A New York court ruled this Friday a 14-year prison sentence for Álvaro Córdoba, brother of the late Colombian senator Piedad Córdoba, for conspiring with individuals linked to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in cocaine trafficking to the United States.
Álvaro Córdoba, 65, also received an additional sentence of four years of probation, as reported by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern District of New York in a statement, cited by the EFE news agency.
This Colombian citizen was extradited to New York in early 2023 and admitted his guilt last January on drug trafficking charges, for which the prosecution had requested a sentence between 17 and 21 years in prison.
“Those who attempt to flood our streets with drugs will face severe consequences, especially when they collaborate with violent drug trafficking organizations like the FARC,” said prosecutor Damian Williams.
According to the court, Córdoba held negotiations with individuals he believed to be members of a Mexican cartel dedicated to the distribution of cocaine from Venezuela to the United States, but in reality they worked for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, in December 2021, Córdoba provided the alleged drug traffickers with a sample of 5 kilograms of cocaine from a farm associated with the FARC, located on the outskirts of Medellín.
The authority maintains that at the time of his arrest in February 2022, Córdoba was in the process of negotiating a more substantial agreement with the Mexican cartel, which involved the weekly delivery of around 500 kilograms of cocaine.
On the other hand, Senator Piedad Córdoba, who died in January of this year, was a member of the Historical Pact, the political party that brought Colombian President Gustavo Petro to power.
The politician, close to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, was the subject of accusations for her alleged links with Colombian businessman Alex Saab, currently detained in the United States, who points to him as a front man for the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.
Piedad Córdoba was very stressed
Colombian senator Piedad Córdoba, who died on January 20, lived her last days with a notable level of stress and worry, according to her daughter Natalia Castro. This would have been directly linked to the situation of her brother Álvaro Córdoba in the United States.
Castro shared with the magazine Week that her mother did not hide the internal conflict that the family was going through after the capture and extradition of her brother: “She was very stressed. She, in fact, was very worried the last few days,” she stated.
Piedad Córdoba always defended her brother and claimed that his arrest was part of a political persecution against him and maintaining his innocence.
However, Álvaro Córdoba pleaded guilty: “Between July and February 2022, I participated in a conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine that were going to be sent to the United States and I knew that what I was doing was wrong.”
The lack of communication with her brother after his extradition exacerbated the pain of the deceased senator, who in a previous interview with Week He expressed the difficult situation that his family faced and the feeling that they were singled out for Álvaro’s situation.
Keep reading:
• Piedad Córdoba: the controversial Colombian senator died of a massive heart attack
• Piedad Córdoba: they publish her last photo and reveal what her minutes were like before dying of a heart attack
• “She was very stressed”: Piedad Córdoba’s deterioration after her brother’s extradition to the US.