Colombia: Brother of Powerful Senator Pleads Guilty to Drug Smuggling Charge in US

Alvaro Cordoba, the brother of a powerful senator back in Colombia, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, admitting to federal narcotics charges as he tried to help smuggle illegal narcotics to New York. He was captured in a sting operation.

Cordoba entered the guilty plea inside a Manhattan federal court to a single count of conspiring to send 500 grams (17 ounces) or more of cocaine into the US. He is the brother of Pieded Cordoba, who is a powerful leftist senator and allied to Colombia President Gustavo Petro.

According to the Associated Press, he is set to serve a mandatory five years in prison. However, Cordoba could also face more than two decades in prison, according to federal sentencing laws. It was noted that his plea did not contain any promise to cooperate with law enforcement.

"I knew that the cocaine would end up in the United States and I knew what I was doing was wrong," he told judge Lewis J. Liman after pleading guilty. Cordoba is scheduled to be sentenced in the US sometime in April of this year.

His sister, Piedad Cordoba, had been a very harsh critic of the US and has promoted closer ties to Venezuela's socialist government. She also helped Petro win the presidency but sparked controversy after it was Petro himself who extradited her brother to the US. She was not accused of having ties to the illegal drug trade, just her brother.

Alvaro Cordoba reportedly offered to introduce undercover US drug informants to dissident guerrillas who could help smuggle huge quantities of cocaine to New York. This was enough for authorities to arrest him.

Powerful Colombia Senator Claims She Was Set Up After Brother Was Arrested for Drug Trafficking

Piedad Cordova was part of Colombia President Gustavo Petro's coalition when both of them won during the 2022 election. She supported the president's "Absolute Peace" initiative in promoting peace talks with rebel groups but has since been complaining of "political persecution."

The Colombian senator claims that she and Alvaro are the targets of a set-up that is comparable to the manhunt that brought down Medellin cartel boss Pablo Escobar decades ago. However, President Petro himself suggested that she take a break from politics before extraditing her brother to the US.

Alvaro himself is also a politician, once running for the city council of Medellin back in 2011. He initially claimed he was innocent and appealed his extradition, but this was rejected by Colombia's Supreme Court.

Extradition of Alvaro Cordoba Proves Gustavo Petro Willing To Work With US Despite Leftist Leaning

When Gustavo Petro, who was known to be a former communist rebel, won the presidency, the US was worried that Colombia would not work with the country anymore in clamping down on illegal drug smuggling. However, when Colombia extradited Cordoba, the US breathed a sigh of relief.

According to BNN, the extradition came after former Minister of the Interior Alfonso Prada met with the principal director of the National Security Council for the Western Hemisphere of the United States, Juan Gonzalez, last year. The two countries vowed to "respect many of those ongoing extradition processes."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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