Unlike the rival Medellin cartel, which unleashed a war of terror on Colombia in the 1980s to avoid extradition to the United States, Cali's kingpins tried to buy respectability. The Cali cartel contributed millions of dollars to former President Ernesto Samper's victorious 1994 campaign. The United States revoked Samper's visa, although he claimed ignorance of the cartel's donations.
Colombia's Supreme Court has yet to rule on a US extradition request for Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela. Previous drug traffickers who have been extradited to the United States include former Medellin cartel leaders Fabio Ochoa, who in 2003 was sentenced in Miami to more than 30 years in prison for returning to the drug trade after winning amnesty at home; and Carlos Lehder, who was sentenced in 1988 to life without parole.
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