A sister-in-law and a niece of Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe will be extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges, research center Nuevo Arco Iris said Saturday.
According to the research center, the extradition of Uribe’s family members was requested by federal courts in south Florida and New York fror their alleged ties to “El Chapo” Guzman, leader of the fear Mexican Sinaloa Cartel.
The 48-year-old Dolly Cifuentes was the partner of Uribe’s younger brother, Jaime Alberto Uribe, who died of throat cancer in 2001. The 31-year-old Ana Maria Uribe is the daughter of Cifuentes and the former President’s brother.
According to the DEA, the two suspects are guilty of drug trafficking and money laundering.
Cifuentes Villa was arrested in 2010 at the request of the U.S. and Uribe was put on the Kingpin List in September 2011, but their extradition procedure was suspended by Justice Minister Juan Carlos Esguerra in May this year, said Nuevo Arco Iris.
According to the research center, the suspects’ extradition may again be delayed as the two suspects have disappeared from court records and none of the competent authorities were willing or able to say where the two suspects are located.
The Uribe family has long faced accusations of ties to drug trafficking organizations.
According to 1991 U.S. military intelligence files, The former President was a “close friend” of Pablo Escobar, who according to Colombian newspaper archives lent Uribe one of his helicopters in 1983 when his father was killed and his brother Santiago was injured by FARC guerrillas.
Santiago is facing a criminal investigation for the alleged founding and leading of a paramilitary group and Uribe’s cousin Mario was convicted for his ties to the paramilitary organization AUC. The former President has on several occasions and by several people been accused of having had ties to this organization. Uribe has categorically denied ties to drug trafficking or paramilitary organizations.