NEW YORK - Alleged
Colombian drug kingpin Daniel Barrera made his first appearance in a U.S. court
on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to conspiring to import cocaine into the
United States.
Prosecutors accuse Barrera, 44, of manufacturing upwards of
400 tons of cocaine annually in Colombia and trafficking it worldwide.
He conspired with others to distribute cocaine "knowing
and intending" that some would be imported into the United States, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Jenna Dabbs said at the hearing in Manhattan federal court.
Barrera, with a light beard and wearing jeans and a
black-and-white golf shirt, spoke briefly in Spanish at the hearing, confirming
his attorney and that he understood the proceedings. Nicknamed
"Loco," or crazy, he sat back in a chair and listened to an
interpreter through earphones.
Ruben Oliva, his lawyer, said Barrera would demand a trial
by jury.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said Barrera would
remain in detention. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in
prison.
Barrera arrived in the United States on Tuesday after being
extradited from Colombia.
He is accused of buying raw cocaine paste from the leftist
rebel group FARC and processing it in laboratories in areas controlled by the
now-demobilized paramilitary group the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia,
or AUC.
The AUC collected monthly taxes from Barrera, according to
the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's indictment.
Evidence against Barrera includes photographs and other
documents related to the seizures of cocaine shipments off the coasts of
Venezuela and Florida, Dabbs told Hellerstein.
In 2000 Barrera provided 1.4 tons of cocaine to an unnamed
co-conspirator in Guatemala via a "go-fast boat," according to the
indictment.
He also provided cocaine to the same co-conspirator to be
hidden in a container of scrap metal that was being transported to Mexico from
Panama in 2004, the indictment said.
Barrera was arrested in Venezuela last September with the
help of authorities there as well as British and U.S. intelligence agencies.
Colombian authorities had been closing in on his
organization in the weeks before his arrest, detaining 36 suspected members and
seizing five tons of cocaine.
Barrera's next appearance in Manhattan federal court is set
for September 4. He also faces charges in federal court in Brooklyn and Miami.
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