Former anti-drug boss known as “Macho” extradited from Bolivia nearly 3 years after US offered $5 million reward

Bolivia's former anti-narcotics chief was extradited to the United States on Thursday to face federal drug-trafficking charges in a New York court.

Authorities said Maximiliano Dávila, who served as anti-narcotics chief in the last months of Evo Morales' 2006-2019 administration, helped facilitate cocaine shipments to the United States. According to the US Department of JusticeDávila exploited his position “to gain access to Bolivian airspace for the transportation of cocaine and to organize members of Bolivian law enforcement under his command – including individuals with machine guns – to protect these drug shipments. “

David — who authorities say also known as “Macho” – aboard a private jet that was sent from the US specifically for his expansion.

On February 2, 2022, US Department of State award up to $5 millionn for information that led to Dhávila's conviction. He is accused of conspiring to provide high-level protection for cocaine shipments to the US as well as military charges related to the possession of machine guns. According to the State Department, Dávila “allegedly used a position to protect planes used to transport cocaine to third countries, for subsequent distribution in the United States.”

At the end of November, the Bolivian Supreme Court agreed that Davila would be extradited to the US immediately. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Morales expelled the US Drug Enforcement Administration from Bolivia in 2008, accusing it of plotting to overthrow his government at a time of rising commodity prices and a wave of leftist politics across the Americas. -South challenging longstanding US influence in the region. At the same time, the two countries have not exchanged ambassadors in more than 15 years.

The drug investigation that led to the charges against Dávila was initiated by the DEA's Special Operations Division in 2017, according to court records.

As part of the investigation, criminal informants working under the direction of the DEA recorded conversations in which co-defendant Dávila bragged that he had access to an MD-11 military cargo plane to transport 60 tons of cocaine into the US.

The co-defendant, Percy Vasquez-Drew, said that “he and other traffickers have been able to operate without charge in Bolivia because the DEA and the CIA were kicked out” and bribed easily contributed to the remaining anti-drug officers in the country, prosecutors said in court filings.

Vasquez-Drew was later arrested in Panama on a US warrant. He pleaded guilty in 2020 to one count of conspiracy to import more than 450 kilograms of narcotics into the U.S. Earlier this year, his sentence was reduced to 100 months in federal prison.

Bolivia is the third largest producer of cocaine in the world.

It is unclear how close Dávila is to Morales, a former coca grower. But the two appeared together in a photo in October 2019 celebrating Morales' birthday standing next to several cakes decorated with coca leaves. Also pictured was Bolivia's former national police chief.

While the DEA has arrested several Bolivian drug traffickers over the years, including one of Dávila's predecessors, Morales himself has never been charged with drug trafficking. He has strongly denounced the US-led drug war in Latin America and defended the traditional uses of coca – the raw ingredient of cocaine.