Colombia extradited Carlos "Macaco" Jimenez to the United States on Wednesday, the first time the government has sent a former right-wing paramilitary boss to face US justice for drug trafficking. The move threatens to increase tension with other former paramilitary chiefs who are jailed in Colombia but are suspected of continuing to command cocaine-smuggling and extortion organisations from behind bars.
The militias, formed in the 1980s to fight left-wing guerrillas, have demobilised in the past four years under a peace deal in which they turned over their guns in exchange for benefits including reduced prison sentences and an agreement that they would not be extradited.
Colombia accused Jimenez of violating the terms of the peace accord by ordering crimes from his jail cell. His extradition came as Democrats in the US Congress demand that conservative President Alvaro Uribe do more to control paramilitary influence over criminal gangs before the lawmakers can back a US-Colombia free trade deal.
"This was a smart move by Uribe," Bogota-based security analyst Pablo Casas said of Jimenez's extradition. "It sends a message to emerging criminal groups, commanded by former paramilitaries, that the government will be tough on them. It also shows US Democrats that Uribe is serious about confronting the paramilitaries."
They were first organised as private militias by drug-smugglers, cattle ranchers and other rich Colombians trying to protect themselves from land grabs and kidnappings by rebels who are still fighting the state.
Funded by the country's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade, the "paras" soon grew more powerful than their original benefactors. They terrorised this Andean country in the name of fighting Marxist insurgents, using massacres and torture to intimidate rural populations long neglected by the state. Human rights groups have criticised the peace deal for being too lenient with former militia leaders, but not all rights activists welcomed Wednesday's extradition.
"What are we going to learn about severe human rights violations that occurred in Colombia now that 'Macaco' has been extradited?" said Lisa Haugaard, head of the Latin America Working Group, a Washington-based human rights organisation.
"Extradition can be a useful tool, but we need to know about the full scope of the horror that occurred in Colombia," she said. "We need to know who the 'paras' worked with and where the bodies are buried." Uribe's international standing has been hurt by a scandal in which dozens of members of his congressional coalition are being investigated for suspected illegal dealings with paramilitary groups. But he remains popular at home for cutting crime and sparking investment with his US-backed security policies.