Carlos Lehder, a former partner of drug lord Pablo Escobar, was released on Monday by Colombian authorities following a brief detention in Bogotá, after arriving from Germany on Friday.
Background
- Lehder, 75, was the first Colombian drug trafficker extradited to the U.S. in 1987 during a bloody war between cartels and the state.
- He served over three decades in prison before being released in 2020 and relocating to Germany.
Lehder was apprehended at El Dorado Airport in Bogotá based on a 1995 conviction for illegal drug possession, weapons, and ammunition. However, the court ruled that his 24-year sentence for these crimes had expired, leading to his release.
Lehder’s Role in the Medellín Cartel
Known as “The Loco” for his eccentricities, Lehder pioneered drug routes from Colombia to the U.S., a period marked by intense violence.
His once-lavish estate, Posada Alemana, in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, now lies abandoned. Lehder started his drug trafficking career at 20 years old, and the property remains an enduring symbol of narco-trafficking.
Along with Fabio Ochoa Vásquez, another Medellín Cartel member, Lehder was extradited to the U.S., while Ochoa Vásquez was recently deported back to Colombia after serving a more than two-decade sentence in an American prison.
Pablo Escobar, whom Lehder served under, fought extradition through bombings and targeted killings of political figures, journalists, and judges. Escobar died at the hands of Colombian police on December 2, 1993, in Medellín.
