States to stand trial for the charged crimes. After the subsequent extradition and arraignment of two other co-defendants, as well as protracted pretrial proceedings in this complex international criminal case, the trial of the defendant and co-defendant Erminso Cuevas Cabrera began on February 24, 2010.
The evidence at trial[1] established that Colombia became a leader in cocaine production in the 1990s, with production from the late 1990s into the early 2000s increasing from about 25% to 60% of the world's coca. (Trial Tr. PM Session 21-22, Feb. 24, 2010.) Colombia produces between 500 and 600 metric tons of cocaine annually and is the "number-one coca cultivator as well as the number-one producer of cocaine." (Trial Tr. PM Session 24, 30, 40, Feb. 24, 2010.) The United States is theworld's largest cocaine consumer and approximately 90% of the cocaine consumed in the United States comes from Colombia. (Trial Tr. PM Session 31, 42, Feb. 24, 2010.) The United States also is the predominant destination for cocaine leaving Venezuela, which borders Colombia and through which cocaine is smuggled from Colombia. (Trial Tr. PM Session 45-46, 62, Feb. 24, 2010.)
Cocaine imported from Colombia arrives in the United States as a powder that is formed into a kilogram-sized brick that is worth, on average, about $2,000 per kilogram when ready for export in Colombia and about $30,000 in the United States. (Trial Tr. PM Session 24, 31, Feb. 24, 2010.) Colombian cocaine typically has been imported into the United States via a secondary country because of transportation limitations and because