Supreme Court of Justice Penal Chamber has issued arrest warrants for 14 individuals requested for extradition by the US authorities. As reported in El Caribe, these are Juan Samuel Rodriguez, Felix Madera Rodriguez, Arismendy Tavarez, Manuel Castillo, Carlos Villavizar Guzman, Juan Cruz Crisostomo, Marcos Taveras Jimenez, Richard Mejia Pena, Miguel Angel Minier Eusebio and Francisco Sanchez Mejia. Others are brothers Luis David Ulloa and Jean Paul Ulloa who have already traveled voluntarily to the US, given that they are dual citizens (US-DR). The US authorities have also requested the extradition of Colonel Lidio Arturo Nin Terrero and Tirso Cuevas Nin, both jailed after their arrest on 18 December when a shipment of 1,387 kilos of cocaine was confiscated as it made its way north along Duarte Highway.
The Department of Drug Control (DNCD) also reported the arrest for extradition of Juan Antonio Flete Lima and Lourdes Ivelisse Machuca Castillo for drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the US. The couple had been released from jail by Mejia administration attorney general Victor Cespedes Martinez on health grounds. Flete is a dual national (US-DR). At the time of their arrest, the government confiscated RD$100 million in assets from the couple.
Of the group, the authorities have arrested Villavizar Guzman, a Colombian, at a gas station in Santo Domingo. The Listin Diario reports that the CL500 2001 Mercedes Benz he was driving when arrested is registered in the name of former Agriculture Minister Eligio Jaquez, one of former President Hipolito Mejia’s closest political allies.