Colombian criminals wanted for extradition should serve sentences at home before being sent abroad, says the country’s Justice Minister Juan Carlos Esguerra.
Some Colombian prisoners extradited to the U.S. are being given sentences that are “too short, ” Esguerra told W Radio this Wednesday.
“There are events in which it is clear that the crimes committed that affect Colombia and Colombians are more serious than might be committed in other countries and the reasonable thing is for them to be here where legal action was first taken and then accept extradition,” he added.
The Minister said that if the extradited prisoners completed their sentence in the United States it did not mean that all accounts were settled with Colombian authorities.
The controversy over the sentencing for convicted Colombians extradited to the United States comes in the wake of the deportation of Phanor Arizabaleta.
Arizabaleta was a former top commander of the Cali cartel who arrived back in Colombia after serving just eight months in the U.S. for drug trafficking. Arizabaleta now faces up to 20 years in Colombian prison for kidnapping and extortion.