Ex-anti-drug chief faces life imprisonment in the United States | Exjefe antidroga se expone a condena de cadena perpetua en Estados Unidos

By Ariel Melgar, El Deber:

Maximiliano Dávila Pérez is accused of alleged criminal association to import controlled substances, a crime that carries a sentence of 20 years to life imprisonment in the northern country where he will be tried.

Maximiliano Dávila
Maximiliano Dávila

The former national director of the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking (Felcn), Maximiliano Dávila Pérez, is facing a life sentence in the United States, after the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) gave the green light to his extradition to the northern country on Wednesday.

The Court of the Southern District of New York requested the extradition of Dávila, former anti-drug chief in the government of Evo Morales. The North American justice requested Dávila to be tried in that country at the end of September.

Maximiliano Dávila, exjefe antidroga en Bolivia. Foto. Archivo
Maximiliano Dávila, former anti-drug chief in Bolivia. Photo. Archive

The former anti-drug czar is accused of collaborating with a criminal organization that crystallized cocaine in Bolivia to sell it abroad.

The president of the TSJ, Marco Jaimes, reported that the US justice system accused Dávila of the crimes of criminal association for trafficking in controlled substances and criminal association for the handling of weapons related to drug trafficking.

The former head of the Felcn can be sentenced to life imprisonment by the Southern District Court of the State of New York, which is the maximum sentence for one of the crimes of which he is accused in the North American country.

“He is accused of criminal association to import controlled substances and criminal association for the handling of weapons related to drug trafficking. The first crime carries a sentence of 20 years to life imprisonment and the second crime of 10 to 20 years,” Jaimes explained.

Maximiliano Dávila, exjefe antidrogas, cuando era trasladado al penal/Foto: APG Noticias
Maximiliano Dávila, former anti-drug chief, during his transfer to prison/Photo: APG Noticias

On January 22, 2022, Dávila was arrested in Villazón, Potosí, when he was trying to cross the border towards Argentina. In February 2022, he was sent to the San Pedro prison with six months of preventive detention for the crime of money laundering.

“The case of the crime for which he is being prosecuted and detained by the Departmental Court of Justice of La Paz carries a sentence of 5 to 10 years in prison and is for money laundering, a sanction that in Bolivia is irrelevant in relation to the possible sentence to be imposed in the United States,” explained the president of the TSJ to justify what motivated him to accept Dávila’s extradition.

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