Chapter 4 Summary

In the months preceding the abduction of Maruja and Beatriz, the political ramifications of the existing hostages' plight comes once more to the fore. President César Gaviria and the man whom he placed in charge of security and public order, Rafael Pardo, a hermetic, yet intelligent and organized scholar grapple with the problem of formulating a judicial solution to the drug-trafficking problem. Ultimately, their aim is to use extradition, something which the traffickers and terrorists fear above all else, as a means to have them surrender, offering non-extradition as the final incentive in a series of such for those who turn themselves in.

On September 5, 1990, Decree 2047 is approved. It states that those who turn themselves in and admit their crimes could receive the right not to be extradited and those who confess and cooperate with the authorities could have their sentences reduced...