In the queue of extraditions that the Colombian prosecutor’s office receives from different countries every year, files have recently been moving unusually slowly. President Gustavo Petro, who must give final approval for the transfer of a person to another country to serve a sentence or for trial, keeps in his office dozens of cases that have already gone through all previous procedures, including the approval of the Supreme Court of Justice. Although Colombia maintains a high rate of extraditions, decision times are becoming more irregular in one of the most traditional and notorious instruments of its cooperation with the United States in the fight against drug trafficking, an instrument that Petro has questioned in the past and which has become the focus of his powerful conflict with President Donald Trump, who has revoked his visa, described him as a “drug trafficking kingpin” and included him on the list of persons subject to sanctions for alleged drug connections.
At first glance, cooperation remains in place. In the first half of the year, Colombia carried out 154 extraditions, 84 of which were for crimes linked to drug trafficking and 94 headed to the United States, while in the whole of 2024 there were 198. However, behind this global figure there is an increase in requests and the freezing of the cases of some high-ranking presidents, which were handled as usual by the Supreme Court, in the executive branch.
At the beginning of Petro’s government, with Néstor Osuna as Minister of Justice, the executive branch strengthened judicial cooperation. In 2023, the government reported 264 extraditions, the highest annual number since 2015, and in 2024 it carried out 198 extraditions. During that period, the average time between Supreme Court approval and the president’s signature was between one and two weeks. His successor, Angela Maria Buitrago, also maintained a steady stream of extraditions during her year in office. This deadline represents a significant contrast to current times, which has attracted the attention of prosecutors and lawyers involved in the processes.
One of the most famous cases showing the change is that of Larry Amore Alvarez Nunez, OR Larry Changa, Second in command of the transnational group Tren de Aragua. The Venezuelan has been detained in La Picuta prison in Bogotá since June 2024. The court upheld his extradition a year later after a complex process, and the presidential signature, which usually takes a maximum of a week, is still pending five months later.
A source from the Colombian Attorney General’s Office familiar with the process explains that there were initially administrative delays because two countries, Chile and Venezuela, asked Changa to stand trial for crimes committed on their territory. As is the case in any action of this kind, the requests initially reached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which referred them to the Attorney General’s Office. The investigating body carries out a first judicial review, such as checking your identity. It is then sent to the Supreme Court, which analyzes the background and verifies, for example, that the crime for which the person is wanted is also classified as a crime in Colombia. In the case of Larry Changa, this analysis took time because there were two simultaneous requests. Although the Supreme Court finally upheld his transfer to Chile, the man remains in prison in Bogota. All that is missing is the final signature of the president, who is free to refuse delivery. The bottleneck is no longer in the judicial review, but in the final stage in Casa de Nariño.
Another man whose judicial future hinges on Pietro’s signature is Giovanni Andres Rojas, aka Spider. He is the head of the so-called border commandos, a structure of dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) operating in the Amazonian department of Putumayo. He was arrested in Bogotá last February, while participating in a meeting as peace director with government delegations. At the time, the Attorney General’s Office said that although national arrest warrants were pending against him for his role in the dialogues, those seeking his extradition had not been suspended, and had been requested by the US government.
What happened was a general freeze on extradition. Other delegates from the armed group conditioned the table’s continuation on Araña remaining in Colombia, and Petro was informed, through the Ministry of Justice, of the suspension of this transfer. “If the president signs the extradition, the group will leave the table immediately,” confirms one of the lawyers advising the process. The government realizes that any movement on the file could “break the trust” it tried to build with that group, which is one of the few groups that have achieved progress in a comprehensive peace policy.
The third notorious case is that of Wellington Henao, alias Mocho Olmedoleader of the dissident group of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia known as the Front 33, a group that is negotiating with the executive. The Supreme Court upheld his extradition to the US in May this year, but the government suspended the matter in July and has not been appealed. The last case that relies on the signature of the executive is that of Andrés Felipe Marin, known as Pipes took over, The head of the La Inmacolada criminal gang, whose extradition was upheld by the Supreme Court on November 12, is an important target of American justice. With tensions growing between Petro and Trump, and with the Colombian betting that his comprehensive peace will show results during the nine months he remains in office, it is unlikely to be reactivated.
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