LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Colombia, Bolivia to ask UN to remove coca leaf from narcotics list

"To remove the coca leaf - the leaf, not cocaine - from the prohibited substances list." Mexico president takes aim at predecessor after U.S. court convicts drug czar MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday said one of his predecessors, Felipe Calderon, should explain whether he knew a former top law enforcement official took bribes from the infamous Sinaloa Cartel. On Tuesday, a U.S. court convicted a former security official, Genaro Garcia Luna, on charges that he took bribes in exchange for protection from arrest, safe passage for drug shipments and tipoffs about law enforcement operations.

The latest in Latin American politics today:

Colombia, Bolivia to ask UN to remove coca leaf from narcotics list BOGOTA - Colombia and Bolivia will jointly ask the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs to remove coca leaves from its list of prohibited substances and accept the plant's traditional uses, Colombia's government said on Wednesday.

The proposal, which the two countries will make at the commission's session in Vienna in mid-March, is a bid to de-stigmatize conversations about the problem of drugs, Colombia's vice-minister for multilateral affairs, Laura Gil, said in a statement. "Bolivia and Colombia consider it is the moment to once again put this issue on the table," she said. "To remove the coca leaf - the leaf, not cocaine - from the prohibited substances list."

Mexico president takes aim at predecessor after U.S. court convicts drug czar MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday said one of his predecessors, Felipe Calderon, should explain whether he knew a former top law enforcement official took bribes from the infamous Sinaloa Cartel.

On Tuesday, a U.S. court convicted a former security official, Genaro Garcia Luna, on charges that he took bribes in exchange for protection from arrest, safe passage for drug shipments and tipoffs about law enforcement operations. U.S. agrees to extradite former Peruvian President Toledo, says Peru

LIMA - Peru's attorney general's office said on Tuesday that the U.S. State Department had agreed to extradite former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo on corruption charges. Toledo, 76, was arrested in the United States in 2019 after Peru formally requested his extradition.

Peruvian authorities allege that Toledo, who governed the Andean country between 2001 and 2006, took bribes of more than $25 million from Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht in exchange for help securing public works contracts. (Compiled by Steven Grattan Editing by Bill Berkrot)

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