An ex Columbian paramilitary leader gets busted by the U.S and sentenced for 16 years in federal prison. Read the full story after the jump.
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Rodrigo Tovar, a.k.a Jorge 40, was one of several right-wing militia leaders who were extradited from Colombia to the U.S back in 2008, when a peace deal was broke with then-President Alvaro Uribe.
All other warlords in the case plead guilty and took the a different route than Tovar, who decided to fight the case. Tovar admitted to imposing a war tax on cocaine that was transported through the Caribbean countryside but stated he was not personally involved in the trade and accused any mishaps towards Colombia’s conflict.
Despite his 16 year sentence, Tovar could be released as early as under 5 five years– with good behavior.
Tovar is the son of a military officer and was born parallel to the time his main chief battlefield adversary, Simon Trinidad, was born.
Tovar’s soldiers were under one of the worst leaderships apparently in northern Columbian history. Information was pulled from an associate’s computer that was vital to certain secrets that ultimately ruined top political personnel’s reputations. These secrets contained connection between the political elite in the Caribbean region and the right-wing militias. This commenced an investigation which lead to several arrests of dozens of lawmakers in Columbia’s para-politics scandal.
Tovar was sentenced on Friday, and is set to serve his time immediately.
