MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Convicted Colombian drug lord waiting for clearance to enter Argentina

Ignacio Alvarez Meyendorff is banned from the Argentine territory but claims it is a humanitarian issue due to his diabetes

A Colombian drug lord was denied entry into Argentina, where he was seeking to avoid deportation. Ignacio Alvarez Meyendorff, 62, arrived at the Ezeiza airport on Avianca's Flight 87 on Dec. 23 from Bogotá but the alarms went off the minute his name was punched into the migrations screens. He has remained at the airport since. He has a wife and four children in Buenos Aires. He

Alvarez Meyendorff (alias “Nacho”, alias “Mono”, alias “Big Brother”) used to live as a millionaire in Argentina between 2004 and April 2011, when he was arrested at the request of US authorities, also when trying to enter the country.

He was extradited from Argentina to the United States on July 3, 2013, and was sentenced to 84 months in prison plus a supervised release period of 5 years. Although he has served his time, he is permanently banned from Argentine soil since June 11, 2021. After being refused entry, Alvarez Meyendorff's lawyers argued that their client needed to be hospitalized because of his serious diabetes condition. He was about to be sent back to Bogota on Dec. 24. when he was deplaned as soon as judiciary rulings stood in the way.

Alvarez Meyendorff's mother, his wife, and two of his sons were convicted in Argentina of drug money laundering in 2019 by a La Plata judge who sentenced them to between five and seven years in jail. The Meyendorffs are believed to have laundered between US$ 5 and 8 million from the Norte del Valle cartel.

(Source: Clarín)