Colombia extradites Giovanni Andres Rojas to the US — CBS News
Colombia has extradited Giovanni Andres Rojas, known as Araña, or Spider, to the United States. He was taken to California and handed over to the custody of US federal agents. Rojas faces charges of drug trafficking and terrorism in the United States, CBS News reports.
Extradition suspension
Rojas had for several years been a spokesperson and one of the leaders of the Comandos de la Frontera group. According to the outlet, the group is involved in cocaine trafficking in Colombia's Putumayo department, which borders Ecuador and Peru.
Former Colombian President Gustavo Petro suspended Rojas's extradition so that he could take part in peace talks between the government and several rebel groups, including Comandos de la Frontera. The new authorities led by conservative President Abelardo de la Espriella lifted the ban on his extradition to the United States.
De la Espriella personally oversaw Rojas's handover to the US side. Afterwards, he said that he did not consider it possible to achieve peace by protecting people he described as narco-terrorists, and called on US authorities not to make deals that could leave crimes unpunished.
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Arrest and trial
Rojas was detained in Bogotá in February 2025. Colombia's Supreme Court approved his extradition to the United States in October, but the Petro administration later suspended the decision because of the negotiation process.
US Attorney Adam Gordon said that Colombia and the US Department of Justice are stepping up their fight against narco-terrorists, starting with Rojas. He is expected to make his first appearance in a US court on Monday.
Comandos de la Frontera emerged in 2017, and some of its members are former fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who did not join the 2016 peace agreement. The group was for a time allied with Segunda Marquetalia, but this alliance fell apart two years ago.
Following the 2016 peace agreement, CBS News reports, a power vacuum emerged in some rural regions of Colombia. There, groups that split from FARC compete for drug-trafficking routes, illegal mines and extortion schemes.
