Martín Leonel Pérez Castro faces US justice - FARC

'Richard' Castro became a senior leader in Frente 30 in 2011.

Martín Leonel Pérez Castro, 51, was arraigned in Brooklyn on June 10. Castro was a senior leader of Frente 30, a wing of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — FARC. US prosecutors said Castro’s insurgents taxed coca growers and paste processors and levied fees on traffickers who carried finished cocaine out of Colombia.

In exchange, Castro protected coca farmers and manufacturers from theft and helped move the final product. Castro’s soldiers waged war against other drug operations in Colombia and attempted to shoot down aircraft engaged in eradicating the coca crops. Before Castro was arrested in 2014, Colombian officials said he controlled 60% of FARC’s cocaine trafficking. Castro is only being prosecuted for narcotics and firearms violations committed before FARC and the Colombian government forged a peace deal. Cops blew up a laboratory for processing cocaine base seized from FARC in the municipality of Puerto Concordia, Meta department, Colombia, on Jan. 25, 2011.