•  
  •  
 

Abstract

This Comment explores the interplay between drug trafficking and extradition policy in the U.S.-Latin American-Caribbean region by focusing upon the recent legal shift in Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Part I describes the status of current international extradition law, focusing on modern extradition policy. In particular, this part details the respective extradition treaties of Colombia and the Dominican Republic with the United States. Part I also explores the roles that these two nations assume trafficking drugs into the United States and highlights the corresponding U.S. anti-drug enforcement response. Finally, Part I examines the challenges that drug trafficking and certain anti-drug policies traditionally posed to developing extradition-friendly laws in Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Part II inspects the new extradition reforms in Colombia and the Dominican Republic and notes reactions to the new laws. Part III probes in closer detail the motivations responsible for the shift in extradition policy in both Colombia and the Dominican Republic. This Part argues that the form and content of the new laws, although influenced by U.S. anti-drug enforcement policies, strongly reflect domestic power struggles occurring within Colombia and the Dominican Republic. This Comment concludes that the motivations that shaped the new extradition reforms will adversely impact the laws' effectiveness in combating drug trafficking.

Share

COinS