Colombia: February 26, 2005

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The government has allowed another senior FARC official (Nayibe Rojas), to be extradited to the United States. Up north, the prosecutors have made cases based on long investigations against people who stayed out of the U.S., but had been heavily involved in the drug trade. Prosecution and punishment in the United States is more certain, and not liable to the bribes, or violent jail breaks, so common in Colombia. In the past 30 months, the an increasing number of high ranking drug gang members have been sent north, which has shattered the attitude of invincibility the drug lords long cultivated. Getting involved in the drug business now has a more obvious downside, and has become less popular.