Carlos Lehder - Fugitive, Capture, Trial and Whereabouts

Fugitive, Capture, Trial and Whereabouts

In 1982, after CBS report by Brian Ross on U.S. television made public the corruption of Bahamian government leaders, Lehder could not return to Norman's Cay. The government had frozen all his bank accounts and taken over his property and possessions. He went from a billionaire to being nearly bankrupt. While he was on the run in the jungle, he got sick with a fever. Pablo Escobar sent a helicopter for him and brought him back to Medellín where he received medical attention to save his life. Even so, he was left very weak. When he recovered, Pablo gave him work to do. He was hired as a trusted bodyguard, although he was given the respect he had earned. Eventually, Lehder wanted to rebuild his fortune, but he was captured at a farm he had just established in Colombia when a new employee of his informed the police of his location. In 1987, he was extradited to the United States, where he was tried and sentenced to life without parole, plus an additional 135 years. Now all of the other cartel leaders knew what would happen if they were extradited, and soon after, the Medellín cartel organizations split up, and a violent war began as the cartel leaders tried to protect themselves by fighting back. These smaller organizations, especially Pablo's, were later attacked by the Cali cartel, by the Colombian police/army, and soon the U.S. became involved as well.

In 1992, in exchange for Lehder's agreement to testify against Manuel Noriega, this was reduced to a total sentence of 55 years. Three years after that, Lehder wrote a letter of complaint to a Jacksonville federal district judge, complaining that the government had reneged on a deal to transfer him to a German prison. The letter was construed as a threat against the judge.

Within weeks of sending that letter in the fall of 1995, Lehder was whisked away into the night, according to several protected witnesses at the Mesa Unit in Arizona. While many believe he could have been released, others consider that this is not true. There was a brother of Carlos Lehder, Federico Guillermo Lehder Rivas, on the periphery of the business who might have been mistaken for Carlos, causing the reports of his being free and overseas.

According to journalist and author Tamara S. Inscoe-Johnson, who worked on the Lehder defense during the time in question, Lehder was simply transferred to another prison and has continued to be held in WITSEC, which is the Bureau of Prisons' version of the federal Witness Protection Program.

Inscoe-Johnson argued that Lehder had not been released, despite Internet rumors to the contrary. Inscoe-Johnson's work on Lehder entitled Norman's Cay: The True Story of Carlos Lehder and the Medellin Cartel, details why the author believes that Lehder will never be released. Allegedly, Lehder would be privy to secret information regarding the CIA's and his own involvement in the Iran-Contra affair.

Carlos Lehder's ongoing legal battles confirm Lehder remains imprisoned in the US, and that he is not likely to be released anytime soon. On July 22, 2005 he appeared in the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to contest his sentence. Lehder appeared pro se, arguing that the United States failed to perform its obligations under a cooperation agreement he had entered into with the United States Attorney's Office, after he held up his end of the deal. (United States v. Lehder-Rivas, 136 Fed. Appx. 324; 2005). In May 2007, he requested the Colombian Supreme Court to order the Colombian government to request from the United States his release because of the violations of his cooperation agreement. In May 2008, Carlos Lehder's lawyer declared to El Tiempo that an Habeas corpus petition had been filed, alleging that there were violations to his cooperation agreement, and that "a court in Washington" has less than 30 days to respond to the notice.