CARACAS, (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez’s government said yesterday its neighbour Colombia would deport a Venezuelan drug lord to his homeland “within hours” in a snub to a U.S. extradition request.
Walid Makled, also known as “The Turk,” is suspected of being one of the world’s biggest traffickers, helping ship tonnes of Colombian cocaine to the United States.
After his arrest last year in Colombia, both Venezuela and Washington sought his extradition.
But Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos chose to favour Chavez’s government in a further show of rapprochement between the ideologically opposed administrations.
“In the next few hours, the extradition of this drug trafficker will take place,” Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami told reporters.
“It will be a great victory for Venezuelan justice.”
Colombian police could not confirm the time frame, though authorities have said the extradition will be soon. Juan Carlos Giraldo, a spokesman for Makled’s legal team, said it seemed he might be flown over the border Sunday or Monday.
The probable extradition shows the conservative Santos’ desire to patch things up with socialist firebrand Chavez and show some independence despite Colombia’s strong alliance with the United States in the war on drugs and rebels.
