Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Tuesday that his nation plans extradite to the U.S. Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla alias “Beto Renteria”, the head of Colombia’s Norte de Valle cartel, who was arrested in Venezuela on Monday.
“We have captured a new drug trafficking capo … We grabbed him yesterday here in Caracas. We are going to send him … to the United States,” Chavez confirmed.
“Why, if he is Colombian, will Colombia not ask for him? Well, we will comply with the law. We will send him! He was wanted by Interpol under a code red,” Chavez said.
The 65-year-old Colombian drug trafficker was hunted down by a Venezuelan investigation agency with the help of British intelligence. The U.S. State Department offered a $5 million reward for his capture.
Beto Renteria is a leader of the Norte de Valle cartel, one of Colombia’s most notorious narco-trafficking organizations, which operates principally out of the Valle del Cauca department in western Colombia. He was the last head of the cartel to be captured.
In April the cartel suffered the high-profile loss of Ramon Quintero Sanclemente, who was arrested in Ecuador following an operation by Colombian and U.S. intelligence agencies.