Pubdate: Mon, 27 Dec 2004
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2004 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

COLOMBIAN COCAINE SUSPECT IN CUBA, OUT OF U.S. REACH

Charged In Cuba With Using a False Passport, a Reputed Colombian Drug 
Trafficker Is Beyond The Clutches Of Colombian and U.S. Authorities.

BOGOTA - Even as Colombia extradites a record number of drug traffickers to 
the United States, one reputed capo is eluding capture and extradition in 
an unusual way: He is being held in Cuba on a charge of using a false passport.

Havana has been slow to move on the charge against Hernando Gomez, and 
Colombian authorities say they have no news on their request for his 
extradition to Bogota to face charges here.

Now, some of Gomez's associates have told The Herald that they suspect that 
Gomez may have bribed his way into an extended stay in Cuba so he could 
avoid a Colombian prison and later possible extradition to the United States.

"There's a long history of the Cuban government taking money . . . to give 
criminals refuge," said a State Department official, speaking on the 
condition of anonymity. "We hope the Cubans do the right thing in this case."

Gomez is said to be part of Colombia's Norte del Valle drug cartel, which 
allegedly accounts for 60 percent of the cocaine reaching U.S. streets. The 
U.S. Justice Department has indicted Gomez and eight other alleged cartel 
members, and many of its leaders were extradited to the United States in 
recent years.

Some of those extradited have cooperated with U.S. prosecutors, sowing fear 
and chaos among those remaining and triggering an intra-cartel squabble 
that has left close to 1,000 dead in the last year and forced many capos to 
flee Colombia.

*EXTRADITION SOUGHT*

Colombian and U.S. authorities would not discuss the Gomez case on the 
record. But Colombia, which has an extradition treaty with Cuba, has 
officially requested his immediate return to Bogota.

Gomez would most likely be sent on to the United States. Colombian 
President Alvaro Uribe has extradited nearly 200 drug trafficking suspects 
to the United States in two years, far surpassing his predecessors.

Cuba's top anti-drug official, Gen. Jesus Becerra, told reporters in 
October that Gomez was "in transit" when he was captured there in early 
July and did not intend to use Cuba to ship drugs. Gomez is charged with 
carrying false documents, a relatively minor crime. There has been no 
official word on what jail he is being held in, or even whether he has been 
brought to trial and sentenced.

Associates of Gomez say that his wife and top lieutenants have been allowed 
to visit him in Cuba, and that he is believed to be managing his drug 
trafficking operations from the island.

Cuba has a mixed record on its handling of foreigners wanted for crimes 
abroad, at times deporting them immediately, at times keeping them for 
extended periods.

In 1999, Cuba signed an agreement with Bogota to extradite 50 Colombians 
suspected of drug trafficking who were jailed in Cuba. It has extradited 
others to Mexico, most notably Mario Villanueva, a former governor of 
Quintana Roo wanted for drug trafficking in Mexico, and Carlos Ahumada, who 
was sought on corruption charges.

But Cuba has also sheltered suspected criminals. At last look, more than 70 
fugitives wanted in the United States for charges ranging from murder to 
hijacking to grand theft were thought to be living in Cuba.

Washington and Havana do not have an extradition agreement.

HELD IN CUBA

The U.S. fugitives in Cuba include financier Robert Vesco -- now in a Cuban 
jail after being convicted of defrauding the Cuban government -- and 
suspected cop-killer Joanne Chesimard.

Now, U.S. officials say, it is beginning to look as if another one has 
slipped under Cuba's protection.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager