Top Colombian Drug Lord "Don Mario" Indicted
in U.S.
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Correa Leads Ecuador Polls
Bolivian Parliament Probes Terrorist Plot
Top Colombian Drug Lord "Don Mario"
Indicted in U.S.
(Reuters) - Colombia's most-wanted drug
lord, a former paramilitary fighter accused
of thousands of murders, was charged on
Tuesday in Manhattan federal court with drug
trafficking and supporting terrorism, U.S.
prosecutors said.
Daniel Rendon-Herrera, known by the alias
"Don Mario," was charged with conspiring to
support the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia
(AUC) rightist paramilitary group, which the
U.S. State Department has designated a
foreign terrorist organization. He also was
charged with conspiring to import thousands
of kilograms of cocaine into the United
States.
Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin unsealed the
grand jury indictment against Rendon-Herrera
and five others on Tuesday. If convicted,
Rendon-Herrera faces a maximum sentence of
life in prison.
The once-feared cocaine baron was captured
last week, with authorities saying he was
hiding under a palm tree in the jungles of
northern Antioquia province. He is in
custody in Colombia.
"The charges against Rendon-Herrera and his
capture represent significant steps in the
fight against the most dangerous narco-terrorist
groups," Dassin said in a statement.
Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for the
U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan,
declined comment when asked if U.S.
authorities had requested extradition.
Colombian Defense Minster Juan Manuel Santos
told reporters at the time of the arrest
that Rendon-Herrera, who once offered his
gunmen a $1,000 reward for each policeman
they killed, is responsible for at least
3,000 murders.
His ruthless style recalled that of
Colombia's best-known drug baron, Pablo
Escobar, who waged war against the state in
the 1980s until he was gunned down by
security forces on a Medellin rooftop in
1993.
Rendon-Herrera is the brother of a jailed
paramilitary warlord known as "El Aleman,"
or "The German," a nickname he earned for
his reputation of enforcing strict
discipline among his troops.
Rendon-Herrera is accused of running cocaine
trafficking in the area controlled by his
brother in the 1990s, when right-wing
paramilitaries battled leftist guerrillas
for control of rural Colombia.
The South American country, the world's
largest cocaine producer, has become less
violent under President Alvaro Uribe, who
has used billions of dollars in U.S.
military aid to battle the guerrillas and
disarm the paramilitaries.
Much of the cocaine is smuggled to the
United States through Mexico, where
thousands of people have been killed by
Mexican cartels that have taken over from
Colombian gangs as the dominant drug
traffickers in the Americas.
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