Bolivia has extradited its former anti-drugs director to the United States, where he now faces drug trafficking charges.
Maximiliano Dávila, who goes by his alias, “Macho”, is accused of facilitating the criminal activity of cocaine smuggling to the US during his time as the head of Bolivia’s anti-narcotics agency.
His extradition had occurred on Thursday and was approved by Bolivia’s Supreme Court in late November. He still denies committing any wrongdoing.
Dávila had been imprisoned in Bolivia on corruption grounds since February 2022.
That same month, US officials unsealed an indictment accusing the 60-year-old of trafficking cocaine trafficking, and a similar weapons charge.
The US Department of State have claimed that Dávila was involved in narcotics trafficking before and during his time as director of the Bolivian Special Forces for the Fight Against Drug Trafficking (FELCN).
They further said Dávila exploited his position to “safeguard aircraft used to transport cocaine to third countries, for subsequent distribution in the United States”.
If he gets convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life in prison, US documents have said.
In 2022, the state department offered a reward of $5m (£4m) for information that could lead to his conviction.
Dávila was formerly a FELCN director under former President Evo Morales, who ruled Bolivia from 2006 to 2019.
Not long after Dávila’s extradition, Morales criticised the move and said “Bolivia is once again a US Colony”, in a post on his official X account.
“Bolivians are handed over to the North American Empire, violating international agreements, without first being tried in their homeland where they supposedly committed crimes”, he had posted.
In 2008, Morales expelled the US ambassador and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from Bolivia for purportedly conspiring against his government.
Morales himself is currently under investigation for alleged statutory rape and human trafficking – both charges which he has vehemently denied.
His loyal supporters only recently staged blockades around the country for weeks demanding the end of the investigation against him.
In November, he posted a video of his car being shot at, in what he tagged an “assassination attempt” against him but the Bolivian government has Morales’ allegations that it was behind the assassination attempt.
