U.S. extraditions raise concerns in Colombia, says Washington Post

Investigators in Colombia who are unraveling the country's intricate past in a "Justice and Peace" process aimed at understanding the country's paramilitary movement known as the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia are concerned at the extradition of collaborators to the United States -- not for war crimes they have confessed to, but for drugs trafficking charges.

This Washington Post report is based on a four-hour jailhouse interview with Ever Veloza, a former paramilitary who ran death squads in Colombia backed by army officers and prominent politicians. Veloza is now one among two dozen top commanders facing extradition to the United States for cocaine-trafficking charges.

If I get extradited, the Justice and Peace process ends there, because the foot soldiers do not know anything. If I go, then the story of the Self-Defense Forces is incomplete.

More La Plaza Colombia coverage.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City