Right-wing Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella announced on Wednesday the extradition to the United States of guerrilla leaders Willinton Henao and Geovany Andrés Rojas.
Henao, known by the alias Mocho Olmedo, and Rojas, alias Araña, are senior figures in dissident factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Both men served as peace negotiators under former leftist President Gustavo Petro before the current government suspended talks.
De la Espriella said during a public appearance that he had ordered the transfer and extradition of both leaders to face justice in North America. The president added that Colombia will also extradite three other individuals alongside them.
Extradition Proceedings and Federal Charges
The two guerrilla commanders face charges in US federal courts involving drug trafficking, weapons possession, and narcotics terrorism. Colombian security forces arrested both men in 2025 during Petro's administration, but their extraditions were delayed while they participated in government peace talks in Bogotá.
Henao served in Front 33, a FARC dissident faction operating along Colombia's eastern border with Venezuela. Armed clashes in 2025 between his organization and a competing guerrilla group forced thousands of local residents from their homes.
Rojas headed the Border Commands, a violent criminal network operating in southern Colombia near the border with Ecuador. The group is heavily involved in cocaine trafficking, extortion, and armed violence across rural communities.
FARC Accord Legacy and US Security Links
Both leaders broke away from the historic 2016 peace accord that disarmed the main body of the FARC, which had spent decades as the most powerful guerrilla insurgency in the Americas. Dissident factions refused to surrender their weapons and instead expanded control over lucrative illegal trade routes.
President De la Espriella, an admirer of Donald Trump, has promised to work side by side with Washington to crush illegal armed groups financed by international drug trafficking. On Wednesday, the commander of US Southern Command, the military headquarters overseeing American operations in Latin America, arrived in Colombia to meet the nation's new military leadership following an August 12 authorization of joint bombing missions against drug trafficking groups.
During his term from 2022 to 2026, Petro attempted to negotiate peace with various illegal armed groups responsible for bombings, kidnappings, and political violence. Military analysts and defense officials noted that the groups used the period to swell their ranks and strengthen their territorial presence.
