By Estrella Gutiérrez
CARACAS, Apr 18 1997 (IPS)

Colombia and the United States are fighting over the extradition of Colombia’s most-wanted drug trafficker, Justo Pastor Perafan, arrested in a Venezuelan town near the Colombian border.

The former army sergeant, whose fortune, amassed over the past 15 years, is estimated at 10 billion dollars, equivalent to the total of Colombia’s legal exports, had undergone plastic surgery and dyed his hair to escape capture. He was identified by his fingerprints after a long joint Venezuelan-Colombian police operation.

The minister of Venezuela’s Anti-Drug Commission, Carlos Tablante, said the legal bases for Perafan’s extradition “to Colombia or the United States” were being studied. “Drug trafficking is a border-less crime,” he underlined.

Arrested Thursday in San Cristobal, the capital of the border state of Tachira, Perafan must be held for eight days in a Venezuelan prison. But the Foreign Ministry said he could be deported to Bogota, a gesture that would avoid a lengthy extradition process.

Tablante indicated that he personally preferred that Perafan be turned over to Washington, where he would probably face more severe punishment.

But Venezuela has a debt with Colombia, because the government of that country worked hard in 1993 and 1994 to catch a notorious Venezuelan drug baron, Larry Tovar, who was turned over to Caracas, in spite of pressure from the United States, which also wanted him.

The 50-year-old Perafan was living a luxurious lifestyle in a small town in Tachira, in the foothills of the Andes, for an undetermined length of time, and was carrying a false Venezuelan identity card when arrested. He is considered the head of the drug cartel of Boyaca and Cauca, with direct ties to the powerful Medellin cartel.

Perafan is wanted in Colombia for the illicit amassing of wealth, because no proof of his drug activity has yet been obtained. He is also under investigation on drug trafficking charges in Panama, Costa Rica and the United States, according to Colombian authorities.

Married six times and the father of 10 children, Perafan retired from the army in 1979, used his savings to set himself up in various businesses, including a bakery and a food factory, and later launched himself in real estate. His enormous fortune is based – at least the legal portion – on coffee and oil exports, livestock and tourism.

Perafan has reportedly been a major contributor to local election campaigns in Colombia, including the 1989 bid for the Senate by Guillermo Gonzalez Mosquera, who was serving as ambassador to Venezuela until his appointment as Defence Minister of Colombia early this year.

Gonzalez was forced to resign when Perafan’s contribution was made public, although he insisted that when he received the check he was unaware of Perafan’s alleged illegal activities.

The Colombian press has predicted that if Perafan’s ties to the drug trade are proven, the case of Gonzalez will be the tip of the iceberg of another scandal, because there is a list of more than 600 checks written out by Perafan to known public figures in Colombia.

A Miss Colombia with a close relationship with Perafan apparently played a key role in his capture, when she was arrested two months ago in Medellin.

A Venezuelan informer is to receive a 500,000 dollar reward for information leading to Perafan’s capture, according to Colombian police chief Rosso Serrano.

“We are just beginning to pull the end of the thread, but we will completely unravel it,” said Tablante.

Colombian police arrived early Friday in Caracas, hoping Perafan could be directly transferred to Bogota. But only the deportation which is being discussed as a possibility by the Foreign Ministry here could land the drug baron in a Colombian jail in the near future.

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