Colombia’s new president signed the papers on Wednesday to send five armed-group figures to the United States — men whose extraditions Gustavo Petro had approved in 2025 and then parked because they were sitting at his peace tables. Abelardo de la Espriella, in office since August 7, said he had checked the files and found no “verifiable contributions” or “concrete results” toward peace. “Peace cannot be a refuge for criminals nor a mechanism of impunity,” he wrote on X. EFE, from Bogotá, named the five and the charges Washington wants them on: drug trafficking, conspiracy, money laundering, weapons, narco-terrorism.
Three are in Colombian custody, EFE said: Geovanny Andrés Rojas, alias Araña, a FARC-dissident chief in the Coordinadora Nacional Ejército Bolivariano; Willinton Henao Gutiérrez, alias Mocho Olmedo, of the Estado Mayor de Bloques y Frente; and Carmen Evelio Castillo, alias Muñeca, of the Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra Nevada. Two are fugitives: Gabriel Yepes Mejía, alias HH, an ELN dissident, and Fredy Castillo Carrillo, alias Pinocho, also ACSN. (BBC put the split at two in custody and three at large; EFE named three held and two still free.) Petro’s Total Peace talks with the ELN, FARC dissidents and outfits such as the Gulf Clan produced ceasefires and walkouts, not an end to the groups.
De la Espriella campaigned on crushing traffickers and has told Donald Trump he will take a harder line after Petro condemned U.S. strikes on suspected smuggling boats. Colombia is still the world’s largest cocaine producer. The extraditions were already granted. What changed this week is that the new president stopped suspending them.
