In the same extradition process in which the Court of the Southern District of Florida (United States) requested the extradition of Dairo Úsuga David, alias Otoniel, to the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia, the US country also sought the same fate for Nini Johana Úsuga, sister of the former head of the Gulf Clan, known as aka La Negra.
The process is in the office of Judge Hugo Quintero of the Criminal Chamber, who reviews the evidence provided from the United States, which qualifies La Negra as the right-hand man of alias Otoniel. Five days after the official document arrived, Caracol Radio released details of Johana Úsuga's defense to prevent his extradition to the United States.
According to the media outlet, the lawyers of alias 'La Negra' asked the Supreme Court of Justice to accept as audio evidence of the hearing held in December 2013 at the Fifth Criminal Court of Medellín, which sentenced her to 9 years and 3 months in prison, when she was told to handle the finances of the criminal group that led by his brother.
Under this fact, the defense of Nini Johana Úsuga, indicated that the woman cannot be tried twice for the same crime. “At that time, she was convicted of crimes such as concert to commit an aggravated crime, money laundering, illicit enrichment of individuals, escape of prisoners, material falsehood in public documents, use of false public documents and procedural fraud,” said Caracol Radio.
You may be interested: Ingrid Betancourt welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to extradite alias Otoniel: “It is essential to be united”
In view of this argument presented, the Court considered that the reasons for the defense do not allow the inclusion of such evidence in the proceedings. This is how it reads in the document of the Criminal Cassation Chamber known to the station:
In 2012 it was the first time that alias “La Negra” was captured by the National Police. In the midst of the operations, the authorities found in his house the Gulf Clan accounts and six billion pesos in cash.
A month after her first capture, Otoniel's sister managed to get out of prison with a false ballot, resulting in the dismissal of the then director of the El Pedregal prison in Medellín. However, in January 2013, a month after her escape, she was again captured and later sentenced to nine years in prison, mentioned above.
It may interest you: Last resort: victims of Otoniel try to stop their extradition with guardianship to the JEP
On December 27, 2020, Otoniel's sister was released. The report of Bogotá's 29th Court of Execution of Sentences explains that Nini Johana Úsuga served all her sentence. However, after being released from prison, the authorities established that the woman continued to launder money from the Gulf Clan drug trafficking. For this reason, she was captured a third time in Sabaneta, Antioquia in March 2021.
Finally, the Chamber of Cassation argued that “it is clear that for the proceeding ahead, it is absolutely impertinent to determine the “interest” or “diligence” of the US Government in the detention of Nini Johana Úsuga David.” For now, he asked the Attorney General's Office and the Dijín of the National Police to move forward with the proceedings that are in place against 'La Negra' in Colombia.
KEEP READING: