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Bogota: Colombia extradited 14 paramilitary warlords to the United States on Tuesday to stand trial on drug trafficking charges in a surprise move applauded by the Bush administration as evidence that Colombia deserves a trade deal.
But many Colombians worried that a narrow US focus on drug crimes would enable the warlords and their politician allies to escape responsibility for human rights violations including the deaths of at least 10,000 people.
Victims' families fear the extraditions will impede efforts to fully catalogue the warlords' crimes, unearth scores of mass graves and bring to justice the politicians
and businessmen who allegedly colluded with them.
Almost all the jailed politicians are close allies of President Alvaro Uribe, including former Senator Mario Uribe, his second cousin and longtime political adviser. Another 30 politicians are under investigation.
US officials vowed Tuesday to cooperate with Colombian prosecutors, and Uribe said any assets seized from the warlords in US court proceedings would go to compensate the victims.
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