'Minister of Cocaine' handed to Bolivia

MIAMI, July 11 (UPI) -- Bolivian security forces have taken custody of a former interior minister deported from the United States over human rights violations, officials say.

Michael Rozos, director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office of detention and removal in Florida, said Luis Arce Gomez, 71, was handed over to Bolivian officials Thursday in La Paz, CNN reported Saturday.

Gomez was nicknamed the "Minister of Cocaine" for his reputed activities during the regime of Luis Garcia Meza Tejada in the 1980s. He was convicted in absentia by Bolivian courts of genocide, armed uprising, constitutional violations and murder but never served his 30-year because he was already jailed in the United States on drug-trafficking charges, CNN said.

Gomez was released from prison in 2007 and was in ICE custody preparing for deportation to Bolivia until this week, U.S. officials said.

"I hope last night's removal brings justice to the people of Bolivia who were victimized by the reprehensible acts that this man committed," Rozos told CNN.