At noon on Wednesday, Justice Minister Wilson Ruiz confirmed that he was authorized the extradition to the United States of two fellow drug trafficking unions.
This is Elkin Javier López Torres, alias ‘La Cadira’, and Juli Cèsar Ruiz Arango, alias ‘Butaco’, who will have to answer before the US Courts for the crimes of concert to import cocaine to the United States, manufacture and distribute it, as well as to concert to possess cocaine with the intention of distributing it on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of that country.
According to the Ministry of Justice, López Torres, alias La Silla, is requested by the East Texas District Court, While Ruiz Arango has an extradition request from the South Florida District Court. Both are available to the Attorney General’s Office.
According to the statement, ‘the Chair’ “is part of a drug trafficking organization responsible for coordinating the transportation of cocaine shipments from Colombia to different countries“.
Similarly, they point out that he allegedly charged fees to other cartels for the use of drug export routes, and provided security for drug trafficking through routes over which he had control.
(By context, we suggest you read: Strong security measures in moving narco ‘La Cadira’ home)
‘The Chair’ or ‘Double Wheel’ was mentioned by Nicolás Maduro in May last year, when accused him of having participated in a meeting with one of the men who was captured by the regime, indicated to try to perpetrate a military operation against him, in Venezuelan territory.
Maduro claimed at the time that one of the captured, Luke Alexander Denman, of American nationality, had acknowledged that he held a meeting in the upper Guajira with several people who supported the coup, including a man in a wheelchair who Maduro identified as Elkin Lopez, ‘Double Wheel’.
Since June last year, ‘La Cadira’ has enjoyed the benefit of a house in prison, after being imprisoned in a clinic in Barranquilla due to health problems.
(You may be interested in: Pointed out by Maduro to support once he seeks to expedite his shipment to the United States.)
alias Butaco
For its part, alias Butaco, highlights the Ministry of Justice, integrated another drug trafficking organization who committed crime on the north coast of the country and participated in the shipment of numerous shipments of cocaine between January 2014 and June 2016.
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