Alleged drug trafficker extradited to U.S. may shed light on bungled Venezuela coup attempt
The extradition from Colombia of an alleged drug trafficker wanted in Texas and of interest in Florida may also provide new details about last year’s failed coup in Venezuela involving a Florida security company, two of whose members were captured and sentenced to long prison terms.
The Colombian justice ministry on Wednesday authorized the extradition of Elkin Javier López Torres, who goes by the Spanish aliases (The Chair) and (Double Wheels), both references to his wheelchair.
“He is part of a drug trafficking organization responsible for the coordination of the transport of cocaine shipments from Colombia to different countries,” the ministry said in a statement. “He covered tariffs on other cartels for use of the export routes and provided security for the transit of drugs via the routes over which he had control.”
The alleged trafficker — who suffers from paralysis because of a 2008 attempt on his life, according to one published report — was arrested in December 2019 when checking himself into a clinic with kidney problems. He was put under house arrest, and the United States immediately sought his extradition for allegedly trafficking cocaine to Mexico on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel.
López Torres is of particular interest in Florida because Venezuela alleges his cartel lords over territory in La Guajira, a dry scrub area, that was used for training camps as part of a failed coup in Venezuela last May. It was partly led by Floridabased Silvercorp, the security company, and resulted in the Venezuelan government’s capture and sentencing of two former U.S. special forces soldiers who were brought in by Silvercorp.
There are no public documents in the U.S. federal court system that point to an indictment, suggesting whatever case prosecutors in the Eastern District of Texas have against López Torres is sealed until he appears before a U.S. magistrate. A spokesperson for acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei declined to comment.
An informant told Colombian authorities last year that López Torres sent 500 kilos (1,102 lbs) of cocaine to Mexico monthly via small plane, according to El Heraldo, Barranquilla’s local newspaper. Earlier stories in that newspaper described López Torres as a ruthless trafficker who has killed dozens and was earlier aligned with Colombia’s right-wing paramilitary forces, known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or the Spanish acronym AUC.
The extradition was expected after Colombia’s supreme court last month gave its blessing. It’s unclear if the alleged trafficker is still in Colombia.
López Torres is sure to be of interest to Justice officials in Florida, because of the failed May 2020 coup in Venezuela. It was launched from the La Guajira region.
The issue is complicated by the existence of videotaped statements given by Airan Berry, one of two Americans captured in the failed incursion called Operation Gideon.
In an interview aired on Venezuelan state-run television, Berry said one of the captured coup leaders, Antonio Sequea, had met several times during the planning phase with López Torres.
It is unclear if Berry’s statement was scripted or otherwise coerced, but Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and state media said the incursion involved coordination between the United States and Colombia. Both have denied any involvement.
In an exclusive investigation last October, the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and their parent,
McClatchy, documented how at least two Trump administration officials had prior knowledge of the apparent freelance coup attempt.
Subsequent reporting showed how Maduro loyalists infiltrated the training camps of the would-be liberators and betrayed their cause, leading to the execution of six leaders and capture of dozens of insurgents. Multiple sources confirmed that Silvercorp’s leader, former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, was under federal investigation in Florida.
“The FBI does not confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation,” the agency’s Tampa office said in a statement on Thursday.
Nine months after the doomed incursion there have been no known U.S. charges. But one of the admitted coup plotters — ex-Venezeulan Major Gen. Cliver Alcalá Cordones — was extradited from Colombia weeks before the coup effort to face drug charges in the United States.
Alcalá allegedly worked with the
(Cartel of the Suns) and is charged with being part of a narco-government led by Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez.
The translator for Alcalá and Goudreau — a Venezuelan woman named Yacsy Álvarez, who owns property in Tampa — remains under arrest in Colombia.
Along with the extradition of López Torres, Colombia’s justice ministry also approved the extradition of Julio César Ruiz Arango, who goes by the trafficker alias or Armchair.
Colombia’s justice ministry said in a statement Wednesday that Ruiz was wanted in South Florida for drug shipments that occurred between January 2014 and June 2016. It said he belonged to the North Coast Cartel.