In the mid-1980s, Colombian drug lords declared all out war on Colombia’s judicial system in an effort to intimidate the Colombian government into canceling extradition agreements with the United States. Dozens of judges and prosecutors who could not be bribed were intimidated, assaulted, or assassinated as a means of impeding the work of the judiciary in prosecuting the so-called war on drugs. In an effort to protect the lives of Colombian judicial officials, extreme measures were taken to hide the identities of the judges and prosecutors hearing drug cases. The result was a secret court system out of which other issues of justice and human rights became an issue. This article examines in-depth the history of the Colombian legal system, the evolution of its judiciary, and the role of faceless judges as a means of fighting drug trafficking.

Fighting globalized crime is dependent on cooperation between law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies among nations. Over the course of several decades, states have entered into reciprocal arrangements to improve the manner in which nations can reach across international frontiers to apprehend criminals and bring them to justice. As the leading drug trafficking source in the western hemisphere, Colombia has been the target of intense efforts by the United States to bring Colombian drug lords and their foot soldiers to trial in the United States where just is swift and lengthy prison sentences result. While the United States has expended billions of dollars in establishing mutual assistance arrangements, in practice, the results have been less than desirable as corruption and disorganized bureaucracies in Colombia impede effective cooperation. Some methods have been controversial as well and have raised sharp criticism from both sides. This article examines the mutual assistance arrangements between Colombia and the United States and provides a highly critical analysis of what works, what doesn’t work, and what can be done to fix the problems encountered in bringing transborder criminals to justice.