Colombia Drug Lord Arrested, Sent to U.S.

Government soldiers captured cocaine baron Carlos Lehder Rivas at a rural mansion early Wednesday, and he was immediately extradited to the United States for trial.

A Defense Ministry statement said that Lehder Rivas, described by U.S. officials as a billionaire cocaine trafficker who began as a teen-age marijuana dealer in New York, was put on a U.S. Air Force plane and flown to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Why he was taken there rather than Miami, where he faces charges, was not explained.

In Washington, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III said the arrest and extradition of Lehder Rivas “represents a major victory by the government of Colombia in the war on narcotics trafficking.”

Defense Minister Rafael Samudio had said earlier in the day that Colombia would extradite Lehder Rivas, 37.

Bodyguard Wounded

“The United Stated asked for his extradition and that was agreed upon,” he told a news conference.

The arrest is considered the Colombian government’s biggest blow to the drug trade so far.

Fifteen of Lehder Rivas’ bodyguards also were captured in the raid, and one of them was wounded in a brief gun battle, the national police and Defense Ministry said in a joint communique.

U.S. Justice Department officials said Lehder Rivas is believed to have been involved in a string of death threats made against U.S. and Colombian officials since 1979, most recently last month’s attempted assassination of Enrique Parejo, the Colombian ambassador to Hungary.

Lehder Rivas is one of 109 Colombians the United States has sought since the two nations signed an extradition treaty in 1979. Thirteen have been sent to the United States.

Lehder Rivas is wanted in Miami on 13 narcotics-related counts, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Bogota said. The charges include conspiracy to import cocaine, importing cocaine, possession with intent to distribute the drug and racketeering, the spokesman said.