U.S. charges Colombians in deadly migrant smuggling scheme
Two Colombians are facing extradition to the U.S. for their role in a human smuggling operation that resulted in the disappearance at sea of dozens of migrants crossing from Colombia's Caribbean coast to Nicaragua.
Two Colombian nationals are facing extradition to the U.S. for their alleged role in a human smuggling operation that resulted in the disappearance at sea of dozens of migrants.
The two men are alleged to have been part of a smuggling operation known as La Agencia, or The Agency, which ferried migrants from San Andrés Island, a tourist destination off Colombia’s Caribbean coast, to Nicaragua, where they then continued on to the United States.
According to the federal indictment unsealed Monday in the Western District Court of Texas, Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, alias “Patron” (“Boss”), and Luis Enrique Linero, 40, were involved in a conspiracy that included putting some 40 migrants — a group of mostly Venezuelans that included children — on a vessel that disappeared in October 2023. The boat and its occupants have not been found.
Rivera and Linero were arrested by Colombian authorities in coordination with the U.S. as part of Joint Task Force Alpha.
“As this indictment makes clear, Joint Task Force Alpha continues to be one of the Justice Department’s most effective tools for countering insidious human smuggling operations that fuel suffering and exploitation,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
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