The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Friday announced Colombia’s extradition of an alleged former senior commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to the US on charges of “leading a continuing criminal enterprise and participating in an international cocaine manufacture and distribution conspiracy.”

The DOJ alleges that Martin Leonel Perez Castro, who was arrested in Colombia in 2014, was a senior leader of the FARC’s 30th Front and used armed violence and terrorist tactics to expand the FARC’s narcotics empire while distributing thousands of pounds of cocaine in Europe and the US. The 30th Front committed these criminal activities to finance the FARC’s mission of overthrowing the Colombian government.

If convicted of these charges, Perez Castro could face a sentence of life imprisonment.

The DOJ expressed its commitment to working with its international partners “to dismantle destructive drug trafficking organizations, especially where their drug trafficking is used to finance violence and terrorism.”

The FARC is a communist paramilitary group founded in 1964 to overthrow the Colombian government. The group has reportedly used targeted killings, kidnappings and other terrorist tactics toward this end over several decades of conflict with the government. In October 1997, the US State Department designated the FARC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). In 2016, the Colombian government and the FARC signed the “Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace.” The group formally dissolved following this agreement.

In November last year, the US State Department revoked the FARC’s FTO status, stating that it “no longer exists as a unified organization that engages in terrorism or terrorist activity or has the capability and intent to do so.” However, the secretary of state clarified that the revocation did not impact any charges or potential charges, including for narcotrafficking, in the US against former leaders of the FARC.