Hernando Gomez Bustamante reportedly wanted Castro to release him so he might return to Colombia, el Nuevo Herald newspaper reported Friday.

Gomez was extradited to Colombia in February. He was sent to the United States this week to face drug trafficking charges.

The incarcerated Colombian mentioned the alleged payment to Maradona to intercede on his behalf in a Colombian weekly magazine.

"We also looked for ... Maradona, to whom we gave $50,000, but he ran away with the money," Gomez told the magazine.

Maradona has cultivated close ties to Cuban leaders in recent years and has rehabilitated from drug addiction on the communist island at least twice in the last decade.