Gruesome and seemingly endless accounts of violence in Mexico have obscured one notable bright spot in Latin America's high-stakes struggle with powerful drug gangs. In Colombia, once home to the world's biggest cocaine cartels, new crime organizations are being picked apart with silent efficiency -- aided by Bogota's enthusiastic embrace of extradition. In recent years, more than 1,300 of Colombia's top crime bosses and their most dangerous enforcers have been sent north to face trafficking charges in the United States, a dramatic turnabout from the 1990s when extradition was outlawed under coercive pressure from the Medellin and Cali cartels. Traffickers who might have continued to operate their drug organizations from luxury prison cells near their Colombian homes find themselves serving extended terms far away in U.S. penitentiaries without wall-to-wall carpets, big-screen TVs or easy phone access. Many offer to become witnesses hoping to reduce their sentences.
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William Rempel: Colombia is fighting drug lords by allowing extradition to U.S.
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Rempel: Extradition doesn't stop smuggling, but it damages cartels
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Traffickers in U.S. cells can't run operations from luxury prisons in Colombia, he says
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Rempel says Mexico should take lessons from Colombia's successful strategy
U.S. authorities complain that, among other things, @placeholder requires excessive documentation before approving extradition applications -- notably the identities of certain key witnesses that can jeopardize their safety.