MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Colombian drug lord returns home pending legal proceedings

Despite his ban from re-entering Argentine territory, Álvarez Meyendorff arrived at Ezeiza on Avianca's Flight 87 on Dec. 23 from Bogotá

Colombian drug lord Ignacio Álvarez Meyendorff, who spent several days at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza International Airport finally decided not to wait for the Argentine's Judiciary decision regarding his rejection by Migration authorities and flew back to his native country, it was reported Wednesday.

Álvarez Meyendorff had been extradited from Argentina to the United States where he was convicted of drug trafficking. Despite his ban from re-entering Argentine territory, he arrived at Ezeiza on Avianca's Flight 87 on Dec. 23 from Bogotá.

After being held under the custody of two members of the Airport Security Police (PSA) since last Friday in an incident resembling the 2004 movie “The Terminal” starring Tom Hanks, Álvarez Meyendorff flew back to Colombia Wednesday.

“Privileging his health problems and by his own will, Álvarez Meyendorff is going to return to Colombia and to wait in his country for the judicial issue to be settled,” his lawyer Juan José Ribelli told Télam.

Argentina's Migrations Directorate canceled Meyendorff's Argentine residency in 2021 and banned him from re-entering the country for life.

Although the measure is not final, the agency decided not to authorize his entry into the country. Lomas de Zamora Federal Judge Federico Villena had rejected Meyendorff's request for a habeas corpus. Other legal proceedings are underway.

Meyendorff's criminal organization was part of a scheme dismantled in April 2012 in an operation known as “Luis XV” in which 253 kilos of cocaine were seized. In June 2011, 444 kilos of cocaine had been discovered on the sailboat Traful, which had left the Buenos Aires port of Berisso on its way to Uruguay, but its crew members had to abandon it due to a malfunction. In both cases, the gang was considered to be led by Álvarez Meyendorff.

Several members of Ignacio Álvarez Meyendorff's family were convicted of drug trafficking while others were imprisoned for money laundering, including two of his sons -Mauricio and Sebastián Álvarez Sarría 7 years each-, while his wife -Clara María Sarría Jiménez-, his mother -Auria Meyendorff Caicedo- and her husband -Jaime Moreno Álvarez-, a brother - Luis Álvarez Meyendorff-, a nephew, Guido Álvarez Correa, and two daughters-in-law were sentenced to five years in prison.

Read also: Convicted Colombian drug lord waiting for clearance to enter Argentina