Colombia transferred a notorious cocaine trafficker and paramilitary chief from house arrest to a maximum security prison on Friday in a successful attempt to calm a diplomatic dispute over its refusal to extradite him to the United States, Reuters reported. Colombia's decision on Thursday not to hand Diego Murillo Bejarano over to face cocaine trafficking charges in the United States was aimed at ensuring peace talks continue with anti-Marxist militias but prompted a public complaint from the U.S. Embassy. The man known by his alias "Don Berna" is a senior figure in the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, and sending him to the United States could have endangered the government's negotiations to convince the outlawed far-right paramilitary group to lay down its arms. But Colombia, which has received more than $3 billion in mainly military aid from the United States since 2000, also has to keep Washington happy, and President Alvaro Uribe on Friday moved quickly to mollify his allies. "At this moment, Mr. Murillo Bejarano is on a police plane flying between the cities of Monteria and Bogota on his way to Combita prison," Uribe told reporters. --more 2317 Local Time 2017 GMT
