Colombia Extradites Top Warlords To U.S.

Colombia extradited 14 top paramilitary warlords to the United States early Tuesday for failing to comply with the peace pact under which they demobilized.

Interior Minister Carlos Holguin said those extradited include the most senior warlord, Salvatore Mancuso. Many were wanted on drug-trafficking charges.

Mancuso, who appeared on Sunday's 60 Minutes for a report on Chiquita Brands International paying paramilitaries nearly $2 million, helped negotiate a deal with the Colombian government in 2003 that allowed more than 30,000 paramilitaries to give up their arms and demobilize in return for reduced prison sentences. As part of the deal, the paramilitaries must truthfully confess to all crimes, or face much harsher penalties.

The militias are responsible for thousands of killings and the theft of millions of acres of land.

Among those sent abroad were Diego Murillo, known as Don Berna, and Rodrigo Tovar, who went by the nom de guerre Jorge 40.

The move comes after last week's extradition to the U.S. of one of the country's most feared paramilitary warlords, Carlos Mario Jimenez, known as Macaco. The Colombian government accused him of continuing to run his drug gangs from behind bars.

Holguin said that the extraditions did not mean the end of the peace process with the paramilitaries.