Colombia Bid to Extradite Drug Figure to U.S. Stalled

Colombian authorities acted Tuesday to send the only major figure arrested so far in a nationwide crackdown against drug cartels to the United States for trial, but the legal move has been stalled because Washington has not yet filed a formal extradition request.

Colombian legal papers against Eduardo Martinez Romero, known as the “finance minister” of the notorious Medellin cartel, were filed with the U.S. Embassy in Bogota and with the Justice Ministry, according to Col. Oscar Carmona, chief of the national police force’s judicial investigation division.

Martinez has been indicted by an federal grand jury in Atlanta in a $1.2-billion money-laundering scheme.

But a U.S. narcotics expert and an American official who spoke to reporters in Bogota both said the procedure has been stymied by the United States’ failure to request Martinez’s extradition.

After a U.S.-Colombian extradition treaty was nullified in 1987 by the Colombian Supreme Court, American authorities stopped filing extradition papers against the estimated hundreds of Colombians subsequently indicted on drug charges, the two said.

The extradition treaty was restored by President Virgilio Barco Vargas in one of a number of emergency decrees last week. Martinez’s extradition is being widely viewed as a test of the Barco government’s new procedures and of its resolve in taking on the drug cartels.

But the American drug expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, warned that unless the U.S. request is expedited, Martinez stands a chance of being released. Under the emergency decree, drug-trafficking suspects can be held only seven days without charges. Martinez, who was arrested Saturday, faces no criminal charges in Colombia.

In Washington, Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said the United States has opened discussions with Colombia on what documents it will need to extradite any of those apprehended.

Thornburgh also issued a list of the “dozen most-wanted” Colombian drug-trafficking kingpins sought by the United States for prosecution in the wake of Barco’s emergency decree.

Leaders of Cartels

The 12 included the leaders of the Medellin and Cali cocaine cartels, the organizations believed responsible for the bulk of the cocaine being smuggled into the United States and for the killings of political, judicial and police officials that Thornburgh said has brought Colombia “to its knees.”

Last week’s victims of drug-related violence included Sen. Luis Carlos Galan of the ruling Liberal Party, the front-running candidate for next year’s presidential election and an outspoken opponent of the cartels, and the police commander of the state in which Medellin is located. Fearing extradition to other nations, drug dealers have been able to effectively halt prosecution in Colombia through assassination, bribery and threats.

Thornburgh said Tuesday that he is furnishing the U.S. list to Colombian authorities and to Interpol “in recognition of the possibility that they have already fled Colombia.”

“We don’t know the whereabouts of any of these individuals,” Thornburgh said. “These drug kingpins have the means to flee to any corner of the globe.”

Martinez, 31, was arrested in a raid on a rural estate in Tolu, on the Caribbean coast about 450 miles north of Bogota, and is being held under heavy security at national police headquarters. In an interview with a local reporter, Martinez declared, “At no time have I had links to the Medellin cartel, and I don’t know any of its members.”

Authorities said Martinez was indicted in the United States along with suspected Medellin drug barons Pablo Escobar, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha.

Martinez and the others reportedly ran a company, La Mina, organized to launder billions of dollars in cocaine profits made in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and New York. Last spring, however, he unwittingly led federal undercover agents to the money-laundering operation. In March, agents charged dozens of suspects with drug and currency violations and seized tens of millions of dollars in bank accounts.

At the time, Martinez managed to avoid arrest in Panama, the official said. If extradited now, he would be the first drug suspect sent from Colombia to the United States since the extradition treaty was annulled.

Life Sentence

Two months before the Colombian court overturned the treaty, Carlos Lehder--believed to be one of the leaders of the Medellin cartel--was extradited to the United States. He was tried on cocaine-smuggling charges in Jacksonville, Fla., last year and sentenced to life in prison.

Under Barco’s emergency decree, “the quickest thing they could do is put some guy on a plane and deliver him to the United States,” Robert S. Ross Jr., Thornburgh’s executive assistant, said. Or, he added, Colombia could require the same kind of documentation that had been necessary under the treaty.

“Facing trial in the United States is what these drug lords fear the most,” Thornburgh said. “This list of a dozen priority offenders is only the first phase of our extradition efforts. Our review of those whom we seek for trial is ongoing, and the list is likely to be supplemented in the near future.”

At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday: “Although Martinez is not a major figure, we are pleased with his capture. (We) look forward to bringing the major kingpins before the U.S. criminal justice system.”

The list issued by Thornburgh included Escobar, 39, Ochoa, 40, and Gacha, 42. Three reputed top officials of the smaller Cali cartel also are being sought for prosecution in the United States--Gilberto Jose Rodriguez Orjuela, 50; Miguel Angel Rodriguez Orjuela, 45, and Jose Santacruz Londono, 45. Jamie Raul Orjuela Caballero, 46, an alleged Cali cartel member, is also on the list.

Four other reputed members of the Medellin cartel are being sought--Fabio Ochoa Vasquez, 32, and Juan David Ochoa Vasquez, 41, both brothers of Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez; Gustavo de Jesus Gaviria Rivero, 42, and Gerardo Moncada, 42.

Jose Ivan Duarte Acero, 37, a former police officer who allegedly works with the Medellin cartel and is suspected of attempting to murder two U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Colombia, is also on the list.

The Justice Department estimated that 80 Colombian traffickers face U.S. charges, but no move has been made to extradite them because of the 1987 ruling. Under Barco’s emergency measures, the Colombian government has the authority to extradite drug dealers without judicial review, relieving the besieged Colombian judiciary of responsibility. Since 1981, drug traffickers have been held responsible for the deaths of 220 judges, magistrates and judicial aides.

So far, according to police, about 11,000 people have been arrested since the sweep began last week. Barco, who invoked the emergency powers under the state of siege in effect since 1984, also authorized seizure of the property of alleged drug dealers.

Sources said a U.S. Air Force plane is in Bogota, ready to transport defendants extradited to the United States.

Troop Refusal

Also Tuesday, Foreign Minister Julio Londono Paredes repeated Colombia’s refusal of American military assistance in the anti-drug campaign.

“The Colombian government will not ask for or permit the presence of foreign troops,” he said.

Asked what Colombia needs most to fight the powerful cartels, Thornburgh said: “In my view, the drug cartels are sustained by the enormous appetite for drugs that exists, mostly in the United States. Every cocaine sniffer and crack smoker in this country contributes to the violence and the enormous profits that are reaped by the Colombian drug traffickers.”

Times staff writer Ronald J. Ostrow, in Washington, contributed to this story.