A man federal officials identify as the leader of Frente 33, a dissident faction of the FARC, has landed in South Florida to face charges tied to an alleged international cocaine trafficking and money laundering scheme. Willinton Henao Gutiérrez, known by the alias Mocho Olmedo, was extradited from Colombia on Friday, October 23, following a years-long legal process that stretched from his arrest to a presidential sign-off this past summer.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Miami field division confirmed the extradition in a post from its official account, DEAMiami
, crediting the outcome to sustained cooperation with Colombian authorities. DEA Special Agent in Charge Miles Aley said the extradition was the result of years of meticulous case work and close collaboration with Colombian partners on the front lines of the fight against terrorist organizations peddling dangerous drugs around the world. The post tagged the DEA’s national account, the Justice Department, and DEA Administrator Terry Cole.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Henao Gutiérrez is identified as the leader of Frente 33, part of the FARC dissident group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army, which the U.S. government has designated a foreign terrorist organization. He was extradited to the Southern District of Florida to face federal charges stemming from the alleged scheme.
Years In the Making
The case against Henao Gutiérrez did not come together overnight. Per Diario Las Américas, he was arrested for extradition purposes on February 12, 2025, and identified as one of the leaders of the Estado Mayor de Bloques y Frente, a FARC dissident structure, who had also been part of that armed group’s peace-negotiation team. Colombia’s Supreme Court approved his extradition to the United States in May 2025, according to a report from elheraldo.co.
The final step came months later. As reported by Infobae, the Colombian president signed the extradition order on August 26, before Colombian authorities ultimately handed Henao Gutiérrez over to the United States on October 23. That timeline tracks with a broader pattern described by the BBC, which reported that extraditions approved by former Colombian President Gustavo Petro in 2025 had remained suspended because the men involved had taken part in the former president’s peace efforts.
What Prosecutors Allege
Semana reports that Henao Gutiérrez was extradited to face federal charges for his alleged role in an international cocaine trafficking and money laundering conspiracy. According to Clarín, the alleged operation ran from September 2021 through August 2022 and involved five kilograms or more of cocaine, with the conspiracy allegedly operating in both Colombia and South Florida.
Henao Gutiérrez was not extradited alone. Colombian authorities handed over seven Colombians to the United States on the same day in cases involving drug trafficking, money laundering and transnational fraud, per Semana. The BBC has reported that recent Colombian extradition decisions have also involved members of dissident FARC factions and the Gulf Clan wanted in the United States on charges including drug trafficking, narco-terrorism and illegal weapons possession.
Part of a Broader Pattern
Henao Gutiérrez’s case fits into a string of recent extraditions tied to FARC dissident networks. In a separate case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California announced the extradition of Geovany Andrés Rojas, known as Araña, in a case connected to the Comandos de la Frontera and the Segunda Marquetalia, which Rojas himself described as made up of former FARC combatants who rearmed after Colombia’s 2016 peace accord.
Another case closed out in Brooklyn federal court, where the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said a commander of the FARC 30th Front, a group that operated in southwestern Colombia, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to conspiring to distribute large quantities of cocaine for importation into the United States.
Details of Henao Gutiérrez’s initial court appearance, legal representation and the specific federal charges he faces have not been independently confirmed beyond the Justice Department’s statement identifying him as the leader of Frente 33 facing prosecution in the Southern District of Florida.
