U.S. grants refuge to Colombian drug lord's wife (right-wing paramilitary)

[Judi Lynn]

Oct. 12, 2004, 11:19PM

U.S. grants refuge to Colombian drug lord's wife
Extradition of the paramilitary leader still sought
Associated Press

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - The United States has granted refuge to the wife of a drug-trafficking suspect wanted in the United States and whose paramilitary group is considered a terrorist organization, a senior U.S. envoy has confirmed.


Kenia Gomez, wife of Carlos Castano, a founder of the feared United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, went to U.S. officials for help after her husband disappeared during a gunbattle with paramilitary rivals in northwest Colombia last April.

"A few months ago, the wife of Castano asked for refuge in the United States, terrified by the disappearance of her husband, and we — previously having consulted with the Colombian government — conceded it for humanitarian reasons," U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Wood said in an interview in the current edition of the Colombian news magazine Semana.

The United States is seeking the arrest and extradition of Castano on criminal charges he smuggled tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2845165

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


cretin Castaño

Castaño Under U.S. Protection?

Carlos Castano, a right-wing militia leader in Colombia, was recently smuggled into Israel, AFP reported Tuesday. But Israeli Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry officials who checked this story said they found no evidence that Castano had entered Israel. They noted, however, that it is possible that he entered the country under a different name.

04.06.2004 (By Al Giordano, Narcosphere)

The Israeli daily Haaretz reports: The militia leader disappeared from Colombia on February 16 after the country's militias agreed to a government demand to disband. Castano, 39, was first moved to Panama under American guard and then sent to Israel, according to the French news agency's report. The Colombian government refused to confirm or deny this report...

Haaretz continues:

Castano apparently left Colombia because he had become associated with the United States' efforts to combat the country's illicit drug business and his life was threatened. Another militia leader was murdered several days ago after being suspected of similar cooperation with the Americans.

Carlos Castano, founder of the Colombian paramilitary death squad movement known as AUC (United Self-defense Forces of Colombia), is the kingpin behind more massacres, assassinations, drug trafficking, and other crimes than any other Latin American alive today.

The reported possibility that he is in some kind of witness protection program of the United States is primarily disturbing because there is absolutely no possible criminal "above" him that his testimony would be useful in trapping. Castano is the boss, the region's biggest war criminal of the latter 20th and early 21st centuries.
(snip/...)

http://www.anncol.org/side/611