[Marxism] US army drug dealers can't be tried in Colombia -- whereas Colombian drug dealers, who committed their acts in Colombia, are sent to the US

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit

BBC NEWS Oneline - Apr 7, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4420329.stm


Colombia 'will not try US troops'

The US says its military is helping Colombia combat drug smuggling

A group of US soldiers arrested for alleged cocaine smuggling cannot be
allowed to stand trial in Colombia, Washington's envoy to Bogota has
said.

Colombian senators have been calling for the men, who were based in the
country, to be extradited from the US.

But US ambassador William Wood said the soldiers are immune from
prosecution.

More than 200 Colombian citizens have been extradited to the US to face
trial for drug trafficking, under a bilateral deal between the two
countries.

Colombian politicians have asked the government to push for the US to
hand over the men, arguing that the extradition agreement works both
ways.

"In practical terms, these military personnel committed the alleged
crime in Colombia, and according to the extradition treaty, which is
bilateral, they should be tried here," legislator Gustavo Petro said.

President Alvaro Uribe, who is visiting China, has said he will review
the issue "very carefully".

Embarrassment

The US ambassador in Colombia has said the men cannot be extradited
because of an agreement between the two countries signed in 1974.

He also argued that the men were working for US embassy staff in
Colombia and therefore qualify for diplomatic immunity.

He sought to assure Bogota that the soldiers, who are thought to be in
military custody somewhere in the US, would not escape justice.

"We do not tolerate corruption," he said.

The whole affair has been extremely embarrassing for the US, which
supplies Colombia with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to fight
drug trafficking, says the BBC's Jeremy McDermott.

However, he adds that the Colombian authorities are unlikely to insist
upon the extradition because they depend on the US aid.

Aid recipient

Five US soldiers were arrested at a US military base in Texas after they
stepped off a flight from Colombia on 29 March.

They are suspected of attempting to smuggle 16kg (35 lb) of cocaine on a
US military aircraft.

According to the Associated Press news agency, one of the men was later
released.

The agency also reports that three of the five suspects were initially
detained on Colombian soil - a point Colombian senators say supports
their demands for extradition.

The US has more than 1,000 soldiers and civilian contractors working in
Colombia as part of a plan to combat a 40-year-old Marxist insurgency
and one of its major revenue sources - the cocaine trade.

Colombia is the third biggest recipient of US military aid, after Israel
and Egypt.


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