LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Bolivia's highest court on Wednesday approved the
  extradition to the United States of a former anti-narcotics chief on
  charges of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the U.S., a rare ruling
  against a top security official in the Andean nation whose relations
  with Washington [1]have been strained for decades.

  The decision, which cannot be appealed, caps the rapid downfall of
  Maximiliano Dávila, 59, Bolivia's top drug cop in 2019 under [2]former
  leftist President Evo Morales, the first Indigenous president of
  Bolivia who became a global anti-imperialist icon for kicking out the
  U.S. ambassador and Drug Enforcement Administration in 2008.

  A former police colonel, [3]Dávila was indicted in 2022 in New York on
  federal charges of conspiring to import cocaine to the U.S. and
  possessing machine guns. The indictment accused Dávila of leveraging
  his position to provide top-level protection to cargo planes
  transporting cocaine through third countries for distribution in the
  U.S.

  The Justice and State Departments also offered a reward of up to $5
  million for information leading to his conviction. Dávila official has
  denied the charges.

  Bolivia’s Supreme Court of Justice announced it was granting a formal
  U.S. request for Dávila to be extradited on drug conspiracy charges.
  The U.S. State Department and Department of Justice did not publicly
  comment on the announcement.

  “After reviewing the documentation and the corresponding evidence, it
  has been determined to proceed immediately with Dávila’s extradition,”
  said Marco Jaimes, the court's president.

  Inside Bolivia, Dávila is facing money laundering charges. Bolivian
  authorities arrested him in 2022 as he was allegedly fleeing to
  Argentina, hauling him to jail in the capital of La Paz where he now
  remains.

  Dávila led the anti-narcotics agency in Bolivia for the final nine
  months of Morales’ [4]14-year presidency, which [5]ended abruptly in
  November 2019. The powerful former coca farmer resigned as street
  protests erupted after the announcement that he had won re-election to
  an [6]unprecedented fourth term.

  The [7]interim government of Jeanine Áñez, which took power following
  Morales' ouster, sacked Dávila.

  But he returned in 2020 under the government of [8]President Luis Arce,
  Morales' former economy minister. Dávila served for a year as police
  commander in Bolivia's central region of Cochabamba, a key hub of the
  country's coca-leaf production.

  An extradition treaty between Bolivia and the U.S. has been in force
  since 1995, despite decades of uneasy relations marked by America’s
  “war on drugs” and Morales' fierce opposition as a young union leader
  to U.S. forcible coca eradication policies.

  After Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador in 2008, the Bush
  administration did the same and nothing has changed since.

  This is the second time in Bolivian history that authorities have
  approved the extradition to the U.S. of a senior security officer, said
  Saul Lara, an opposition lawmaker and ex-foreign minister.

  The first was in 1995, when Col. Faustino Rico Toro, a former interior
  minister and anti-drug chief close to brutal Bolivian dictator Luis
  Garcia Meza, was handed over to U.S. authorities in Miami on cocaine
  trafficking charges.

  From Bolivia, lawyers for Dávila vowed to challenge the extradition.

  “This is a serious violation of human rights,” said defense attorney
  Manolo Rojas, promising that he would raise the case with the
  Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an organ of the Organization
  of American States, of which the U.S. is a founding member.

  Bolivia's court decision [9]comes as a fierce rivalry escalates between
  current President Arce and former President Morales, tearing apart the
  ruling Movement Toward Socialism party ahead of 2025 elections.

  Although Morales insists he has nothing to do with Dávila, Arce's
  supporters have sought to portray Wednesday's ruling against his former
  minister as a blow to the political career of the ex-president [10]who
  seeks to run in the presidential elections next year despite a court
  ban.

  “In the United States, the former anti-drug czar will surely be able to
  reveal who his accomplices are. Perhaps it is Evo,” said Senator
  Virginia Velasco, referring to Morales without elaborating.

References

  1. https://apnews.com/article/2c3e510978f64603ad3e42749b25ce31
  2. https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-evo-morales-la-paz-elections-voting-fraud-and-irregularities-d5676d406b4baa4d35276975b31b0656
  3. https://apnews.com/article/miami-arrests-united-states-money-laundering-bolivia-7354ed07e62c22c56361e9ddb3dddec3
  4. https://apnews.com/general-news-8b437e8c07bc4ed795aaa031366c9519
  5. https://apnews.com/general-news-4fcd6a5f055b44299178d6573734eea0
  6. https://apnews.com/general-news-dd5e6add0492429f81259af9114b1b39
  7. https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-bolivia-454d1102672f6fbc1e47dab7eca66714
  8. https://apnews.com/article/bolivia-coup-army-president-luis-arce-7d15ca2b18202842b2f615594cc950fd
  9. https://apnews.com/article/bolivia-morales-arce-political-economic-crisis-d38051e051a2e6473a18133e4a9c6120
 10. https://apnews.com/article/bolivia-evo-morales-arce-struggle-protest-violence-police-14888ebce41ed3479801dd054cc285c9

You are viewing proxied material from 1436.ninja. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.