Cuba Extradites Fugitives to U.S. and calls for Increased U.S. Enforcement Cooperation

On March 18, 2002, the Cuban Government announced the arrest of Rafael Miguel Bustamante Bolanos, a Columbian national convicted of drug trafficking who escaped from an Alabama prison in 1992, and called on the Bush administration to negotiate agreements with Cuba on drug trafficking, terrorism and migration. On March 6, 2002, Cuba arrested Bustamante Bolanos after the U.S. Marshals Service notified Cuban law enforcement officials that he was in Cuba. The Cuban Government charged Bustamante Bolanos and a Bahamian national with drug trafficking and document forgery. In the past U.S. Cuban enforcement cooperation has presaged and even paved the way for broader cooperation between the two countries. This is a trend that occurs in diplomacy other countries as well.