SAN DIEGO, CA — A Colombian warlord accused of running a cocaine empire along South America’s Pacific border was flown to San Diego on Sept. 25, 2026, and handed over to U.S. federal agents after more than a year of political delays blocked his transfer to American custody.
Geovany Andres Rojas, 45, known by the alias “Araña” — Spanish for “The Spider” — now faces two federal charges in the Southern District of California: international conspiracy to distribute cocaine and narco-terrorism. His arrival marks the first extradition of a senior armed group commander under Colombia’s new conservative government, a development U.S. and Colombian officials say signals a sharp shift in how Bogotá plans to handle drug trafficking suspects wanted by Washington. The case is being prosecuted by the California Homeland Security Task Force, with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the U.S. Marshals Service all playing roles in bringing Rojas to court.
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella personally supervised Rojas’ handover at a Colombian National Police air base in Bogotá before Rojas was transported to the United States, arriving in San Diego at approximately 4:30 p.m. Pacific time. De la Espriella, who took office in August 2026, wasted no time making his position clear. “You don’t build peace by protecting narco-terrorists like this bandit,” he said Friday. “I ask U.S. authorities that he cannot negotiate deals that will leave his crimes unpunished.” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon echoed that message in a statement released by the Justice Department. “Colombia and the Department of Justice are making a clean sweep of narcoterrorists, starting with Araña,” Gordon said. The Justice Department also released a photograph showing Rojas flanked by U.S. and Colombian law enforcement officials following the transfer, underscoring the cooperative nature of the operation and its symbolic weight for both governments.
Federal prosecutors say Rojas served for years as both commander and public spokesman for Comandos de la Frontera, an armed organization with an estimated 1,000 members operating primarily in Putumayo, a southwestern Colombian province that borders Ecuador and Peru. According to the indictment, the group controlled cocaine cultivation and production across that region and used armed force to maintain territorial control. Prosecutors allege that Rojas not only directed cocaine production but also helped coordinate shipments of multiple tons of cocaine destined for the United States. A federal grand jury in the Southern District of California returned a two-count superseding indictment against Rojas on March 7, 2025. The cocaine conspiracy charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison. The narco-terrorism charge carries a mandatory minimum of 20 years, also with a maximum of life. The Justice Department noted that the charges are allegations and that Rojas is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Rojas’ path to a U.S. courtroom was far from straightforward. Colombian authorities arrested him in Bogotá on Feb. 12, 2025, pursuant to an INTERPOL Red Notice related to narcotics offenses. Colombia’s Supreme Court unanimously approved his extradition in October 2025. But former President Gustavo Petro then suspended the transfer, arguing that Rojas was needed as a participant in peace negotiations between the Colombian government and several rebel groups, including Comandos de la Frontera itself. That decision drew sharp criticism from U.S. officials, who had charged Rojas months earlier. The political standoff persisted until Aug. 26, 2026, when De la Espriella — elected in June and endorsed on the campaign trail by U.S. President Donald Trump — ordered the extradition to proceed. De la Espriella has since suspended peace talks with all illegal armed groups and launched a military campaign to retake remote mountain and jungle territory long controlled by drug gangs and rebel factions, according to the Epoch Times.
To understand why Rojas’ case drew such attention on both sides of the Atlantic, it helps to trace the roots of Comandos de la Frontera. The group emerged in 2017, partly led by former FARC fighters who refused to participate in Colombia’s landmark 2016 peace deal, which ended more than five decades of guerrilla warfare and saw more than 14,000 fighters lay down their weapons. That agreement, while historic, left a significant power vacuum in rural regions where the state had little presence, and where cocaine production, illegal mining, and extortion had long been the economic backbone. Several breakaway factions filled that vacuum and began competing violently for drug trafficking routes. Comandos de la Frontera allied itself with the Segunda Marquetalia, a network formed in 2019 by former FARC commander Luciano Marin and composed of fighters who had abandoned the peace process. The United States designated Segunda Marquetalia as a foreign terrorist organization in December 2021. The alliance between the two groups eventually collapsed, and Comandos de la Frontera began conducting its own separate negotiations with the Colombian government — the same talks that Petro used to justify blocking Rojas’ extradition. According to prosecutors, Rojas himself was a former FARC member who signed the 2016 peace accord before eventually returning to armed activity, a detail that complicated Colombia’s internal debates over how to handle his case.
The broader diplomatic context surrounding the extradition added another layer of significance. Rojas became the first senior commander handed over under De la Espriella, who has framed his security strategy around tighter cooperation with Washington. Days after taking office, Colombia became the 19th country to join the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, according to the Epoch Times. De la Espriella’s government also captured Luis Saúl Pérez Nieto, described as a senior leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua — itself designated a U.S. foreign terrorist organization in 2025 — on Aug. 27, 2026. The extradition of Rojas came roughly a week after Trump announced on Sept. 16 that the United States had removed Venezuela from its list of countries that had “failed demonstrably” to combat drug trafficking, a designation that had previously been applied to Colombia in September 2025 during a public dispute between Trump and Petro. De la Espriella has said plainly that Colombia will not serve as a sanctuary for transnational criminals, and the Rojas transfer was presented by his administration as proof of that commitment.
Rojas appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Steve B. Chu in federal court in San Diego at 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, for his initial hearing. The California Homeland Security Task Force is leading the investigation and prosecution, with the DEA and FBI among the participating agencies. No plea was entered at the initial appearance, and additional proceedings are expected to follow as the case moves through the Southern District of California’s federal court system. The charges Rojas faces, if proven at trial, could result in a sentence of life in federal prison. As of Monday, no trial date had been set.
Rojas remains in federal custody in California. His case is expected to draw continued attention as U.S. prosecutors build out the evidence against him and as Colombia’s government pursues what De la Espriella has called a “clean sweep” of narco-terrorism figures tied to the country’s fractured post-FARC landscape. The next procedural milestone will come when the court schedules a formal arraignment and, eventually, pretrial hearings in San Diego.
