NEW YORK (AP) — The brother of a leftist Colombian senator pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal narcotics charges as part of an operation in which he offered to introduce U.S. informants to dissident guerrillas who could help smuggle in large quantities of cocaine in New York.
Álvaro Córdoba, dressed in prison attire, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a single count of conspiracy to ship 500 grams (17 ounces) or more of cocaine into the United States. He will be sentenced to a mandatory five-year prison sentence, but he could also receive a sentence of two decades behind bars under sentencing laws. His guilty plea contains no promise to cooperate with law enforcement.
“I knew cocaine would end up in the United States and I knew what I was doing was wrong,” Córdoba, whose sentencing is scheduled for April, said in his statement to Judge Lewis J. Liman.
Córdoba, 64, was arrested in Medellín, Colombia, in 2022 and extradited to the United States almost a year ago by President Gustavo Petro, who was elected with the support of Córdoba’s sister, Senator Piedad Córdoba.
It was a delicate case for Petro, taking into account his historical ties to the left as a former member of rebel groups and his new role as commander in chief of the security forces, which have long collaborated with the United States in the fight against drug trafficking in the South American nation.
Piedad Córdoba has been a vocal critic of the United States, which, under the previous conservative government in Colombia, promoted closer ties with Venezuela and more support for often overlooked Afro-Colombian communities.
Although prosecutors have not accused the senator of any involvement in the drug trafficking scheme, her brother’s court-appointed attorney, John Zach, suggested during a hearing last October that DEA agents instructed informants to target in the legislator. And the same senator compared the operation against her and her brother with the search that ended with the death of the leader of the Medellín cartel, Pablo Escobar, a few decades ago.
But his complaints of “political persecution” were ignored and Petro authorized Córdoba’s extradition shortly after taking office. The president’s decision was seen as a sign of hope in Washington, which has relied on Colombian support for more than two decades to limit the supply of cocaine entering the country. More recently, however, Petro has criticized the U.S.-led war on drugs.
Zach declined to comment. The Associated Press sent an email to Senator Córdoba seeking comment.
Although much of the case in the United States against Álvaro Córdoba remains under seal, Colombian court records regarding his attempt to prevent his extradition reveal that a confidential DEA source approached him telling him that he was seeking protection within Colombia to trafficking up to 2.7 tons of cocaine per month from Mexico to New York.
Córdoba then put the source in contact with a close friend who said he had a large amount of “chicken,” supposedly a reference to cocaine, Colombian court records show.
Córdoba also allegedly offered to arrange for the DEA source to visit a clandestine camp located in the jungle in the south of the country where 300 guerrillas armed with surface-to-air missiles and other weapons would provide safe passage for the narcotics. The rebel unit was under the command of a dissident Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commander who refused to adhere to the 2016 peace treaty that Piedad Córdoba helped negotiate, prosecutors said.
Shortly before Christmas 2021, Córdoba and his associate gave the confidential source and an undercover Colombian agent a 5 kilo (11 pound) sample of cocaine in exchange for $15,000, authorities said. Córdoba was arrested months later. After being extradited to New York, charges against him related to firearms were dropped.
Goodman reported from Miami. It is in X like: @APJoshGoodman
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2024-01-03 01:41:15
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