SUMMARY

Los Extraditables (The Extraditables) was formed to force a halt to the extraditions of drug cartel members to the USA and to make the Colombian government grant them amnesty instead. In connection with this objective, Los Extraditables targeted and killed civilians. Among the targets of this one-sided violence were journalists who were said to rally popular criticism against the illegal drug industry, suspected police informants, judges prosecuting drug lords, and family members of these judges.

In a statement issued by the Medellín cartel, the organization had threatened it would kill 10 judges for every drug suspect who was extradited. On 23 August 1989, in response to an intensified crackdown on the drug trade, the group issued a communiqué declaring ‘a widespread and total war’ against the government, journalists criticizing the group, judges involved in extradition cases, and others they accused of having ‘persecuted’ the group. The strategy in this ‘total wart was mainly to target civilians, and a wave of what was widely labeled ‘narco-terrorist’ attacks followed the issuing of the statement. In 1993, Pablo Escobar, leader of the Medellín cartel, said he would renew the ‘total war’ since ‘police persecution left him no alternative’. In many cases, the Medellín cartel used bombs to carry out their attacks, while on other occasions victims were shot. They operated mostly in large cities, including the capital Bogotá, in central and north Colombia.

The Medellín cartel first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1989, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in November that year, when explosives placed on an airplane killed over a hundred passengers.