Colombian drug lord
willing to cooperate
with U.S.
Colombian drug lord Juan
Carlos Ramirez Abadia is
willing to cooperate
with the U.S. Drug
Enforcement
Administration (DEA),
his lawyer said on
Thursday.
Ramirez Abadia, leader
of Colombia's biggest
cocaine cartel -- North
of the Valley Cartel,
was arrested Tuesday by
Brazilian police and is
being held in custody in
Sao Paulo.
"My client asked me to
get in touch with DEA
and showed his wish to
cooperate," said the
Brazilian lawyer Sergio
Alambert.
Two U.S. agents joined
the operation to catch
the drug lord, and tried
to interrogate Ramirez
Abadia after his arrest,
but he refused to talk
to them at that time,
saying that he will have
"his entire life to
talk" when he goes to
the United States,
according to Alambert.
Brazil's Federal Supreme
Court will decide
whether to try the drug
boss on money laundering
charges for which he
would face a
three-to-ten-year
imprisonment in Brazil,
or to send him to the
United States, where he
is accused of drug
trafficking and murder.
Abadia is aware of the
charges that he will
face in the United
States and still wishes
to be extradited there
before Brazilian police
finish the
investigations into his
alleged money
laundering, his lawyer
said.
However, Abadia will
request a "conditioned
extradition" which
enables the Brazilian
court to issue his
extradition only if the
U.S. court commits to
sentencing him to a
penalty that does not
exceed the maximum of 30
years, allowed under
Brazilian law. That
would protect Abadia
from life imprisonment
or the death penalty in
the United States, his
lawyer added.
The Brazilian court has
already taken a similar
decision that would
support Abadia's
request, said the
lawyer. He stressed that
he believes the
extradition process will
be fast, "once there is
a great deal of interest
from Americans" in the
extradition issue.
The U.S. agency offered
five million U.S.
dollars for information
leading to Abadia's
capture.
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