Guatemalan police, aided by Interpol agents, arrested a Colombian guerrilla leader in Guatemala City Sunday, according to Colombian media sources.
Sonia Cruz Quinceño, alias “La Mona,” a leading member of Colombia’s FARC rebel group, the country’s oldest, is wanted by the United States for extradition on charges related to international drug trafficking.
Guatemala’s National Civil Police (PNC) told the Spanish EFE newswire that Cruz, 47, was detained in an exclusive area in the south of the Guatemalan capital, and that the order for her arrest and extradition was issued by a US federal court in the state of Virginia.
“According to investigations, this woman is the leader of the FARC’s 36th Front, and also has links with the criminal organization known as Los Urabeños,” EFE’s source stated.
Cruz stands accused of drugs and arms trafficking, money laundering and other crimes, according to the Guatemalan PNC.
“She was an operator for the Mexican drug trafficking cartels known as Los Zetas, The Knights Templar (Los Caballeros Templarios) and Sinaloa,” the PNC added.
Cruz was captured along with an unidentified man, who PNC believe could be her husband.
The rebel leader had reportedly been in Guatemala since last December, at which time the international order for her arrest was released. She has already served three years in a US prison for money laundering.
A Guatemalan criminal judge will decide shortly whether to complete the FARC chief’s extradition back to the United States will be completed.
Sources
- Colombiana acusada de narcotráfico es detenida en el Obelisco (Prensa Libre)
- Detienen en Guatemala a cabecilla de las Farc (El Espectador)
