Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, was one of the delegates from the Joe Biden government who visited Colombia in recent days. The delegation of high-ranking US officials met with President Gustavo Petro. After that meeting, the Colombian government announced that it will make changes to the extradition policy.
For years, extradition has been one of the most emblematic axes of the relationship between the two countries. For this reason, the announcement by the Petro government, with Gupta visiting Colombia, caused surprise.
According to President Gustavo Petro, the country has “advanced on some issues with the United States.” He clarified that this appointment –although it had not been convened to reach conclusions–, served to meet in order to outline ideas. “We proposed four points to change drug policy,” the president added.
The most structural point: extradition. “Drug trafficker who negotiates with the Colombian State with legal benefits and commits to definitively stop being drug trafficker, is not extradited to the United States”added the president.
Gupta responded to SEMANA regarding his initial impressions regarding this proposal. He assured that it is important “to have the opportunity between the two nations to discuss what the plans are.”
He added that there are previous agreements that they take into consideration, especially those related to the peace process and that the relationship with Colombia, in this sense, has always been one of great respect.
Todd D. Robinson, from the State Department, clarified to SEMANA that no one from the Department of Justice was in the delegation, which is the competent entity to be able to discuss the issue of extradition by that government. But he added that they recognize “the importance of extradition” as a cooperation mechanism in the fight once morest drug trafficking. He added that what will come is a meeting of that department with the Colombian Ministry of Justice.
In a previous meeting, Gupta recalled that Colombia and the United States celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations, making great progress over the years, and he specifically referred to his meeting with the president.
“We had a very fruitful talk. The United States and Colombia have had a 200-year shared history of forging a path together on drug policy, and President Joe Biden is aware that many of the policies of the past have marginalized some people,” Gupta noted.
