This is how lawyer Maritza Lorza – Investigative Unit is extradited

Scented, impeccably cared for and with several years of experience, Colombian Maritza Claudia Fernanda Lorza Ramírez moved like a fish in water, both in prisons in the United States and Colombia, in search of clients.

Even the attractive attorney was preceded by a reputation for working on successful cases with the DEA and for knowing the American system well.

(We invite you to read: The 25 Bosses Who Slipped Into the Farc Lists)

But Lorza is already listed on the next DEA flight to be extradited to the United States for a case that has not yet been advanced in Colombia: the bosses who tried to sneak into the Farc’s demobilization paid juicy sums.

(You may be interested: the two accounts in Turkey and Greece in the name of the Farc)

In January 2017, DEA agents gave EL TIEMPO the first evidence, leading to the expulsion of several gangsters from lists endorsed by the FARC. Some even tried to insist and were stopped by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), which is continuing the purge.

‘There will be more cases’

But the DEA believes the problem is more fundamental. In their country, some believe it is a legal case of a link between drug trafficking and political crime. For the United States it is a trap, ”assured an agent, who announced more cases.

(In context: the secret trip to Turkey of a link in the ‘Santrich’ case)

In Lorza’s there are even two witnesses against him. For this reason, on May 21, 2019, his pre-trial detention was requested for extradition purposes, to answer for obstruction of justice, which means that he has reportedly asked (along with other people) about a million dollars for these proceedings, according to indictment 4: 18CR76 of the Texas Eastern District Court.

(Also: What’s behind the call for a free version from the JEP magistrate?)

The lawyer was arrested at El Dorado airport and taken to El Buen Pastor prison, from where he asked for various evidence to stop his extradition and even went to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

She began by asking the peace commissioner’s office, the JEP, and the prosecutor’s office to declare whether she had implemented procedures to label Juan Carlos Melo Guerrero, aka Aurelio, a guerrilla; Ramiro Figueroa Legarda, aka Rocco; Gerardo Obando Montaño, aka Cheko, and Tomás Martínez Minota, aka Patas.

(Also: Note: Farc gold sold for $ 40,630 million pesos)

In addition, she asked to be investigated if she was in the country when witnesses said she had offered them such benefits. And he even asked for the statement from former Justice Minister Enrique Gil Botero so he could say if she was trying to influence, threaten or pressure him to stop the renditions of drug lords.

Another ‘framework’?

But nothing helped. Not to mention that there is no charge in Colombia of obstruction of justice or the precautions he has requested from the IACHR, because the case is a “false framework” of the DEA.

(In context: JEP magistrate denies resigning for defending Kiko Gómez)

According to Lorza, her right to practice as a lawyer is being violated as only one of the aforementioned bosses – Tomás Martínez Minota – helped him override the extradition due to the application of the link between political crime and drug trafficking. .

And he requested to investigate whether other people, including officials, are being investigated in this case. Nobody answered him.

In the United States, however, they try to reach intermediaries and members of the Farc and even attorneys for ex-combatants who would have certified the alleged membership of those guerrillas from bosses seeking benefits, as happened with the paramilitaries.

RESEARCH UNIT
[email protected]
And Twitter: @UinvestigativaET