913 extraditions: the other side of the fight against drug trafficking
Behind every seizure, there is often an extradition: Colombia handed over 913 people to justice systems abroad during this administration, most of them for drug-trafficking-related offenses.
Between 2022 and 2026, Colombia extradited 913 people for all offenses combined, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice and Law. Of that total, a significant share corresponds specifically to drug trafficking: the number of drug-related extraditions stayed between 133 and 180 people per year during this period, with the United States as the main receiving country.
The trend isn't new: drug-trafficking-related extraditions had been rising since 2020, and this government continued that pace rather than interrupting it. It's an example of a State policy that transcends administrations: international judicial cooperation doesn't depend on any one government, but on agreements and capabilities built over time.
Each extradition also sends a message to drug traffickers operating out of Colombia: neither distance nor a change in government guarantees impunity.
