Colombian VP says 'impose sanctions on UAE if Daniel Kinahan is not extradited'

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday World, Marta Lucía Ramírez, the vice-president and foreign affairs minister of Colombia, said she is concerned about European gangs in her home country.

Colombia is the biggest producer of cocaine in the world, and Irish crime gangs, including the Kinahan cartel, work with Colombian drug cartels to smuggle the drug into this country.

Gardaí have even been deployed to the Colombian capital Bogota in an attempt to dismantle the crime cartels.

When asked how justice can be served on criminals like Daniel Kinahan, who is on the run from An Garda Síochána and the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) in Dubai, Ms Ramírez said sanctions should be considered if countries do not want to "help" with clamping down on criminals.

"I think that we have to improve the extradition agreements between countries," she said.

"For example, Colombia is very open to have extradition agreements with many different countries and we have extradited so many people.

"We have to take stronger decisions to some governments (and say) 'OK, if you don't help us enough to combat these drug dealers, we don't want to have all these trade agreements'.

"I think coherency is important in defeating the cartels."

The vice-president said Colombia is doing "all that we can" to fight criminals but European countries should do their part also.

"The Colombian government is doing all that we can do in our hands but there is a long value added chain.

"There (are) so many people processing the coca (plant) in laboratories in Europe. In the past, it was only in Colombia."

She said Colombia has no "control" over drug processors in Europe.

"That's why we are always asking democratic governments to work together with us because it affects the legitimacy of all of us," she added.

"It's not only Colombia, we cannot combat this alone."

When asked if she is worried about the impact European drug cartels have on Colombia, Ms Ramírez replied: "Of course."

"For us it is clear that the money that comes from drugs is so much and these people, they are very powerful.

"These cartels are involved not only in drugs, but they are involved in trafficking of ­people, human trafficking."

She said part of the reason behind her country's booming drugs trade is the Colombian peace agreement, which ended five decades of conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). The chapter on drug cartels is "very soft", she said.

"It doesn't ask (for) a commitment to provide information about the international cartels, who are their allies, so they have Mexican characters, Russian cartels, European cartels from different countries, of course, from everywhere.

"That's why for us, it was clear that if they don't have the commitment to give information about those international cartels, we are not solving the problem of drugs in Colombia."

Ms Ramírez said young people need to be shown how environmentally unfriendly the production of drugs is.

"I think that we need to do more effective campaigns also showing the youth how drugs are killing the environment - how much water is being used because of drugs, how much chemicals, how much deforestation. We in Colombia have had a huge deforestation because of the coca crops," she said.

"We have to show citizens and also the young people, when you consume drugs, you are killing yourself, you are (making) a very bad decision (for) your brain, (for) your health, but also you are killing the environment."