This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia extradited to the United States on Wednesday a top member of the South American country's main rebel group, a woman known by the nom de guerre of Sonia and accused of running the insurgents' drug trafficking business.
There was extraordinary security around Omaira Rojas, who also was suspected of managing the finances of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. A U.S. federal judge in Washington indicted her in December 2003 on charges of drug trafficking and supporting illegal activities.
Authorities, apparently fearing she would be assassinated by her former colleagues to keep her quiet, put Rojas in a bulletproof vest and helmet as they escorted her to a helicopter for transfer from a prison in the northern town of Valledupar to the Caribbean coastal city of Barranquilla.
She was given a medical examination there and put on a plane to the United States, a spokesman for Colombia's judicial police said.
