U.S. defense secretary speaks at news conference in Panama
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says greater cooperation and coordination are the keys to dealing with narco-terrorists, and Panama is playing an "important role" in that fight.
Appearing in Panama City on November 13 for a news conference with Panama's Minister of Government and Justice Hector Aleman, Rumsfeld said Panama is undertaking "laudable efforts" to address the "nexus" of terrorism, drugs, and organized crime.
Aero Continente designated for sanctions under U.S. Kingpin Act
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has named Aero Continente -- a passenger and cargo airline based in Lima, Peru -- to its list of entities that are subject to American economic sanctions under the U.S. Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act).
In a November 10 statement, OFAC Director Robert Werner said Aero Continente is a "financial facade controlled by the notorious Peruvian drug kingpin, Fernando Zevallos Gonzales." The Bush administration, said Werner, continues to "unravel drug trafficking operations and their illicit financial infrastructures by taking actions like today's, which deprive narcotics traffickers of illegal profits funneled through companies such as Aero Continente."
Suspects face drug-trafficking, money-laundering charges
By Eric Green Washington File Staff Writer
Thirteen Colombian drug suspects have been extradited to the United States, where they will face charges of narcotics trafficking and money laundering, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, part of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Extradition of Colombian drug traffickers to the United States has become "routine," ever since Colombia restored a law to allow such extraditions in 1997, said an official with the Marshals Service. A common definition of extradition is the surrender of a fugitive from justice or of a prisoner of one state or authority to another.
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