The kingpin two nations want

The United States and Venezuela are waiting to see what Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will eventually do when he orders the extradition of a notorious drug trafficker who has accused government officials under President Hugo Chávez of helping him. Both Washington and Caracas want him.

Santos has until April 15 to decide where he will send Walid Makled-García, a Syrian-born Venezuelan who says Chávez officials helped him transport narcotics. "All my business associates are generals. We dispatched 300,000 kilos of coke. I couldn't have done it without the top levels of government," he told reporters in Colombia.

Congressional lawmakers in Washington have been pushing the Obama administration to convince Santos to extradite him to the United States, where he can give US Justice Department officials "a wealth of information" concerning trafficking activities by Chávez officials.

During a meeting in October aimed at patching up the two countries' strained bilateral relations, Santos promised Chávez that he would send Makled to Caracas to face charges because Venezuela requested him first.

"I gave my word to President Chávez that as soon as all the required legal paperwork was complete we would turn this individual over to the Venezuelan authorities," Santos said on November 16.

Last March, the Colombian Supreme Court authorized the extradition, and it is now up to Santos to sign it.

Quoting presidential sources, the Bogotá daily El Tiempo reported on Tuesday that the president would wait until the final day he has by law to determine where Makled will be sent.

Washington reacts

Coming up before decision day, however, is Santos' trip to Washington on Thursday, where he will meet Barack Obama to discuss bilateral issues, including the holdup to the free-trade agreement. The Makled case is also expected to come up. US Republican Representative Connie Mack wrote a letter to Santos last week asking that Makled be sent to the US. "Colombia is seeking a strong alliance with the US, and when the president sits on the pending free-trade agreement while bully 'thugocrat' Hugo Chávez is breathing down Colombia's neck, how can you blame Colombia for doing what is in their interest? Colombia cannot trust the Obama administration to back them," he said in a press release.