The former chief prospector was formally accused of fraud and concealing evidence by Colombia’s war crimes tribunal JEP for trying to hand over a former FARC leader on drug charges that were fabricated by the US authorities. The accused are former Prosecutor General Nestor Humberto Martinez and former International Affairs director Ana Fabiola Castro. President of the war crimes tribunal, Roberto Vidal, urged the prosecution to “investigate any person” linked to the former Prosecutor General and the former International Affairs director. Unsurprisingly, the significant number of people that are connected are possibly corrupt US officials. For example, Jason Richman testified that the charges for Santrich were a part of a drug trafficking investigation in Columbia and DEA agent Brian Witek testified that he coordinated the operation to frame Santrich under order of law enforcement agencies. The JEP condemned the DEA’s illegal operations in Colombia that would allow Colombia’s prosecution to fabricate evidence and US prosecutors to fabricate charges and the American request to extradite the FARC’s former ideologue created an unprecedented crisis and triggered a surge of newly created guerrilla groups formed by former FARC who decided to abandon their reintegration process.
This article is important because it is a great example of American interference, specifically in South America. As far back as the 1890s with Argentina, the US has had a long history of interference with South America. The presence of expansion and imperialism in U.S. foreign policy combined with new economic prospects increased U.S. intervention in Latin America. Although Columbia and the U.S. have had their rough patches, they are now allies somewhat. However, when the U.S. messes around like this in the article above, it threatens to completely dissolve the alliance. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon occurrence, as the U.S. usually uses direct or indirect interference to get what they want.
The United Nations has their South American headquarters in Santiago, Chile. Columbia, as a whole, is a very active member of the UN. This results in extra support in certain areas from the UN such as social, political and economic development. Columbia has had a long history with the UN. In 1945 Columbia joined the UN, in 1950 the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) established its official country office in Columbia and in 2016, peace agreements between the Colombian government and FARC-EP took place. This is just a few of the ways the UN has helped with the development of Columbia.