Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin states the Supreme Court will decide whether to extradite suspected drug trafficker Walid Makled to Venezuela, and that the neighboring country requested the extradition before the U.S.
“The process is in court, when we received the request of Venezuela’s government we took all the appropriate measures, it’s a decision which takes several months in the court and we are waiting for it to happen,” Holguin said, reports Caracol Radio.
The decision is likely to take several months, the minister said.
Makled was arrested in Colombia in August, and both the U.S. and Venezuela have requested his extradition. Colombia has close ties with the U.S., and has a tradition of extraditing criminals to stand trial there, but is currently in the midst of a delicate process of restoring relations with neighboring Venezuela.
The alleged trafficker claims that officials in the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are involved in drug trafficking, and say he will reveal this information to the U.S. if extradited there.
On Monday Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said he was waiting for Colombia to proceed, and that he had been making requests for the extradition for months.