On May 13, 2008, the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield, announced the extradition to the United States of fourteen leaders of Colombia’s largest paramilitary group, Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self- Defense Forces of Colombia or AUC), to face drug charges. These paramilitary leaders are implicated in terrorizing and killing thousands of innocent civilians. As part of their efforts to seize control of territory and drug routes, paramilitary leaders targeted trade unionists and other members of civil society who they perceived as threats. Ambassador Brownfield pledged that the transfer of these individuals to the United States would not interfere with Colombia’s efforts to hold paramilitaries accountable for mass atrocities in Colombia. Thirty former members of the AUC (Defendants) are currently in U.S. custody.