COLOMBIAN DIPLOMAT SEEKS ASYLUM IN US

Consuelo Sanchez, a Colombian diplomat stationed in the US, has sought asylum here following the Colombian government’s decision to recall her.  She was originally sent to the US in 1988, after she issued an arrest warrant to Pablo Escobar, at the time the most powerful drug trafficker in the country and leader of the Medellin cartel.  She received death threats after this, so the Colombian government stationed her at a diplomatic post in the US.  The Colombian government says that she is no longer threatened in Colombia, and has recalled her.

Sanchez does not believe that she will be safe in Colombia, because the death threats issued by Escobar and his cartel have not been withdrawn.  Although Escobar died in 1993 after a shootout with government agents and his cartel largely broken up, drug traffickers remain a powerful force in Colombia.  Her attorney believes the Colombian government has recalled her in an effort to demonstrate to the US that it is succeeding in its battle against the drug cartels, a battle that it largely backed by US government funding.  Earlier this year the US pledged $1.3 billion to the Colombian government as part of its “Plan Colombia,” the latest effort to fight the drug trade.

Human Rights Watch, an international organization dedicated to protecting human rights around the world, has written a letter to the President of Colombia, Andres Pastrana, urging him to reconsider Sanchez’s recall.  They point out that many of Escobar’s colleagues remain at large, and that other judges who issued rulings against the cartel have been murders even after his death.

The Colombian government maintains that Sanchez now faces no greater risks than other Colombian judges, and that they cannot place all of them in diplomatic posts.

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