & the Colombian Minister of Interior, Sabas Pretelt de la Vega. The paramilitary leader has been indicted by the Middle District of Florida Federal Court and an arrest warrant was issued for Calderón on January 16th, 2003 for conspiracy to import cocaine & conspiracy to manufacture & distribute cocaine in the United States. Even though the decree from the Colombian President's office states that Calderón, aliases "Moisés" & "Alfredo", is considered a high-ranking member of the paramilitary block, his name isn't previously known to the media & his name doesn't appear in the publicized hierarchic ladder of the A.U.C. In other news from Colombia the Colombian Justice Department, or FiscalÃa, captured Elkin Casarrubia Posada, aliases "El Cura" (the priest)& "El Viejo" (old man), who was captured in a home in MedellÃn yesterday. According to government records he is one of the leaders of the "Bloque Calima" or Calima Block of the A.U.C. (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia,) the umbrella group of the various paramilitary factions in Colombia which battle left-wing guerrillas & their sympathizers. Casarrubia is presumed to be the righthand man of Hernän Hernändez, alias "Care'pollo", presumed leader of the Calima Block. Hernändez is one of the paramilitary leaders in negotiations with the Colombian government at Ralito. Nevertheless, in the publicized hierachichal ladder of the illegal organization there is no commander by the name Casarrubia. According to investigators Casarrubia participated in the masacre of forty people on April 10th, 2001, in Alto Naya, along the borders of Cauca & Valle. For this masacre the Justice Department of Colombia has called to account 68 presumed paramilitaries captured by the Colombian Marines in May of 2001. The Calima Block is reported to consist of 500 armed men. The faction first appeared in 2000 in that area of the Colombian Department of Valle. These two near simultaneous blows to the paramilitaries occured at the same time as percieved progress was being made in the peace/demobilization negotiations between the paramilitaries and the Colombian government. These achievements by the government are interpreted as being a good warning to the paramilitary leadership that the Colombian government will not allow continued delinquency by the paramilitaries during the negotiations. Another interpretation of the situation is that the government will gain negotiating leverage thanks to these two successes. El Tiempo, Bogotä, Colombia Translated by Geoffrey M. LaMear, aka Kentucky Beef |
| Posted by:Kentucky Beef |