Print this pageContinuation of Noriega and Key Players in the Drug Trade
WP 12/17 Drug Lord's Death as Symbolic Victory;Specialists ... Drug Lord's Death as Symbolic Victory;Specialists See Minimal Impact on Cocaine Imports From Colombia By Michael Isikoff Washington Post Staff Writer While it was a major symbolic victory for the Bush administration's drug war, the killing of drug lord Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha by an elite, U.S.-equipped Colombian police unit Friday is unlikely to have any lasting impact on the volume of cocaine smuggled into this country, according to academic experts, anti-drug specialists and some administration officials. Although widely considered the most violent of the Medellin cartel barons, Rodriguez Gacha was only one player in a vast, multibillion-dollar cocaine industry that has demonstrated far greater diversity and durability than U.S. officials once thought, these experts said. Only a few years ago, U.S. officials routinely depicted the Medellin cartel as a ruthless monolith that "controlled" 80 percent of the U.S. cocaine market. Today, the Medellin group is viewed as a loose-knit and shifting coalition of drug traffickers - some of whom did not participate or even support the wave of bombings and assassinations associated with Rodriguez Gacha. The killing of Rodriguez Gacha "will make people feel better about the drug war in Washington and Bogota, but it will make little to no difference in the supply of cocaine to the United States," said Rensselaer Lee, adjunct professor of international affairs at George Washington University, who specializes in Colombia's cocaine industry. "We have to make a distinction between the Colombian war against these terrorist figures . . . and the war against drugs." Many U.S. law enforcement officials now think that a rival cartel, headquartered in the Colombian city of Cali, accounts for at least as much of the U.S. cocaine supply as all the Medellin traffickers combined. Yet the low-key Cali group - thought to have supplied convicted District drug kingpin Rayful Edmond III - has not been targeted by the Colombian government and may be able to make up for any short-term disruptions caused by Rodriguez Gacha's demise, said Peter Reuter, a Rand Corp. economist who has studied the drug economy. "My own view is that knocking off individual leaders does little to affect the cocaine distribution system," said Reuter, who noted that U.S. officials apprehended an equally major trafficker, Carlos Lehder, two years ago without cutting supplies. In many respects, Lee and others said, Rodriguez Gacha's death is most significant as a political boost for Colombian President Virgilio Barco, who launched a risky, all-out war against the top Medellin drug lords last August. In recent weeks, as terrorists linked to Rodriguez Gacha intensified their activity, public support for Barco's campaign dropped precipitously. Originally billed as a war against drug traffickers in general, Barco's efforts came to be viewed primarily as a hunt for the two figures who most directly challenged the authority of the state - Rodriguez Gacha and his onetime and equally notorious ally, Pablo Escobar. As a result, the assault on Rodriguez Gacha's coastal hideout provided an important "psychological" victory for Barco, administration officials said. "This narco-terrorism is simply outrageous and unacceptable, and when we see a president of an embattled country, and Colombia fits that description, doing its level best to bring them to justice, I think we ought to salute them," President Bush said yesterday at a news conference on St. Martin. Bush is scheduled to meet with Barco during a drug "summit" in Cartagena, Colombia, on Feb. 15. While acknowledging that Rodriguez Gacha's death will make little immediate impact, administration officials said it should be seen as part of a sustained effort that eventually will make a difference. "We've never said you can solve this overnight," said John Walters, chief of staff to William J. Bennett, national drug control policy director. "There's a lot more that needs to be done - we know that, the Colombians know that . . . . But every victory helps." U.S. officials said the victory belonged almost entirely to the Colombian government, although officials in Colombia reported that seven U.S.-supplied UH-1H Huey helicopters - part of the $62 million aid package Bush approved for Colombia last August - were used in the National Police assault on Rodriguez Gacha's hideout Friday morning, special correspondent Douglas Farah reported. According to Colombian and U.S. sources, the final move against the drug lord began Nov. 22, when his son, Freddy, who had been arrested Sept. 25 on gun charges, was secretly freed from prison. Police officials trailed the son, who finally led them to Rodriguez Gacha's hideout 60 miles south of Cartagena. A British-trained unit set up roadblocks in the area early Friday and began advancing on the ranch. After two of the trafficker's bodyguards were killed, Rodriguez Gacha and companions were spotted fleeing in a truck. One of the Hueys followed the truck, swooping low and killing Rodriguez Gacha in a blaze of gunfire. Police said Rodriguez Gacha was found gripping an Israeli-made Galil submachine gun. His son, Freddy, and 15 bodyguards also were killed during the 35-minute gunfight.
RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ, Reynaldo.
"El Padrino". A major Peruvian trafficker considered to be involved with Colombians in cocaine shipments from San Borja and other collection points in northern Peru. Involved in the Lima "Villa Coca" scandal of 1986, where the explosion of a cocaine kitchen in Lima led to the implication of six Peruvian police generals. A member of his organization was Luz FERNANDEZ, who lived in Tijuana, Mexico, and moves people and narcotics across the border to the USA. Another member was Luis LOPEZ VERGARA, former Advisor to Minister of Interior and Prime Minister Percovich, and who was held in the Villa Coca case. Reynaldo and a brother maintained ties with Carlos LEHDER of the Medellin cartel.
RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA, Gilberto Jose, AKA "El Chema [the chemist]"; used name Gilberto GONZALEZ in Madrid, Spain.
Arrested for kidnapping in 1969, along with Jose SANTACRUZ LONDONO, AKA "El Estudiante", and his brother Miguel Angel. Known as dangerous individuals, they also became involved in forgery in Pereira. Although from Mariquita, Tolima, they like Evaristo PORRAS and Jose Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ were brought up in Cali. They began trafficking by moving small amounts of cocaine between Peru and Valle (Cali) Colombia. With money from kidnappings were able to buy a plane and move base to processing sites in Narino, Cauca and Valle. Were known to Government as drug traffickers as early as 1975. In November 75 Gilberto was captured with 180 kilos of paste. The owner of the shipment was Tulio Enrique AYERBE, from a wealthy Cali family. Castillo claims that with this bust the entire cocaine transport and dollar laundering organization of the Cali cartel was uncovered. Reportedly worked with Santiago OCAMPO ZULUAGA who was indicted in the US in 1980 as then head of the "biggest cocaine ring in US history", and is now, apparently, in retirement. Gilberto helped set up the New York operation and was the brains behind the narcolaundering scam involving First Interamericas Bank of Panama, the Banco Cafetero in Colombia, and the Corporacion Financiera de Boyaca (which involved various frontmen including Antonio BELTRAN, brother in law Alfonso GIL OSORIO, and senator MESTRE SARMIENTO). Founded the Colombian Radio Group which has 28 stations. His frontmen include Alfonso BELTRAN BALLESTEROS and Emilio ALJURE NASSAR, the latter a congressman from Cali. Fernando GUTIRREZ is frontman in the drugstore operation they have nationwide. Rodriguez is owner of a landing strip, the Bar J in Alabama. Manager of Rodriguez' Chrysler outlet, Tomas DE LOS RIOS, is now serving time in the USA for trafficking. In July 1987, A Cali court absolved Rodriguez and Jose SANTACRUZ LONDONO of all criminal charge--charges that formed the basis for their indictment in the USA.
RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA, Miguel Angel.
Brother of Gilberto JosŽ RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA. Co-owner of a soccer team and various businesses (including a drugstore) in Medell’n. Under indictment in New Orleans.
RODRIGUEZ PUENTE, Efrain.
Efrain is a member of the ESCOBAR organization. His brother, Humberto, is the former Governor of Bolivar. During the administration of President Betancur Efrain was involved in a well-known 500 kilo smuggling effort. He served some time in a Cartagena jail, and now fronts for the ESCOBAR organization there. His associates include Luis LINARES; Luis, who worked with Medellin traffickers and with Escobar, was seized in Cartagena during a 500 kg bust in 1984. The HCL transaction involved the Cartagena ELJACH organization.
RODRIGUEZ PUENTE, Humberto.
Financial associate of Pablo ESCOBAR and former governor of Bolivar (Cartagena).
RODRIGUEZ ZUNIGA, Ana Elena.
Drug trafficker and money launderer; extradition approved in October, 1989.
RODRGIGUEZ, Cesar.
Involved in Servicios Touristicos money laundering scheme with Enrique Pretel.
ROLDAN, Hector.
Cali narcotrafficker.
RONDON, Gildardo.
Rondon is an OCHOA VASQUEZ frontman who appears as owner of La Guarani, Ochoa's posh country house NW of Medellin. Rondon is in charge of real estate sales for Ochoa.
ROWLEY, James.
Reporter for the Associated Press.RUBIANO OREJUELA, Alfonso.
Involved in 1986 Honduran plane crash inwhich one ton of HCL was found. Plane was registered in Cali to Rubiano Pinzon and Company.
RUBINO, Frank.
Lawyer of Manuel NORIEGA.
RUIZ, Jose Ramon.
Early trafficker who skipped $100,000 bail in Miami in 1978. Whereabouts unknown.
SABOGAL, Hugo.
Editor for El Tiempo (Bogota) and producer for BBC television. Co- author of The Cocaine Wars.SALAZAR MANRIQUE, Roberto.Colombian Minister of Justice; assumed position after resignation of Monica de GREIFF.La Opinion, Monday, October 9, 1989: Asume nuevo ministro de judiciaBOGOTA, 8 de octubre (AP).-Con el compromiso de aplicar con la mayor firmeza y con la mayor equidad las nuevas pol’ticas del Presidente Virgilio Barco sobre extradiciones de narcotraficantes y expropiac’on des sus fortunas, asumi— hoy el cargo de ministro de Justicia el abogado y economista Roberto Salazar Manrique. Salazar Manrique es el noveno ministro de Justicia nombrado por Barco en tres a–os y dos meses de gobierno; toma posesi—n del cargo en medio de una intensa polŽmica sobre uno oferta de los carteles de la droga de negociar la paz con el Gobierno. Salazar Manrique, de 51 a–os, prest— juramento al medid’a ante el presidente Virgilio Barco en una ceremonia en la que tambiŽn asumieron sus cargos los nuevos ministros de Gobierno (Interior) Carlos Lemos Simmonds, y de Comunicaciones, Enrique Dan’es. Salazar Manrique, quien ven’a ocupando la subgrencia del Banco Central de Colombia, reemplaz— a la joven abogado M—nica de Greiff, quien renunci— despuŽs de recibir amenazas de muerte de los narcotraficantes y expresar discrepencias con el restablecimiento de la extradici—n. M—nica de Greiff estuvo apenas 70 d’as en en el ministerio de Justicia, cuyo ejercicio se ha convertido en una pesadilla por las amenazas del crimen organizado que maneja el negocio de la droga. En una breve reuni—n con los periodistas despuŽs de prestar juramento, Salazar Manrique dijo no tener miedo de las amenazas de los narcotraficantes. Tengo voluntad de servicio al pa’s y eso es lo fundamental. El 30 de abril de 1984 fue asesinado Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, cuando librada desde el ministerio de Justicia una cruzada contra el narcotr‡fico. Su sucesor Enrique Parejo Gonz‡lez escap— herido a un intento de asesinato en Budapest, Hungaria, dos a–os despuŽs. Hab’a sido enviado a ese pa’s de alta seguridad en calidad de embajador para evitar que fuera asesinado por los carteles de la droga que lo sentenciaron a muerte por haber extraditado a varios narcotraficantes. El nuevo ministro de Justicia anunci— que aplicar‡ fielmente las decisiones del presidente Barco quien el pasadeo 18 de agosto restableci— la extradici—n de los barones de la droga y orden— expropriar sus fortunas. He dicho que comparto totalmente la medidas tomadas por el se–or Presidente de la repœblica, reiter— Salazar Manrique cuando fue interrogado si estaba dispuesto a continuar extraditando narcotraficantes. Sin embargo, a ra’z de revelaciones period’sticas sobre una frustrad negociaci—n entre el Gobierno colombiano y el cartel de la coca’na de Medell’n, diversos dirigentes politicos expresaron hoy que no se puede descartar un di‡logo para poner fin a la violencia y erradicar el narcotr‡fico de Colombia. En favor de una soluci—n negociada s pronunciaron hoy en etrevistas para la prensa y la radio, el precandidato presidencial conservador Alvaro Leyya Dur‡n, el ex ministro de Hacienda, Gobierno y Fomento Joaqu’n Vallejo, dirigente liberal, y el ex presidente de Directorio Nacional Conservador Fabio Valencia Coss’o.THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Copyright Times Mirror Company 1989DATE: SATURDAY October 7, 1989 EDITION: Home Edition LENGTH: MEDIUM PART-NAME: ONE PAGE: 9 PART-NUMBER: 1 COLUMN: 1 TYPE-OF-MATERIAL: Appointment Wire DATELINE: BOGOTA, Colombia DESK: Foreign SOURCE: From Times Wire ServicesCOLOMBIA NAMES NEW JUSTICE MINISTER TO BATTLE THE DRUG CARTELSPresident Virgilio Barco Vargas has named a new justice minister to replace Monica de Greiff, who resigned last month in the face of escalating violence that continued Friday when a bomb exploded in a clothing store in the drug cartel stronghold of Medellin, killing one person. Roberto Salazar Manrique, who was appointed to the job Thursday night, will now lead the government's crackdown on the nation's drug lords, processing extraditions of Colombian traffickers to the United States.He met with reporters on Friday and said that he would take a cautious approach to the job vacated by De Greiff, who quit after repeated death threats from the traffickers and after one of her predecessors was slain. ''To be responsible in life means to be cautious,'' Salazar said after meeting with Barco at the presidential palace in Bogota. Both an economist and a lawyer, Salazar said that he is well aware of the risks involved and still favors extradition of drug-trafficking suspects to the United States. ''If I weren't for it, I wouldn't have accepted'' the appointment, the anti-drug newspaper El Espectador quoted Salazar as saying Thursday night. ''The sole acceptance of the job says it all.'' The Barco government declared war on the traffickers following the Aug. 18 assassination of leading presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, an anti-drug crusader. As part of emergency measures enacted during the crackdown, the government revived Colombia's extradition treaty with the United States. So far just one suspect has been extradited, but proceedings are under way against another. Salazar, a little-known public figure, was deputy finance minister in the 1970s and later worked at the Central Bank where he was deputy general manager and secretary general of the Monetary Board. He becomes Barco's ninth justice minister. Two other Cabinet changes were announced.Communications Minister and acting Justice Minister Carlos Lemos Simmonds was named government minister following Wednesday's resignation of Orlando Vasquez Velazquez, who sought to return to Parliament. Replacing him at the Communications Ministry will be Enrique Danies Rincones, the former governor of the remote Caribbean province of Guajira. Drug-related violence showed no sign of abating amid the Cabinet shuffles. In addition to the bombing in Medellin, two bombs exploded at a supermarket and a bank in Bogota Thursday night. Police said two suspects were detained. Also, police on Friday found 500 pounds of dynamite at a house they raided in southern Bogota following the arrest of two suspects.KEYWORDS: COLOMBIA -- DRUG TRAFFICKING COLOMBIA -- GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SALAZAR MANRIQUE, ROBERTO EXTRADITION UNITED STATES -- FOREIGN RELATIONS -- COLOMBIA DE GREIFF, MONICAAPn 11/16 2018 ColombiaCopyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- President Virgilio Barco's government opposes an attempt in Colombia's congress to pardon drug traffickers, newspapers reported Thursday. During debate in congress Wednesday, Justice Minister Roberto Salazar said Barco is steadfastly opposed to giving amnesty to the Medellin Cartel members and other cocaine traffickers, reported the dailies El Espectador and El Tiempo. Barco has no veto power over legislation and if the congress should decide to approve the amnesty bill, it would become law. However, there is little doubt the Supreme Court would declare such a law unconstitutional. The constitution clearly reserves pardons for political crimes while forbidding amnesty for common criminals. Rep. Cesar Perez is proposing that amnesty for traffickers be made part of a bill that would offer amnesty to leftist guerrillas who signed a truce with the government. Perez said in a speech to the congress Wednesday that the minister of justice was ignorant because of his opposition to amnesty for drug traffickers. Colombia's congress has not been enthusiastic over the government's war on drug traffickers declared by Barco Aug. 19 after traffickers killed a popular presidential hopeful, Sen. Luis Carlos Galan. Barco issued decrees allowing the extradition of traffickers to the United States and the confiscation of their property in Colombia. Attacks blamed on drug thugs since the government offensive began have left at least 39 people dead and 226 injured. Several members of congress have been accused in the last 10 years of accepting money from drug traffickers, but the accusations have never been proven. The suspected head of the Medellin Cartel, Pablo Escobar, was a member of congress from 1982 to 1986. Several congressmen have expressed support for amnesty for drug traffickers, but because most are keeping their opinions to themselves there is no way to tell if amnesty for traffickers might be approved. Debate on the bill is expected to end within the next two weeks. The proposed amnesty for guerrillas came in a peace treaty with the April 19 Movement, known as the M-19. Few in congress have spoken out against the government's attempt to reach a peace with the guerrillas. In exchange for pardons and the right to form a political party, the M-19 has agreed to give up its weapons and disband. Four other guerrilla groups have expressed interest in opening talks with the government, but so far no other talks have taken place. A sixth guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, has said it will never negotiate with the government.SANTACRUZ LONDONO (Londo–o) Jose.AKA "El Estudiante" [the student].Engineering student who very early got involved in crime. Took part in kidnappings with the RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA brothers in 1969. Later involved in drug trafficking in New York. He was involved in the famous Atlantic Lumber Company cocaine seizure in Maryland, along with Luis IBARGUEN and Manuel VASQUEZ. Londono escaped and returned to Cali in early 1980, where he remains one of the kingpins of the so-called Cali cartel.Although a fugitive, he was tried with RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA and Hernando Giraldo SOTO in Cali, and found innocent in July 1987 of all charges that lead to his indictment in New York and Florida.SCHMUCKLER, Martin L.Los Angeles, California, lawyer of Raul Silvio Vivas.SCOTT, Andrew.Associated Press journalist.SEAL, Alder Berriman Barry (aka Ellis MacKenzie)Former pilot for Pablo ESCOBAR; was involved in Nicaraguan activities with Jose Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ GACHA and Federico VAUGHAN. Provided transportation services for Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ. He was assassinated in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on February 19, 1986 before he could testify in exchange for special consideration on charges that had been brought against him.Quick End for Flamboyant Informer DEA Says Colombian Hit Squad Apparently Took First Victim By Mary Thornton Washington Post Staff Writer 03/10/86 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: A SECTION TX Adler Barrimore (Barry) Seal, the nation's top drug informer, worked as a Special Forces pilot in Vietnam and later flew for Trans World Airlines before he became a drug smuggler, earning $1.5 million for a single flight into Colombia and amassing a drug fortune of $60 million to $100 million. But, according to officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration, after Seal was arrested three years ago, he began to walk an even more dangerous tightrope. He decided to become an undercover DEA informer. Now, he's dead, and the DEA said he apparently was the first victim of a drug-financed Colombian hit squad whose sojourn into the country -- with botched getaways and flashy clothes -- might have been comical had it not been so deadly. Seal, 45, became the key player in the government's top drug cases, DEA officials said. His testimony led to cocaine charges against a high-level Nicaraguan government official and drug convictions against the top government officials of the Turks and Caicos islands. More recently, Seal had turned his attention to even bigger fish when he testified before a federal grand jury about three of his former employers: Colombian drug kingpins Carlos Lehder, Pablo Escobar and Jorge Ochoa. Lehder and Escobar are fugitives, and Ochoa is in prison in Spain, facing extradition to the United States. Throughout most of his undercover career, Seal, a flamboyant man, lived with the knowledge that drug traffickers had placed a price on his head, but he refused government protection. He recently told television reporter John Camp in Baton Rouge, La., "I'm not worried about the contract. If it comes, it comes." About six weeks ago, as part of his tangled plea-bargaining negotiations, Seal began serving a six-month sentence at the Salvation Army halfway house in his home town of Baton Rouge, leaving each morning at 8:30 for his job as a self-employed aviation consultant, and returning at 6 p.m.Seal's new schedule did not go unnoticed. Not long after Seal reported to the halfway house on Jan. 24, according to federal investigators, four Colombian men began a journey first to Panama, then into Mexico. Officials of the Immigration and Naturalization Service said the men are believed to have illegally crossed the Mexican border into California Feb. 12. DEA sources said the men bought new American clothing in an attempt to "blend in" as they made their way across the country. But it appears they should have had a fashion consultant on their shopping trip. By the time two of the men were apprehended, agents said one was wearing a "flashy" orange shirt with a brown suit and the other wore a pastel outfit that would have been appropriate on "Miami Vice." About 6 p.m. on Feb. 19, as Seal pulled his white Cadillac Fleetwood into the Salvation Army parking lot, two men walked up to the car and began firing wildly with Ingram Mac-10 machine guns, small assassination weapons that fire at a rate of 1,000 rounds per minute. Seal died instantly. Federal agents said that violence among Colombian drug dealers is common, especially in Miami. But they believe that the four Colombians who illegally entered the United States are part of the first "hit squad" sent here by drug traffickers to carry out a murder contract against a U.S. target. Security at DEA offices across the country was increased a year ago when Colombian traffickers let it be known that they had placed a price on the heads of top DEA officials. Sources have said that the price on Seal was to have been $500,000 for his death or $1 million for getting him to Colombia alive. Seal's family and some public officials have complained that Seal should have been better protected. Attorney General Edwin Meese III said last week that he is looking into how the case was handled. But federal agents said Seal had refused offers for a new identity and that he rejected requests that he serve his six-month sentence in a halfway house in an area where he was not so well known. Agents and others who knew Seal said that he was a self-styled soldier of fortune who became involved in drug smuggling for thrills. They said that Seal was an avid pilot who especially enjoyed pushing airplanes to their limits and modifying them with special equipment. When Seal returned from Vietnam, he went to work as a pilot for TWA. But sources said Seal became bored with the routine and began to look for excitement. Seal was arrested in 1972 for attempting to smuggle nearly seven tons of explosives to Cuba, but the case was later dismissed. He has said in interviews and in testimony to the President's Commission on Organized Crime that he got involved in drug trafficking by 1977. He had appeared on numerous televised interviews and last year testified before the crime commission. Seal had bragged of once smuggling 20,000 pounds of cocaine into Baton Rouge without leaving his house, simply by ordering it by phone. Seal lived in an upper-class neighborhood, surrounded by oriental rugs, jewelry, expensive art work, luxury cars, boats and airplanes. Early last month the Internal Revenue Service seized Seal's house, two boats, several planes, real estate and other possessions for alleged nonpayment of $29,437,718 in taxes on illegal drug income. Camp, an investigative reporter for KBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge, said that Seal underwent a "personality change" when he went to work for DEA and became serious about working against his former employers. Agents familiar with Seal's work said he was extremely valuable to the DEA, with a memory for details that was close to photographic. Although Seal will not be able to carry out his planned role as the government's star witness in the Ochoa trial, federal sources said Seal's testimony to a grand jury may still be able to convict his old associate. After the killing, a major federal manhunt was launched. So far, six men have been arrested in connection with the killing. They are being held without bail on a variety of charges while the investigation continues. Within 12 hours of the shooting, three of the suspects were arrested. They included Miguel Velez, Heriberto Sanchez-Cardenas and Jose Renteria-Campos. One of the men was arrested in New Orleans, a second at the Miami airport and the third was arrested after the taxi he had hired to drive him from New Orleans to the Montgomery, Ala., airport hit a deer in Meridian, Miss., and became disabled. A federal official said the other two suspects had raised suspicions among personnel at the New Orleans airport as they ran through the terminal offering large sums of money for any flight that would take them to Miami. Federal sources said that Sanchez-Cardenas and Velez are believed to be among the Colombians who illegally crossed the border Feb. 12. Renteria-Campos, a Colombian, was already in the United States on an expired visitor visa, the sources said. Two days later three other men were arrested by the FBI in simultaneous raids in the New Orleans area. They included John Jairo Cardona-Garcia, Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz and Bernardo Antonio Vasquez-Tamayo. The FBI announced that agents found drugs and weapons during the raids. INS officials said that the first two men are believed to have crossed the border illegally Feb. 12, while Vasquez-Tamayo, a Colombian, is a permanent resident alien living in New Orleans. FBI spokesmen in Louisiana said that all the men were being held in connection with the Seal murder while the investigation continues. By the end of last week, Velez had been charged with retaliation against a federal witness, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Vasquez-Tamayo had been charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and a firearms violation. The other four men were being held as illegal immigrants.SENDERO LUMINOSO (Shining Path).Maoist insurgent organization based in Peru.THE WASHINGTON POST DATE: FRIDAY September 1, 1989 PAGE: A01 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: FIRST SECTION LENGTH: MEDIUM SOURCE: Michael Isikoff Washington Post Staff Writer MEMO: STORY-TYPE: NEWS NATIONAL NEWS FOREIGNUP TO 100 MILITARY ADVISERS TO BE SENT TO COLOMBIA DEA AGENTS TO RESUME ATTACKS IN PERUAs many as 100 U.S. military personnel will be sent to Colombia over the next four months to help train police and military units in that country's battle against the drug cartels, the Defense Department said yesterday. Administration officials also confirmed that, after a seven-month hiatus, Drug Enforcement Administration agents working with police forces in Peru will resume paramilitary strikes in the next few days against drug traffickers in the country's coca-growing Upper Huallaga Valley. U.S. officials said the valley is "effectively controlled" by the far leftist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas. The two developments highlighted the escalating U.S. role in the Latin drug conflict. Although White House officials announced a $65 million emergency military aid package, including military advisers, for Colombia last week, Pentagon officials yesterday disclosed for the first time the deployment of a contingent of U.S. support personnel under supervision of the Southern Command in Panama. Defense Department spokesman Pete Williams said "somewhere between 50 to 100 U.S. personnel" will be dispatched to Colombia, perhaps starting Sunday, when two C-130 cargo aircraft are already scheduled to carry military equipment. The U.S. forces will include munitions specialists, communications officials, computer operators, supply specialists, logistics personnel and other support personnel, but "they may not all necessarily be there at any one time," Williams said. The aid package-including helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, boats, small arms and other equipment-was approved by President Bush last week after individuals believed to be speaking for the Medellin cocaine cartel declared what they called "total war" against the Colombian government. In addition, administration officials have confirmed that President Bush will announce an additional $250 million in military and economic aid for Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia as part of a major new drug program drafted by national drug policy director William J. Bennett. Pentagon officials said numerous details about the aid package had yet to be worked out, including where the U.S. personnel will be based, who will protect them and which divisions will provide them. Officials also said the aid package is being revised from the mix of Huey helicopters, grenade launchers, jeeps, antitank weapons and other equipment announced by White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater last week. While administration officials said no "operational" forces will be sent to Colombia, Defense Department spokesman David Super said he could not say whether the support personnel might include U.S. pilots to train the Colombians to fly the Huey helicopters and cargo planes. An administration official acknowledged that the Colombian military might use some of the military equipment to fight leftist guerrillas operating in that country rather than drug traffickers. In the past, U.S. officials have said the two groups sometimes work together, but over the past year there have been increasing reports in the Colombian press about drug traffickers' private armies forging alliances with some elements of the Colombian military to fight leftists. "It's true that one of the Colombian army's missions is to fight the insurgents," said one administration official who asked not to be identified. "But the purpose of our sending the stuff down there is to help (Colombian President Virgilio) Barco fight the drug war." Administration officials have said the situation in Peru may be even more hazardous for anti-drug forces than the one in Colombia. Last February, the U.S. Embassy in Lima suspended a DEA-State Department program called "Operation Snowcap" after concluding that DEA agents were inadequately protected when they accompanied Peruvian police in strikes against drug traffickers. Since then, U.S. officials substantially enhanced a Peruvian base at Santa Lucia where a team of 12 to 18 DEA agents and additional State Department contract personnel are to camp. An airstrip has been built and the base has been surrounded with watch towers and sandbags. "When you visit Santa Lucia, you're sitting in a Vietnam-style military base," said Rep. Robert E. Wise Jr. (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Government Operations subcommittee on government information, justice and agriculture, who returned from a visit to the base this week. "My concern is they don't have all the resources they need . . . . We've got American men and women in harm's way and they're going to be in real danger if we don't back them up." KEYWORDS: ORGANIZATION: defense department; drug enforcement administration SUBJECT: United States; Colombia; Government aid to foreign nations; Narcotic and drug violations; Military personnel on active duty; PeruAPn 10/29 1728 PeruCopyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Army troops killed 27 guerrillas of the Maoist Shining Path movement in a battle near the Andean hamlet of Pariajasa southeast of Lima, officials reported Sunday. A sergeant and a corporal were wounded in the fighting Saturday, according to a communique issued by the Political-Military Command of the Emergency Zone in Ayacucho, 235 miles southeast of Lima. It gave no further details but the guerrilla death toll would be the highest in recent weeks. Pariajasa is 53 miles north of Ayacucho. The Shining Path, which began its anti-government campaign nine years ago in Ayacucho province, has intensified its attacks to disrupt municipal elections set for Nov. 12. At least 120 mayors, candidates and local officials have been killed by the rebels this year and many others have resigned because of threats. Police blamed Shining Path guerrillas for these attacks Saturday: -- Rebels raided the town of Palca, 155 miles east of Lima, and killed three mayoral candidates after a "people's trial" in the town square. The guerrillas then went to the nearby town of Vilca and shot to death two councilmen. -- Guerrillas wearing military uniforms entered San Cristobal de Humanaga University in Ayacucho and used explosives to destroy laboratories, the student dining room, the printing shop and a garage where 19 vehicles burned. No casualties were reported. -- In Huacho, 80 miles northwest of Lima, a car bomb exploded in the downtown area, wounding one passerby and shattering windows. -- The city council building in Chilca, 140 miles east of Lima, was burned by fire bombs. The Shining Path insurgency has spread from Ayacucho and the guerrillas now operate in much of the highlands and also in the northeastern jungles, where officials say they are involved with Colombian smugglers in cocaine trafficking. Government reports say more than 15,000 people have been killed in violence related to the insurgency.APn 10/31 0118 PeruCopyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Shining Path guerrillas killed two policemen in Lima and hung the bodies of eight dogs from lampposts with death threats against the leaders of the Soviet Union and China, authorities said. They said a police commander assigned to Interpol, the international police organization, was shot to death Monday while driving his daughter to school. Police said several men in a car intercepted the commander's vehicle, hurled a bomb under it, then opened the fire. They said the commander's daughter was not hurt. In the other fatal attack Monday a patrolman was shot as he entered a telephone booth in Lima's El Agustino district. Police said the bodies of the dogs were found hanging from lampposts in various sections of the city Sunday night and notes fastened to the cadavers read: "Death to Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping." The lampposts also were draped with red flags with the hammer and sickle, the symbol of the Maoist Shining Path movement. The Shining Path, which emerged in 1980, claims to follow the principles of the late Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung. It has denounced China's top leader, Deng Xiaoping, and other members of the Chinese Communist Party hierarchy as "traitors" to Mao's teachings. Shining Path has condemned Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev as a violator of Marxism and because of Soviet arms sales to the Peruvian armed forces. The Shining Path used the practice of hanging dogs as a threatening gesture when it first began its anti-government campaign but had not carried out such acts in recent years. Shining Path guerrillas have stepped up their attacks this month in an effort to disrupt nationwide municipal elections scheduled for Nov. 12. The government says 330 people have been killed in political violence in October. The government on Monday extended for 60 days the state of emergency in eight provinces of Peru because of continuing rebel violence. The measure suspends constitutional guarantees and places the areas under military control. Most of the province of Lima, where the capital is located, was placed under a state of emergency last week. More than a third of Peru and half of the nation's population of 21 million people are under states of emergency.APn 11/02 0147 PeruCopyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.LIMA, Peru (AP) -- At least 100 Maoist rebels fired guns and explosives Wednesday at police supervising a religious procession near downtown Lima, officials said. Two rebels were killed and 15 people were wounded, officials said. Police said they detained 140 people after the attack. Bomb squad units were called to the scene to deactivate explosive devices left by the rebels, said an AP photographer at the scene. Interior Minister Agustin Mantilla told reporters the rebels had staged a brief march in the working-class district of La Victoria at the same time as the procession to mark All Saints Day. The guerrillas attacked the police, but other police from a nearby precinct arrived and joined in the battle. Mantilla said two rebels were killed and 14 were wounded. He said a police sergeant was wounded by shrapnel from a homemade bomb thrown by the rebels. Reporters said the rebels carried banners and scattered pamphlets urging people to stay home Friday and to boycott municipal elections scheduled for Nov. 12. The Shining Path announced an "armed strike" last week as part of its campaign to sabotage the elections. The term is used by the group to imply violence against those who don't participate in the strike. In Huancayo, 140 miles east of Lima, armed Shining Path guerrillas forced employees of two radio stations Wednesday to broadcast messages calling on people to obey a three-day strike beginning Nov. 12. In May, about 1 million people in the Huancayo region obeyed the call for a strike, stopping food supplies from reaching the capital. The Maoist rebels have assassinated more than 120 mayors, local officials and candidates this year in its campaign to disrupt the elections. About 400 candidates have quit out of fear. In Pomacocha, 295 miles southeast of Lima, rebels assassinated a justice of the peace and the assistant police chief, police said Wednesday. Rebels also killed the mayor and police chief of Raquia, a town 125 miles north of Lima. The attacks occurred Tuesday, police said. The Shining Path, based in the Andean highlands, launched its insurgency against Peru's elected government in 1980. Warfare has spread throughout much of the country. The government estimates more than 15,000 people have died.UPn 11/02 2221 Peace march to counter Shining Path actionLIMA, Peru (UPI) -- Political parties have organized a "March for Peace" Friday to counter an "armed strike" called by the communist Shining Path guerrilla movement just days before municipal elections. Organizers said the march, brainchild of United Left leader Henry Pease, is backed by the Catholic Church, congressmen, unions, professionals and students, and won the quick support of Mario Vargas Llosa, conservative candidate for president. The Shining Path, a group of some 5,000 guerrillas who control vast areas of the country, is trying to disrupt Nov. 12 elections because it wants to establish a leftist regime of peasants and workers. The "armed strike" called for Friday is believed to be another attempt to disrupt the electoral process. In armed strikes, workers not only stay off the job but are expected to take up arms against the government and their employers. Lima and the nearby port of Callao are under state-of-emergency control by the armed forces to prevent disruptions of the elections. On Wednesday, the Shining Path took over three radio stations in the city of Huancayo, 180 miles east of Lima, and called for a separate "armed strike" for Nov. 11-13 in the Andean states of Junin, Pasco and Huanuco. In Washington, the State Department issued a travel advisory Thursday, warning American citizens to postpone travel to Peru until after the elections. "Increased violence by terrorist organizations is expected during the period leading up to the elections," the warning said. "The (State) Department considers it prudent for Americans to defer travel to Peru until after the elections." Shining Path guerrillas attacked local election candidates and police officials in the pre-election period, and officials estimate 350 people were killed in Peru in the month of October in terrorist incidents. The guerrilla group wants to install an orthodox communist government in Peru based on the teachings of Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Tse-tung. Since the group's first public action in 1980, more than 15,000 people have been killed in political violence directed against both official authorities and peasants. The latter are often brutally slain for refusing to join the rebels.WP 11/03 Peru's Rebels Muddy Drug Drive; Army, Police at ...Peru's Rebels Muddy Drug Drive; Army, Police at Odds on Combating Guerrillas, Coca Growers By Michael Getler and Eugene Robinson Washington Post Foreign ServiceNoriega and Key Players in the Drug Trade ABBELL, Michael. Washington-based lawyer for Gilberto RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA. WP 10/23 Ex-Official Quits Firm, But Keeps Cali Clients; ... Ex-Official Quits Firm, But Keeps Cali Clients; Lawyer Handled Drug Extraditions at Justice By Michael Isikoff Washington Post Staff Writer A former Justice Department official who represents the alleged leaders of Colombia's Cali cocaine cartel has left his international law firm following complaints about his activities from some of the firm's clients in Colombia. Michael Abbell, former director of the Justice Department's office of international affairs, said last week that he resigned from the firm of Kaplan, Russin & Vecchi after his work for the alleged cartel traffickers was reported in The Washington Post Oct. 2. But Abbell, who once supervised U.S. government efforts to extradite Colombian drug traffickers, said he will continue to represent reputed drug boss Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and other accused Cali traffickers whose extradition is wanted by the United States. "My duty is to my clients - to see that their rights are properly represented within the legal system," said Abbell. Rodriguez, his brother Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela and four other accused Cali traffickers were included on the list of "12 most wanted" drug fugitives released last month by Attorney General Dick Thornburgh. Bruno Ristau, managing partner of Kaplan, Russin's Washington office, where Abbell was "of counsel," did not return telephone calls Friday. Abbell said The Post report generated complaints about his work from some of the firm's U.S. corporate clients in Bogota and jeopardized the civil and commercial law business of the firm. Abbell said he concluded that his criminal defense work was "incompatible" with the interests of the firm and "the people here who received the complaints . . . said, `We agree with you,' " APn 11/19 1136 Drug Lawyer Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By CAROLYN SKORNECK Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Prosecutors regularly leave government service to defend the kind of people they once tried to put in jail, but some say the case of Michael Abbell is special. Abbell left the Justice Department in 1984 after 17 1/2 years -- during which he rose to head the Criminal Division office that handled extraditions from foreign countries. Now, he represents some of the very people the United States wants most to extradite: alleged cocaine kingpins from Colombia. He also has urged Congress to amend mutual legal assistance treaties with foreign nations to give defendants in international cases the same rights as prosecutors in obtaining evidence from overseas, and he helped craft a policy resolution on that issue that was approved in August by the American Bar Association. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate narcotics and terrorism subcommittee, criticizes Abbell's switch to the other side. "I personally find quite troubling the decision of a former high-level Justice Department official like Mr. Abbell to provide expertise to major cocaine traffickers that he gained while he was working for the United States Justice Department and privy to the innermost workings of our criminal justice system," Kerry wrote recently to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. But Abbell contends -- and legal ethics experts agree -- that prosecutors switch sides all the time and there is nothing wrong with it. "I obtained written conflict-of-interest clearance from the Department of Justice, even though it was not necessary, in an excess of caution," he said. He obtained that clearance prior to appearing in a Spanish court in 1985 as an expert witness on U.S. grand jury practices in a case involving alleged Cali cocaine cartel kingpin Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and alleged Medellin cocaine cartel leader Jorge Ochoa. Department spokesman Dan Eramian confirmed that Abbell received conflict-of-interest clearance. More recently, Abbell said, he has traveled several times to Cali to meet with Rodriguez and his associates to advise them on how to avoid U.S. extradition requests. Rodriguez and other alleged Cali cartel leaders are on a Justice Department list of 12 "most wanted" drug fugitives. Abbell, interviewed by telephone, acknowledged that the extradition treaty with Colombia "was negotiated when I headed the (Justice Department) office," but he stressed he's not scrounging for a loophole in his representation of Colombian clients. He said he is arguing "that treaty was held to be not enforceable by the Colombian Supreme Court because it was not properly ratified in Colombia." The treaty was reinstated under emergency measures Aug. 18 by President Virgilio Barco. Abbell said he left his law firm after a Washington Post story last month about his new clientele, but added, "These people are by no means my only clients. A good part of the work I do is in the white collar area." Abbell said he left the Justice Department because of the relatively low pay and because a political appointee was "moved down on my shoulders." "Very few prosecutors stay on for their whole lives and most of them get involved in defending cases," he said. "... You go to any district in which there are drug defendants and you will find former prosecutors defending them." ABA officials scrutinized Abbell's work on the ABA resolution in the wake of the publicity about his clients, said James R. Silkenat, who chairs the association's International Law Section. Silkenat said he found Abbell "did not initiate the action," the people involved knew of Abbell's clientele, and his work was "well apart from any private work he might have been doing. ... There didn't seem to be any particularly pernicious acts by him that anybody could complain about." Stephen Gillers, New York University legal ethics professor, said he found no legal or ethical problems with Abbell's side-switching. Since Abbell developed the extradition treaty with Colombia, he cannot argue the treaty is unconstitutional under U.S. law but arguing that the Colombian Supreme Court's action makes it inoperable is "absolutely valid," Gillers said. ABELLO SILVA, Jose Rafael. Considered one of the major drug traffickers in the Santa Marta region. One of 128 major capos whose capture was ordered by President Barco in January 1987. Captured in Barranquilla in January 1987 and released shortly thereafter, apparently with the help of La Guajira senator and traffickers protector, Miguel PINEDO BARROS. Seemingly, a close associate of other northcoast traffickers including the O'BYRNE brothers and Carlos GOMEZ ZAPATA. APn 10/11 1912 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A top-ranking member of the Medellin cocaine cartel who resorted to plastic surgery to avoid arrest was captured and will face extradition to the United States, police said Wednesday. The Bogota daily El Espectador temporarily closed its Medellin office after drug lords killed two of the newspaper's employees there and threatened to murder the bureau's remaining staff of 11. An executive of the anti-drug crusading newspaper said officials will study how to improve office security but that the government must do more to protect the paper and its employees. The Administrative Security Department said the suspected drug trafficker, Jose Abello Silva, was arrested Tuesday in a Bogota restaurant. The office said in a communique that he had undergone facial surgery to avoid easy detection. It also said Abello is the fourth-ranking person in the Medellin cocaine cartel, Colombia's largest, and the most important suspect arrested since Colombia began cracking down on cocaine lords Aug. 19. In Washington, Justice Department spokesman Harri J. Kramer said a federal grand jury in Tulsa, Okla., indicted Abello in 1987 on charges of conspiring to import and distribute cocaine. Kramer said the Justice Department had requested that Abello and a suspect arrested Wednesday, Manuel Palma, be held for extradition. Palma is wanted by federal authorities in Miami on charges of interstate travel in aid of racketeering in connection with an operation to launder drug money, Kramer said. Details of Palma's arrest were not immediately available from Colombia police. Neither Palma nor Abello is on the U.S. Justice Department's list of 12 most wanted traffickers, but the department has said it wants dozens of other Colombians on federal drug charges. Cornelius Dougherty, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in Washington that Abello "was considered a major transporter for the Medellin cartel," responsible for "major shipments of cocaine and marijuana into the states." Colombia's Administrative Security Department said Abello was the cartel's chief of operations for Colombia's northern coast. Dozens of clandestine air strips on the north coast are used to smuggle 300 to 400 tons of cocaine into the United States each year, law enforcement officials say. The federal police force said legal documents from the U.S. government for extraditing Abello are being processed. So far Colombia has extradited one suspected trafficker; four, including Abello, are awaiting extradition. Although El Espectador closed its office in Medellin, it will try to continue circulating in the city, a newspaper executive said, asking that he not be identified further for security reasons. An anonymous caller told El Espectador the Extraditables -- a group of cocaine traffickers -- had killed the two employes Tuesday and would kill the others in Medellin if the office remained open. The two slain were Marta Luz Lopez, the Medellin office administrator, and Miguel Soler, the paper's circulation manager in Medellin, a city of 2 million people 150 miles northwest of the capital. "El Espectador declares that it will be able to survive as a free newspaper only if the government fulfills its obligation to protect our lives and properties," the paper's directors said in a letter sent to Interior Minister Carlos Lemmos Simmonds. A spokeswoman for the minister's office said there had been no official response to the letter. "This threat should be understood as against not only our business but against press freedom in the country," the letter said. El Espectador has been the most vociferous of Colombia's newspapers in editorials calling on the government to crush the nation's drug trade. On Sept. 2, a 500-pound car bomb seriously damaged the newpaper's building in Bogota. The paper's owner, Luis Gabriel Cano, has said the newspaper may have to close if it doesn't get financial help. Cano's brother, Guillermo Cano, was publisher of the paper when he was killed by drug traffickers in 1987. UPn 10/29 2214 Drug trafficker extradited to U.S. By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- A Colombian national wanted in Oklahoma was extradited Sunday morning, bringing to five the number of accused cocaine traffickers sent to the United States under a resurrected policy to deal with Colombia's surging drug war. Jose Abello Silva, the reputed chief of Caribbean coast operations for the powerful Medellin cocaine cartel, was transferred early Sunday to the custody of U.S. Marshal's Service agents and was immediately put on a plane to Tulsa, Okla. He arrived in Tulsa Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, the violence continued Sunday when two television newsmen, Jorge Enrique Pulido and Ximena Godoy, were wounded in a terrorist attack in the center of Bogota. They were shot by two gunmen on a motorcycle. Pulido, a well-known journalist and news director at Mundovision, was hospitalized with three bullet wounds, a spokesman for San Pedro Claves Clinic said. He was placed in intensive care after emergency surgery. Godoy, a news anchor, was shot in the left leg. The two men were leaving the headquarters of the Colombian Radio and Television Institute after a news program when the attack occurred. Police said one suspected gunman was arrested. The other escaped. Colombian civilian and military officials refused comment on the extradition, but the extradition was confirmed by a statement from the Marshal's Service issued in Washington. The extradition brings to five the number of accused drug traffickers sent to the United States since President Virgilio Barco re-established extradition Aug. 18 after a string of assassinations attributed to the cocaine cartels. Ana Beatriz Rodriguez, Roberto Victor Carlini and Bernardo Peleaz Roldan were extradited Oct. 14, and Eduardo Martinez Roldan was sent to Atlanta Sept. 6 to face money laundering charges. Colombian news reports said Abello Silva, 44, who was captured Oct. 11 in a Bogota restaurant, had been heavily guarded by authorities because of a supposed contract out on his life. The suspect is believed to be the seventh-ranking man in the Medellin cartel heirarchy and could reveal important information about organized crime in Colombia during his trial. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Tulsa in 1987 on charges of taking part in a large-scale conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, the Marshals Service said. It said Abello Silva's trafficking ring was responsible for the importation of more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine into the United States. Barco returned Saturday night from San Jose, Costa Rica, where he met leaders from throughout the Americas, including President Bush, to discuss the drug war, among other issues. "I return very excited and proud of our country," Barco told reporters at Catam airport. Also Saturday night, Minister of the Interior Carlos Lemos Simmonds condemned the assassination of leftist leader Gabriel Santamaria in Medellin and announced a meeting with leftist politicians Monday to discuss new security measures. Santamaria, vice president of the Antioquia state assembly and president of the leftist Patriotic Union, was shot by gunmen in his office in Medellin Friday afternoon. "We will continue to try to give the best security possible to the members of any political group," Lemos said. He blamed the killing on the "usual phonomenon, well-organized crime." "The state and the opposition have the same enemy," Lemos said, "and we know who that enemy is, and where it is." Meanwhile, two Bogota television journalists were attacked by gunmen as they left work Sunday afternoon, police said. Jorge Enrique Pulido and Ximena Godoy were reported recovering and out of danger in a hospital after two gunmen on a motorcycle sprayed Pulido's car with machine gun fire after the pair left the Mundovision News studio. Also Sunday, the leftist rebel group the April 19 Movement, known as M-19, which negotiated a cease-fire and amnesty plan with the government over the past six months, announced it would turn over its arms Dec. 15, giving up 19 years of war. Commander Carlos Pizarro Leongomez said the turning over of weapons was conditioned on the government's passing of an amnesty bill now before Congress. "It is conditioned on the political pact" with the government, Pizarro said i an interview broadcast on RCN radio from the rebels' mountain hideout near Cali, 200 miles southwest of Bogota. Over the past six months the M-19 has negotiated a peace plan with the government, agreeing to give up armed insurrection for a full pardon and the right to form a political party. ACOSTA, Flavio. Formerly commander of the Medellin Metro Police and considered in the traffickers hip pocket. He never made an important narcotics arrest. Medellin police are known to frequently make multi-million peso bank deposits. Their arrest of Pablo ESCOBAR in 1986 was a mistake. AEROCONDOR AIRLINES. Airline owned by Julio CALDERON and managed by the MILLON brothers. AGUIRRE ARDILLA, "El Coronel". Bogota gangster involved in early Bogota trafficking activities and host of the Drug mafia summit meeting held in Bogota in February 1976. He was murdered during one of the drug wars that swept Colombia. His cousin, Jose Manual CRUZ AGUIRRE, former owner of Deportes Tolima, is wanted in Peru, and may be wanted in Miami. ALCANTARA, Carlos. Cali trafficker and associate of Tulio Marco Echeverry Uribe. ALVAREZ MORENO, Jose Hader. A native of Santander and believed to have initiated cocaine operations there in the 1970s. A money launderer, he was a key individual in the DEA 1982 Operation Swordfish. Alvarez fronts for legitimate businesses, and has been involved in trafficking activities with Juvenal BETANCUR CUARTAS (the former President of Colombia's brother) and Victor Manual BARRETO COLL. He later took up with Pablo ESCOBAR GAVIRIA and ran his Servicios Aeroejecutivos Company. His children were kidnapped by the M-19, whereupon he helped ensure that the kidnappers "disappeared" permanently. Laundered millions of dollars through the Banco de los Trabajadores operation created by RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA. One of the many traffickers placed on the GOC wanted list following the assassination of Justice Minister Lara Bonilla in 1984. The US requested his extradition in 1985. AMSILI COHEN, Joseph. Associate of Jose Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ GACHA. UPn 11/21 1623 Suspected trafficker wanted in U.S. captured in Col... Suspected trafficker wanted in U.S. captured in Colombia By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- Police captured a fugitive wanted in Massachusetts on U.S. drug trafficking charges and, separately, seized 600 pounds of cocaine when a drug-laden plane made an emergency landing in Colombia's Atlantic state, authorities said Tuesday. Joseph Amsili Cohen, 38, accused in a Boston federal court on cocaine smuggling charges, was captured Sunday by members of the Administrative Security Department, a secret police force. The agency declined to disclose the time or place of Amsili's capture. Amsili, born in Morocco but nationalized in 1984 as a Colombian citizen, has been linked in Colombian news reports to cocaine kingpin Jose Rodriguez Gacha, the No. 2 man in the powerful Medellin cartel and head of its Bogota operations. Papers reportedly were being prepared to extradite Amsili, who fled the United States in April 1988 to avoid arrest. Two suspected drug traffickers were sent to the United States last weekend to face trial in federal courts, bringing to eight the number of Colombians extradited during the 3-month-old government offensive against the drug cartels. In a separate incident Sunday in Atlantic state, authorities seized about 600 pounds of cocaine and captured seven suspects when their small Cessna plane made an emergency landing in Sabanalarga, 25 miles south of the Caribbean port city Barranquilla, news reports said. The police said they had "nothing concrete" to confirm the reports. The destination of the cocaine-laden plane was not immediately known. The Bogota newspaper El Tiempo Tuesday cited official reports showing that 3,336 people have been captured, 14,000 pounds of cocaine base seized, and 478 cocaine laboratories destroyed since the government launched its latest anti-drug campaign Aug. 18. Battles between the army and leftist guerrillas Sunday and Monday left 17 rebels and one soldier dead, unconfirmed news reports said. The reports said members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the National Liberation Army and the Indian Quintin Lame were killed in fighting in different parts of the country. The Ministry of Defense declined to confirm the reports. Until recently the Revolutionary Armed Forces and Quintin Lame have observed a unilateral cease-fire in hopes of working out a peace agreement with the government. The leftist April 19th Movement, also known as M-19, recently concluded a peace pact with the government and officially announced Monday it would hand over its weapons to a commission of the Socialist International led by Italian former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi. The M-19 agreed to give up its war on the government in exchange for a pardon and a scheme giving the ex-rebels an edge in senatorial and congressional races. The group said it would turn over its guns on Dec. 19 and march from its mountain hideout to Cali, 200 miles southwest of Bogota, for its first open political rally. The M-19, described recently by a Colombian journalist as "excellent publicists," has a history of spectacular actions, including the theft of South American liberator Simon Bolivar's sword in 1974 and the November 1985 occupation of the Palace of Justice. Twelve Supreme Court judges were among the 100 people killed in the siege. ANDERSON, Hilmer. UPI journalist.ANGULO FERNANDEZ, Rosa. "La Chota Rosa", known Bolivian trafficker who works with the Medellin cartel. Buys basic cocaine paste (BCP) in the Chapare region and sells in quantity in Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia. Detained in Cochabamba in July 1988. ANTCZAK, John. AP journalist. ARANGO, Carlos (aka Miguel VELEZ aka Cumbamba). Medellin cartel operative currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in the assassination of Barry SEAL. ARCE GOMEZ, Luis. Former Bolivian minister of the interior and trafficker; extradited to Florida in December, 1989. UPn 12/11 1812 Former cabinet minister deported to U.S. on drug ch... Former cabinet minister deported to U.S. on drug charges By ALBERTO ZUAZO LA PAZ, Bolivia (UPI) -- Former Interior Minister Luis Arce Gomez, an ex-army colonel wanted on U.S. cocaine charges, was captured in a joint operation by Bolivian anti-drug police and U.S. drug agents and deported Monday to the United States. Interior Minister Guillermo Capobianco told reporters Arce Gomez, who was also wanted in Bolivia on murder charges relating to a 1980 coup d'etat, was placed on a U.S. plane in Cochabamba and flown to Miami Monday without a formal extradition proceeding. Reading a prepared statement, Capobianco said that Arce Gomez was captured in the city of Santa Cruz in an operation "carried out by a commando unit of the UMOPAR (anti-drug police) in a combined action" with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In Miami, U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman Diane Cossin said Gomez was indicted in the Southern District of Florida court in 1983 along with 16 other people on allegations of cocaine distribution conspiracy. Another defendant in the case, Ana Rodriguez de Tamayo, was extradited by Colombia to Florida Oct. 14 and is awaiting trial. Bolivian news reports said Arce Gomez, wearing soccer shorts, was arrested Sunday on a ranch 3 miles from Santa Cruz while attending a family party. The interior minister's statement said, "The government of National Unity has decided to transfer the international criminal Luis Arce Gomez to the United States of North America at the request of the justice system and government of that country, which has charges pending against him for narcotics trafficking and other charges." Earlier, in a telephone interview with United Press International, Capobianco said the deportation was "a sovereign political act, that in no way comes under the status of an extradition, which doesn't exist, because the old (law) that exists (from 1901) does not involve narcotics trafficking." Capobianco said the deportation of Arce Gomez was a "demonstration before the international community" of Bolivia's commitment to combat drug trafficking. After Peru, Bolivia is the world's second-largest producer of coca leaves, which are processed into cocaine in countries such as Colombia before shipment to the United States and other consumer nations. Colombia has extradited nine drug-trafficking suspects to the United States in recent months despite a campaign of violence by drug lords, including the recent bombing of secret police headquarters and the bombing of an Avianca airliner that crashed outside Bogota. Senate minority leader Robert Dole, R-Kan., said Monday in La Paz that he and four Senate colleagues touring Bolivia congratulated President Jaime Paz Zamora for ordering Arce Gomez's deportation. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said although the senators were pleased at the deportation of Arce Gomez, "we are a little bit disillusioned with the failure to fulfill the (1989) objective to eliminate 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) of coca leaf cultivation." Dole said Bolivia lost $12 million in aid because of its failure to reach the coca leaf reduction targets. He said Congress expects to allocate $160 million to combat drug trafficking and aid economic development in Bolivia in 1990. At the news conference, Capobianco said that Arce Gomez might be returned to Bolivia if the Bolivian government requests it. The former colonel is accused of murdering dissidents during and after the 1980 coup d'etat by Gen. Luis Garcia Meza, who himself was overthrown in another rebellion after only 13 months in office. Arce Gomez served as interior minister to Gen. Garcia Meza. Arce Gomez is suspected of collaborating in the murders of socialist leader Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz, Jesuit priest Luis Espinal, and seven leaders of the Leftist Revolutionary Movement, the party that now rules Bolivia in a coalition with a rightist party. The Bolivian Supreme Court in Sucre has been trying Arce Gomez in absentia along with ex-president Garcia Meza, who is a fugitive, and 54 other defendants accused of murdering dissidents. The trial began three years ago and is continuing. Most of the defendants, former government officials, have appeared in court to defend themselves. APn 12/11 1903 Bolivia-Arce Gomez Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- Luis Arce Gomez was flown to the Miami on Monday for trial on charges of trafficking in drugs while he was interior minister in a former Bolivian military government. He has been accused of leading a cocaine trafficking operation while he was Bolivia's top law enforcement official. He also hired Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie to advise paramilitary forces that tortured and killed opposition political and labor figures. A U.S. indictment in Miami alleges that Bolivian secret police under his control seized cocaine from traffickers who failed to pay for protection, and delivered it to smugglers who did pay. Two lieutenants of Arce Gomez who were charged with him once received $1.5 million for cocaine that was confiscated by Bolivian authorities and stored in bank vaults, according to the indictment. It says Arce Gomez personally ordered the cocaine released. "He was indicted along with 18 other individuals and charged with various violations of the criminal drug laws of the United States," said Diane Cossin, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Miami. "Specifically, the charges involved conspiracies related to the importation, distribution and intent to distribute narcotics," she said. Arce Gomez had a reputation for ruthlessness and for personally torturing political prisoners. He was named interior minister in 1980 and rounded up hundreds of journalists, political and labor leaders and church officials. Under U.S. pressure, he was removed from office in 1981. Arce Gomez fled to Argentina in 1982 and was arrested under the Miami indictment, but the military government there freed him in December 1983, just before turning over power to the civilian administration of President Raul Alfonsin. His whereabouts were not known until he was captured Sunday at a ranch near Santa Cruz, a hub for drug traffickers 350 miles east of La Paz. He offered no resistance when hundreds of police officers arrived at the ranch. U.S. Ambassador Robert Gelbard told The Associated Press: "We think it was a couragous act by the Bolivian government to capture this man, who not only was and is an important cocaine trafficker but was also responsible to a great extent for the growth of the cocaine trade." Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, a Utah republican, said Monday at the end of a one-day visit to Bolivia: "We are pleased that criminals like this are being dealt with in this matter and we hope to assist in any way we can." In Washington, the White House said in a statement, "Bolivia today has apprehended and turned over to the United States Luis Arce Gomez, who has been a fugitive from U.S. justice since 1983. Gomez was wanted in the Southern District of Florida where he has been charged with two counts of drug trafficking along with co-defendant Anna de Tamayo Rodriguez, who was recently extradited from Colombia. "The arrest of Arce Gomez sends a message that the president will work with other goverments to pursue vigorously individuals who traffic in drugs." Interior Minister Guillermo Capobianco said he had advised and received support from Bolivia's main political parties for sending Arce Gomez to Miami. Arce Gomez was stripped of Bolivian citizenship last year for failing to show up for trial in this country on charges of human rights violations and cocaine trafficking. APn 12/12 1622 Arce Gomez Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By RICHARD COLE Associated Press Writer MIAMI (AP) -- A Bolivian colonel dubbed his nation's "minister of cocaine" in the early 1980s was ordered held without bond Tuesday on drug-trafficking charges that could send him to prison for 30 years. Luis Arce Gomez was a fugitive for six years until Sunday, when Bolivian authorities raided his ranch and put him on a Drug Enforcement Administration plane bound for the United States. Human rights groups have accused Arce Gomez of running death squads that hunted down, tortured and killed enemies of the military government with the help of fugitive Nazi Klaus Barbie. "Bringing him to trial is a significant strike against the danger posed to the United States by those who deal in narcotics," said Diane Cossin, executive assistant to U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen. "We hope to convict him of these charges and have him spend time in prison." Arce Gomez, wearing a T-shirt, slacks and sandals, responded with "I understand" after he was read a summary of charges at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate William Turnoff. He was represented by Jose Quinon, one of Carlos Lehder Rivas' attorneys during his trial in Jacksonville last year. Lehder Rivas, who is Colombian, was convicted of masterminding a massive cocaine conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison. Arce Gomez, his hands clasped behind his back, spoke up at the end of his hearing to request that the records from a 1983 extradition hearing in Argentina be preserved for his defense. "He emerged victorious out of that hearing and he wants to make sure that any proof presented there is preserved," his attorney said. Turnoff ordered an arraignment and formal bond hearing for Dec. 26 in Fort Lauderdale, where previous trials on the indictment have been held. The 1983 Miami indictment against Arce Gomez and his top aides accuses them of setting up a protection racket for drug traffickers in Bolivia, charging them huge sums to continue business -- as much as $75,000 every two weeks to look the other way, according to some reports. One count of the indictment says he ordered the release of confiscated cocaine stored in bank vaults after the payment to his aides of $1.5 million. On the charges of conspiracy to import cocaine to the United States and conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, Arce Gomez faces 15 years and a $25,000 fine on each count. He was being held at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center southwest of Miami. Arce Gomez took over the interior ministry after a July 1980 military coup against Bolivia's civilian government, and was considered the regime's strongman. U.S. and Latin American officials at the time called the takeover a "cocaine coup" financed by traffickers, and Arce Gomez became widely known as "minister of cocaine." He had a fleet of 11 airplanes, a mansion in the Bolivian drug production center of Santa Cruz, a hacienda with a private lighted airstrip and another mansion in La Paz. In December 1980, he came to the United States to try to improve relations strained by rampant human rights abuses and cocaine trafficking in Bolivia. The State Department made it clear that he was not welcome and denied his request to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. On March 1, 1980, CBS' "60 Minutes" program detailed Arce Gomez's drug connections, and included accusations against him by then-DEA chief Peter Bennsinger and U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz. Two days later DeConcini was told by the FBI that Arce Gomez had put a contract out on his life, said the senator's aide, Amy Silverman. DeConcini was guarded full-time for the next three months, she said Tuesday. Under growing pressure from the United States and from within the Bolivian military, Arce Gomez was forced out of office at the end of March 1981. When civilian rule returned to Bolivia in 1982, he fled the country for Argentina to avoid arrest. Argentina's military government arrested him following the 1983 indictment in Miami, but released him on a technicality only days before civilian President Raul Alfonsin took over that nation's reins in December 1983. Bolivia, meanwhile, stripped him of his citizenship when he failed to show up at his trial on human rights abuses. Arce Gomez had been a fugitive until his arrest Sunday. Seventeen other people were indicted. Five, including his former top aide Rene Benitez, have pleaded guilty or been convicted. Eleven others are fugitives, and one, Ana Rodriguez de Tamayo, has pleaded innocent in the case after being extradited from Colombia in October. UPse 12/12 1613 Bolivian appears briefly before U.S. magistrate By DON FINEFROCK MIAMI (UPI) -- Former Bolivian Interior Minister Luis Arce Gomez appeared briefly before a U.S. magistrate in Miami Tuesday on drug charges, six years after his indictment for conspiring to import cocaine into Florida. The former government official, once described as his country's minister of cocaine, did not enter a plea, and waived a bond hearing until his next appearance, scheduled for Dec. 26 before a magistrate in Fort Lauderdale. Arce Gomez, 52, is charged with one count of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and one count of conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute. If convicted, he faces a maximum prison sentence of 30 years and a possible fine of $50,000. Courtroom security was beefed up for Arce Gomez' appearance, which lasted about 20 minutes. He remained in federal custody pending his next court appearance. The ex-army colonel, who at one time hired Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie to advise him on methods of torture, was captured in a joint operation by Bolivian anti-drug police and U.S. drug agents and deported Monday to the United States. "My understanding is he landed in Miami Monday evening and was escorted by U.S. Marshals to a secure facility," said Amy Brown, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department. U.S. government officials, who nicknamed Arce Gomez the minister of cocaine, charge that he headed a paramilitary squad that confiscated drugs from Bolivian dealers who did not accept his offers of protection from government authorities. Arce Gomez then turned the drugs over to smugglers, accepting payment for the delivery. He reportedly sought the advice of Barbie, who is now serving a life sentence in France for his war crimes, on torture techniques and used those procedures on political opposition leaders, officials said. Interior Minister Guillermo Capobianco told reporters Arce Gomez, who was also wanted in Bolivia on murder charges relating to a 1980 coup d'etat, was placed on a U.S. plane in Cochabamba and flown to Miami without a formal extradition proceeding. Reading a prepared statement, Capobianco said that Arce Gomez was captured in the city of Santa Cruz in an operation "carried out by a commando unit of the UMOPAR (anti-drug police) in a combined action" with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In Miami, U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman Diane Cossin said Arce Gomez was indicted in the Southern District of Florida court in 1983 along with 17 other people on allegations of cocaine distribution conspiracy. Bolivian news reports said Arce Gomez, wearing soccer shorts, was arrested Sunday on a ranch 3 miles from Santa Cruz while attending a family party. Earlier, Capobianco said in an interview the deportation was "a sovereign political act, that in no way comes under the status of an extradition, which doesn't exist, because the old (law) that exists (from 1901) does not involve narcotics trafficking." Capobianco said the deportation of Arce Gomez was a "demonstration before the international community" of Bolivia's commitment to combat drug trafficking. After Peru, Bolivia is the world's second-largest producer of coca leaves, which are processed into cocaine in countries such as Colombia before shipment to the United States and other consumer nations. Colombia has extradited nine drug-trafficking suspects to the United States in recent months despite a campaign of violence by drug lords. Senate minority leader Robert Dole, R-Kan., said Monday in La Paz that he and four Senate colleagues touring Bolivia congratulated President Jaime Paz Zamora for ordering Arce Gomez's deportation. Dole said Bolivia lost $12 million in U.S. aid because of its failure to reach coca leaf reduction targets. He said Congress expects to allocate $160 million to combat drug trafficking and aid economic development in Bolivia in 1990. At the news conference, Capobianco said that Arce Gomez might be returned to Bolivia if the Bolivian government requests it. The former colonel is accused of murdering dissidents during and after the 1980 coup d'etat by Gen. Luis Garcia Meza, who himself was overthrown in another rebellion after only 13 months in office. Arce Gomez served as interior minister to Gen. Garcia Meza. APn 12/12 2028 Bolivia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By PETER McFARREN Associated Press Writer LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- The Supreme Court president and a human rights group on Tuesday criticized the government for turning over a former Cabinet minister to the United States to face trial on drug charges. Ex-Interior Minister Luis Arce Gomez, also a former army colonel, was flown to Miami on Monday with the approval of President Jaime Paz Zamora. Paz Zamora, who arrived in Argentina Tuesday for a two-day visit, told reporters there, "It was a political decision that I adopted personally." He said Arce Gomez faces numerous charges in Bolivia and the government reserved the right to request his return "when it believes that necessary." Paz Zamora had said in La Paz that because of corruption in Bolivia's judicial system there was no assurance Arce Gomez would stand trial here. Last week, the Supreme Court ordered the release of Juan Carlos Lisboa Melgar, considered one of the country's top drug traffickers, "for lack of evidence." And a Colombian chemist and two other suspects accused of cocaine trafficking escaped from detention over the weekend. Edgar Oblitas Fernandez, president of the Supreme Court, said Arce Gomez should have been tried by Bolivian courts and he expects "a convincing explanation from the government." A citizens' committee pressing for trials in Bolivia of Arce Gomez and ex-President Luis Garcia Meza issued a statement saying, "We believe the judicial norms of the country have been violated since an extradition treaty with the U.S. does not exist." The Rev. Julio Tumiri, president of the Bolivian Human Rights Assembly, said, "The government's decision represents an affront to our sovereignty and a violation of Bolivian law which establishes that crimes committed on Bolivian soil must be tried in the country." Supreme Court charges against Arce Gomez range from theft to genocide, involving the killings of critics. Arce Gomez appeared Tuesday in Miami before U.S. Magistrate William Turnoff and was ordered held without bond on drug-trafficking charges that could send him to prison for 30 years. An arraignment and formal bond hearing was set for Dec. 26. Gen. Garcia Meza came to power in a military coup in July 1980 and appointed Arce Gomez interior minister -- the top law enforcement post. Garcia Meza resigned in August 1981 and both he and Arce Gomez fled Bolivia before an elected government was installed in 1982. Arce Gomez, known as the "cocaine minister," went to Argentina. He was arrested there under the Miami indictment, issued in 1983 on two counts of drug trafficking, but was freed in December 1983 by Argentina's outgoing military regime before a civilian government came to power. He was arrested Sunday night at a ranch near Santa Cruz, 350 miles east of La Paz. Garcia Meza returned to Bolivia in 1988 and his lawyers said he was ready to reply to charges against him. But he fled again when the Congress early in 1989 accused him of theft and corruption. He is sought by police but it is believed he has left Bolivia. Paz Zamora said in Buenos Aires that Arce Gomez and Garcia Mesa tried to "set up a Bolivian government on the base of narcotics trafficking, and unite the economic power of narcotics trafficking with the political power of the state, which is what (some) want to do today in Colombia." APn 12/13 0628 Arce Gomez Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. MIAMI (AP) -- A Bolivian colonel who allegedly protected cocaine smugglers and organized death squads with the "Butcher of Lyon" is being held without bond after being flown to the United States on drug trafficking charges. A formal bond hearing will be held Dec. 26 for Luis Arce Gomez, who faces up to 30 years in prison on a 1983 cocaine indictment, U.S. Magistrate William Turnoff said Tuesday. Arce Gomez was detained at his ranch near La Paz, Bolivia, on Sunday and spirited out of his native country on a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration plane. "Bringing (Arce Gomez) to trial is a significant strike against the danger posed to the United States by those who deal in narcotics," Diane Cossin, executive assistant to U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen, said after the hearing. Arce Gomez was Bolivia's interior minister from July 1980 to March 1981 under a military dictatorship supported by the country's major drug traffickers. He was known as the "minister of cocaine." He and top aides are accused of setting up a protection racket that charged drug traffickers as much as $75,000 every two weeks to look the other way and let cocaine traffic continue. In addition, human rights groups have accused Arce Gomez of running death squads that hunted down, tortured and killed hundreds of enemies of the military government he served. Arce Gomez reportedly ran the death squads with help from then-fugitive Nazi official Klaus Barbie, the "Butcher of Lyon" who later was captured and extradited to France and is now serving a life term for "crimes against humanity." In March 1981 Arce Gomez was forced out of office. He fled to Argentina in 1982 when civilian rule returned to Bolivia, was arrested in Argentina after the 1983 indictment but later was released on a technicality. At his hearing Tuesday he wore a T-shirt, slacks and sandals, and said only "I understand," as he was read a summary of the charges. He was being represented by Jose Quinon, one of the attorneys who represented Colombian drug kingpin Carlos Lehder Rivas, sentenced last year in Jacksonville to life in prison. President Bush has applauded Bolivia's role in Arce Gomez' capture, a sentiment echoed by federal law enforcement officials here. "It sends a message that they're willing to go after the highest-level traffickers and send them here for trial," said Richard Gregorie, the former top drug prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office in Miami. UPse 01/03 1519 `Minister of Cocaine' pleads not guilty, ordered he... `Minister of Cocaine' pleads not guilty, ordered held without bond FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (UPI) -- Former Bolivian Interior Minister Luis Arce Gomez, who has been described as his country's minister of cocaine, pleaded innocent to U.S. drug charges Wednesday in federal court. Arce Gomez, 52, entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Lurana Snow, who ordered him held without bond pending trial. He has been held at a federal prison in south Miami since he was brought to the United States Dec. 11. The former army colonel is charged with one count of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and one count of conspiracy to posses cocaine with the intent to distribute. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Arce Gomez, who once hired Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie to advise him on methods of torture, was captured during a family party on a ranch near Santa Cruz in a joint operation by Bolivian and U.S. drug agents. He was transported to the United States without a formal extradition proceeding. His capture came six years after he and 17 other people were indicted on drug charges by a Fort Lauderdale federal grand jury. After Peru, Bolivia is the world's second-largest producer of coca leaves, which are processed into cocaine. Arce Gomez headed a paramilitary squad that offered Bolivian drug dealers protectionI5/8overnment authorities. He confiscated drugs from those who refused the service, then sold the contraband to other dealers, U.S. officials say. In his own country, Arce Gomez is charged with murdering dissidents during and after the 1980 coup d' etat by Gen. Luis Garcia Meza, who was overthrown in another rebellion after only 13 months in office. Arce Gomez served as Garcia Meza's interior minister. UPn 01/04 0739 `Minister of Cocaine' threatened retaliation FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (UPI) -- Former Bolivian Interior Minister Luis Arce Gomez once threatened to inundate the United States with cocaine in retaliation for economic sanctions imposed by Washington, court documents said. Arce Gomez, 52, pleaded innocent Wednesday to cocaine charges before U.S. Magistrate Lurana Snow, who ordered him held without bond pending trial. He has been held at a federal prison in south Miami since he was brought to the United States Dec. 11. Gomez, a former army colonel who has been described as his country's "minister of cocaine," is charged with one count of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and one count of conspiracy to posses cocaine with the intent to distribute. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. According to documents made public Wednesday, Gomez told Bolivian cocaine trafficker Sonia Sanjinez De Atala in 1980, "The gringos ought to take care of their borders because (Gomez) was going to cover them with cocaine." De Atala is expected to be the key witness against him. The documents quote De Atala as saying, "Arce Gomez told me that because the gringos had cut off financial aid to Bolivia, the Bolivian government needed money. Therefore, he said, `We are going to inundate the gringos with cocaine."' Arce Gomez also said he collected protection payments from cocaine smugglers to help keep the Bolivian government solvent after the United States cut off financial aid because of Bolivia's lax drug enforcement, according to the documents. Arce Gomez, who once hired Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie to advise him on methods of torture, was captured during a family party on a ranch near Santa Cruz in a joint operation by Bolivian and U.S. drug agents. He was transported to the United States without a formal extradition proceeding. His capture came six years after he and 17 other people were indicted on drug charges by a Fort Lauderdale federal grand jury. After Peru, Bolivia is the world's second-largest producer of coca leaves, which are processed into cocaine. Arce Gomez headed a paramilitary squad that offered Bolivian drug dealers protection, government authorities. He confiscated drugs from those who refused the service, then sold the contraband to other dealers, U.S. officials say. In his own country, Arce Gomez is charged with murdering dissidents during and after the 1980 coup d' etat by Gen. Luis Garcia Meza, who was overthrown in another rebellion after only 13 months in office. Arce Gomez served as Garcia Meza's interior minister. ARREDONDO ALVAREZ, Jose Bismarck. HCL sales manager in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. he has basically superseded LEHDER RIVAS in these regions. In April 1985 he was responsible for buying coca paste, processing and shipping it from Peru-Ecuador, Peru-Colombia and Bolivia-Brazil-Colombia. Claimed to be responsible for the Colombian prison escape of Ramon MATTA BALLESTEROS. From 1984-85 Arredondo worked with Hernan CHAVEZ ANTELO, a Bolivian, who also helped free Matta Ballesteros. The two were said to be involved with the OCHOA family, Mexican trafficker Rafael CARO QUINTERO, Miguel Angel GALLARDO, and Ernesto FONSECA in setting up an organization that would cultivate coca and process and refine HCL. and ship it through Mexico to the USA. AVIANCA AIRLINES. National airline of Colombia. Rodney MENDEZ, believed to be involved in money laundering and an alleged associate of Pablo ESCOBAR has been (?) a vice president. UPn 11/29 1811 Aviation experts arrive in Colombia By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- U.S. aviation and bomb experts are in Colombia to help investigate a mysterious explosion that downed an Avianca Airlines Boeing 727 jetliner, killing all 107 people aboard, officials said Wednesday. A team from the Seattle-based Boeing Co. joined Colombian experts to examine the remains of Flight HK 1803 and decifer the "black boxes," which contain crucial flight information and all radio communications between the pilots and the control tower, civil aviation director Yasid Castano told RCN radio. The FBI also dispatched a bomb specialist to Colombia, the Washington Post reported. The newspaper said the bomb specialist was sent at the request of the Colombian government to help determine whether the crash was caused by a criminal act. The American experts arrived amid reports that two leftist politicians from the Patriotic Union Party had been slain in the past 48 hours. Some 900 members of the organization have been assassinated since 1985. Castano said it would be about two weeks before investigators revealed the contents of the jetliner's black boxes, which investigators hope will help them determine what caused the crash. The 727 exploded Monday morning during a flight from Bogota to Cali, crashing outside the capital four minutes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport. All 101 passengers and six crew were killed. Investigators have been unable to determine what caused the powerful explosion. Witnesses said they saw two explosions, one small blast followed 15 seconds later by a much larger one that blew the plane into three large chunks. Observers and the press have discussed several possible causes for the accident, including mechanical failure and a bomb attack by drug cartel hitmen, but officials have refused so far to pinpoint any specific cause. Hours after the crash, a caller claiming to be a member of the drug mafia hit squad "The Extraditables" told Carocol Radio the plane had been attacked because "there were five snitches aboard." Police have been unable to determine the authenticity of the call. Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen Tuesday shot and killed Heriberto Orjuela Rodriguez, the president of the leftist Patriotic Union party in Mapiripan, Meta state, after breaking into his house at 2 a.m., press reports said. Orjuela Rodriguez was expected to win next year's mayoral elections in Mapiripan, 180 miles southwest of the capital. In Monteria, anthropologist Boris Zapata Mesa, also a member of the Patriotic Union, was shot to death by unidentified gunmen at 2 p.m. Tuesday, the Bogota newspaper El Espectador reported Wednesday. Zapata Mesa, 32, a professor at Cordoba University, was killed as he walked in the central plaza of Monteria, 325 miles northwest of Bogota. Some 900 members of the Patriotic Union, a party made up of leftist politicians and ex-guerrillas, have been assassinated since 1985. Authorities Tuesday identified the 11 peasants killed Sunday night when some 15 men arrived at a party on horseback, forced their way into the house and opened fire on the guests. The London-based human rights group Amnesty International reported in September that 350 people had died this year in Colombia in some 30 multiple killings. WP 11/29 FBI Bomb Expert Joins Crash Probe; In Colombia, ... FBI Bomb Expert Joins Crash Probe; In Colombia, Anonymous Caller Linked Explosion to Cocaine Cartel .By Michael Isikoff .Washington Post Staff Writer The FBI yesterday dispatched a bomb specialist to Colombia to assist in the investigation of Monday's Avianca Airlines crash, which killed the 107 people aboard. The bomb specialist was sent at the request of the Colombian government to help determine whether the crash was the result of a "criminal act," Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman Milt Ahlerlich said. Hours after the Boeing 727-100 jetliner went down near Bogota, a caller to a radio station claimed that "The Extraditables" - a group associated with the Medellin cocaine cartel - had blown it up. The possibility that the plane was destroyed by a terrorist bomb raised the prospect of a dramatic escalation in the 3-month-old war between the government of Colombian President Virgilio Barco and the drug traffickers. But U.S. officials stressed yesterday they have no independent evidence to support the caller's claim, and several officials seemed inclined to discount it. Investigators in Colombia said the jetliner lost cabin pressure Crash "might have been caused by depressurization. . . ." . -Col. Jorge Aurelio Gonzalez shortly before its destruction and that oxygen masks had dropped from the overhead consoles. A pilot's log indicated a three-inch fissure had been found in the 23-year-old plane's fusealage three days before the crash, offering an alternative explanation for the rapid loss of air pressure. "The explosion might have been caused by depressurization or by other causes," Col. Jorge Aurelio Gonzalez, director of Colombia's Civil Aviation operations, told reporters at a news conference in Bogota. "A depressurization . . . made the use of oxygen masks necessary." Colombian investigators reportedly found no evidence of blast injuries to the bodies, although many were mangled in the crash. After the crash and before yesterday's reports, a spokesman for the Colombian Pilots Association had told the Associated Press, "Given the circumstances of the crash, I would say that it was a terrorist act." The Boeing jet took off Monday at 7:13 a.m. from Bogota for Cali, a Colombian city 200 miles to the west that is also home to a rival drug cartel. Seven minutes later, witnesses reported seeing flames and smoke pouring from the plane seconds before it exploded. The caller to Radio Caracol who claimed drug traffickers blew up the plane said their targets were six alleged police informers on board. The caller said the informers had told police the location of the jungle hidout of Medellin cocaine leader Pablo Escobar, whose home was raided by Colombian police Nov. 22. Escobar and one of his key associates, Jorge Ochoa, fled the scene, narrowly escaping capture, police have said. The Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing have sent investigators to the crash site, where wreckage is strewn over a two-mile area in a manner consistent with a bomb explosion. One U.S. official said that a bomb attack has "not been ruled out," but does not seem likely. "It would represent such a major escalation" by the cartel, the official said. "I don't see what they would have to gain from it." AYERBE, Tulio Enrique. New York City operator in the early days of the Cali cartel's operation in that city. Caught in 1980 and sentenced to 12 years in jail. BANCO CAFETERO (Coffee Growers' Bank). Colombian bank (located at Calle 28, 13 A-15, Bogota) used for money laundering. The RODRIGUEZ OREJUELAS are involved, as are Antonio BELTRAN and Hector MESA. BANCO DE LOS TRABAJADORES (Workers' Bank?). Colombian bank used for various money laundering activities by Jose Hader ALVAREZ MORENO, the RODRIGUEZ OREJUELAS and Rafael FORERA FETUCHA. BANCO DE OCCIDENTE (Bank of the West). Colombian bank (located at Carrera 5a, 12-42, Apdo Aereo 4409, Cali) used for money laundering. The RIVERA GONZALEZ brothers and Hector Fabio Ocampo Orango are involved. BANCO GANADERO (Cattleman's Bank). Bank in Leticia (main office is at Carrera 5A, 15-80, Bogota), Colombia, involved in money laundering in connection with Evaristo PORRAS and Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ. BANZER OJOPI, Guillermo Willy Bolivian landowner and coca producer and cousin of former Bolivian president BANZER. Associated with Roberto SUAREZ GOMEZ. BARBOSA ESTUPINAN, Jaime and Francisco "Pacho". Formerly of Leticia. Reportedly sometime associate of Carlos LEHDER of the Medellin cartel, and at times tied to the Cali cartel. The Barbosa usually work with half-brother Tomas CARDENAS. In Leticia, the Barbosa did business with the PORRAS family and their La Primavera operation. Reported to have been involved in the Tranquilandia operation. Pacho was captured in February 1987 after he and Jairo OCAMPO LONDONO were involved in a shootout with the military at Ocampo's ranch south of Medellin. Since his release in February 1987 after being picked up by the military, Francisco apparently has moved to Haiti (or back to Leticia) where he continues his trafficking career. Jaime apparently moved to Magdalena Medio to work with Jairo CORREA. Also operating in the Magdalena Medio were RODRIGUEZ GACHA and Pablo ESCOBAR. BARCO VARGAS, Jorge. Brother of Colombian president Virgilio BARCO VARGAS. Former international representative for Aerocondor Airlines.BARCO VARGAS, Virgilio. President of Colombia (elected 1986). He was trained in engineering at MIT, and is thought of as an honest man, capable bureaucrat and friend of the United States. Even though he is an opponent of the traffickers (antidrug and proextradition), these issues did not figure in his presidential campaign. The Washington Times, Tuesday, August 22,1989; Medellin narcotics kingpins in hiding by Michael Hedges, The Washington Times: Colombian President Virgilio Barco's declaration of war against the drug traffickers has undoubtedly driven the kingpins into hiding, where they will be tough to locate and tougher to capture, U.S. law enforcement officials said. So far, police have confiscated millions of dollars in property belonging to the Medellin cartel's three kingpins-Jorge Ochoa Vasquez, Pablo Escobar Gaviria and Jose Rodriguez Gacha - and arrested more than 10,000 suspects. During the nationwide roundup of suspected drug figures which began Friday, Colombian authorities said they had arrested Eduardo Martinez Romero, the reputed treasurer of the powerful Medellin cartel, at a ranch in northwest Sucre province. President Barco has declared a state of siege under which he has broad powers to extradite indicted drug dealers. But U.S. experts are calling events triggered by political assassinations in Colombia last week as the most hopeful developments against cocaine cartels in many months. There is always a straw that breaks the camel's back, Thomas Cash, special agent in charge of Miami's Drug Enforcement Administration office said yesterday. That straw has already been getting very heavy and this increases its weight. Richard Gregorie, former Miami prosecutor who has spearheaded grand jury investigations that lead to indictments of the cartel kingpins, said: This is the best chance we've had in a long time unless the Colombians pull a Humphrey Bogart -Ê round up the usual suspects until the furor dies down. Outrage among the Colombian people and politicians has reached unparalleled heights after the death of Sen. Luis Carlos Galan, a leading presidential contender from the ruling party, who was killed by suspected drug-backed assassins at a political rally Friday. Up to 100,000 mourners Sunday walked behind the coffin of Mr. Galan, many of them weeping and waving white handkerchiefs, demanding his killers be brought to justice. Yesterday, U.S. law enforcement officials said they have readied plans to help the Colombians in any of several ways - from providing material to sending SWAT-type teams to Bogota or Medellin to assist in arrests. But most experts said national pride and fear of political backlash probably would prevent the Barco administration from seeking direct U.S. help against the traffickers prior to arrests. As a matter of public pride, the Colombian police are going to want to take these guys out, said Mr. Cash. DEA officials said the most likely scenario for U.S. assistance would have American law enforcement officials escort those arrested out of Colombia and guard them once they arrive in Florida. Most U.S. experts said the cartel members presumably have gone to the mattresses in remote, heavily fortified and guarded safe houses near their home base of Medellin. It is also possible they have gone to hideaways in Colombia's jungle region where leftist guerrillas could provide - for a price - formidable security. Federal law enforcement experts said yesterday they are hopeful that the crackdown in Colombia will continue until the cartel members are captured or driven to another country. If the latter happens - and the cartel members flee to a country where the United States could obtain permission to act - the chances of a raid by federal officers would increase. Such a raid could be mounted by several U.S. law enforcement group, but probably would be assigned to a squad of U.S. deputy marshals trained by Howard Safir, associate director of operations for the U.S. Marshals Service. In the past, these things have been planned by Safir's people with the help of Customs guys, said Mr. Gregorie. It amounts to a SWAT team. They make every effort to do it swiftly and cleanly, and if resistance is met, they respond, he said. They are prepared to do it and capable of doing it. Mr. Safir yesterday declined to comment on specific training of his unit or what tactics they might use. We have a crisis center we have put up, and we are ready to do what we are directed to do by the attorney general, Mr. Safir said. Basically, the State Department and the ambassador [in Colombia or wherever the cartel members appeared[ will decide what the procedures are. Asked if he thought such an operation was feasible under present circumstances in Colombia, he said, I honestly don't know. I'm not on the ground there to know. Another potential problem facing the United States -Êif the drug cartel leaders are ever brought here - is reconstructing the complicated grand jury cases brought against them many months ago, officials said. Some of the indictments are over 3 years old. We have got to be putting these cases together to ready to fry these guys, said Mr. Gregorie. The DEA and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami should have a task force working on this, and I know they are not doing that now. There is nobody left in Miami who knows about these cases. Mr. Cash conceded that several of the agents originally involved in the cartel indictments have been promoted.. of Miami or transferred, but he said there would be no problem in moving ahead with the prosecutions. Those cases are still quite valid,Ê he said. We feel good about those indictments. We want these guys back here. It'd give us a warm, fuzzy feeling. The Americas: Colombia Battles Cynicism as Well as Drugs ---- By Peter Nares 09/08/89 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J) BOGOTA -- The world applauds Colombian President Virgilio Barco's crusade against the Andean cocaine barons. But in Colombia itself there has been less applause, less admiration. For Colombians, the events of the past few weeks are all decidedly deja vu. Skeptically they recall that, five years ago, Mr. Barco's Conservative Party predecessor, Belisario Betancur, launched a similar offensive against the cocaine mafia. Then, as now, there were brave speeches and mass arrests. But subsequently the traffickers slipped back to their mansions, and the narcotics smuggling resumed. The war against the drug magnates fizzled out. Now, Colombians are asking, will Mr. Barco's current anti-narcotics push end similarly? Also, and more embarrassingly for the Liberal Party government, Colombians like Conservative congresswoman Elvira Cuervo are wondering why their president delayed so long in moving decisively against the cocaine barons. "I don't think the fight against drugs was regarded as a pressing issue," comments Ms. Cuervo. "The (anti-narcotics) decrees, which have been announced, could have been brought in three years ago." Bogota cartoonists have put it more bluntly. After the murder in August of Senator Luis Carlos Galan, killed by gunmen reportedly contracted by traffickers, one Bogota newspaper published a drawing of the senator with the following epitaph: "A brave man -- cowardly government." Mr. Galan, a declared foe of the traffickers, was the favorite Liberal Party candidate in the current presidential election campaign. He was murdered the same day that a police chief was shot dead in Medellin, the center of the illegal cocaine trade. The murders followed the killings of two judges who were hearing cases allegedly involving the Medellin cartel -- Colombia's largest drug ring. Colombians demanded and finally got a firm government response to the traffickers' terrorism. Under new decrees, narcotics suspects wanted abroad are now to be extradited (the first, a reputed money launderer for the Medellin cartel, arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday). Their property is to be confiscated and, hence forward, they will have to establish the legitimate origin of their fortunes. But Mr. Barco's legislative blitzkrieg against the traffickers was announced only after he had permitted drug-related violence to reach such dimensions that Colombia's continued existence as a democratic state was imperiled by the cocaine lords. Five years ago, during the Betancur administration, the scenario read much the same. Mr. Betancur, a nationalist, had been reluctant to extradite drug racketeers to the U.S. He did not seem overly perturbed by the narcotics problem until traffickers forced his hand by murdering his tough, anti-drug justice minister, Rodrigo Lara. After the murder, Mr. Betancur -- the instant crusader -- pounced on the cocaine gangs and announced that extraditions would be resumed. Today Colombians who have stood up overtly to the cocaine gangs remain a minority. Notable among them is Justice Minister Monica de Greiff. She has intensified the battle against drug dealers, despite their threat of "total war" against the government if the current narcotics-control drive continues. Like Ms. de Greiff, some judges have defied the gangsters. More than a dozen Justice Department functionaries have been killed this year. They include Helena Diaz -- the Medellin judge who in July refused to revoke arrest warrants issued for reputed Medellin cartel bosses. Security Police Chief Gen. Miguel Maza also is a target of the traffickers. He has disbanded death squad thought to be financed by drug gangs, and in May he narrowly escaped death from a car bomb. In the past 10 years, dozens of other police officers have been murdered. Journalists, too, have been on the hit list. Among them was Guillermo Cano, editor of Bogota's El Espectador newspaper. Mr. Cano was shot dead in December 1986, after denouncing the drug gangs, and the paper was just hit by a bomb last weekend; many dozens of people were injured, but miraculously no one was killed. In common with most Colombians, many other journalists have been more prudent. They have neither condemned nor condoned the cocaine trafficking. For instance, in Medellin, the city's cautious newspapers have left it to their counterparts in safer cities to wage the anti-drugs fight. Some Liberal and Conservative legislators have gone one step further, reputedly accepting campaign funds from traffickers. According to unofficial estimates, there may be as many as several dozen tainted deputies in congress. In the Betancur era at least, the drug gangs had little difficulty infiltrating politics. Furthermore, neither the present government nor its predecessor can claim an unblemished record as far s "hot money" is concerned. It is no secret that some dollars, deposited without undue question in local banks, may stem from the narcotics trade. Likewise, past tax amnesties have favored both traffickers and the state's coffers. Colombians fight the drug gangs with one hand while, with the other, they accept their cash. Colombia, however, can hardly be said to be a cocaine republic. At the most, some $1.2 billion in narco-dollars -- no more than 20% of total dollar earnings -- are believed to enter the country annually. This amount is sufficient to tilt the balance-of-accounts favorably, but scarcely enough to drive the economy. In a bid to please everybody, Mr. Barco has done nothing to rein back Colombians who ar.e actively trying to stamp out trafficking. Yet at the same time, at least till August, he has not consistently accorded priority attention to the narcotics question. Had he, for example, been more committed to combating the problem, he would not have named a succession of mediocre justice ministers (excepting Ms. de Greiff, of course). Defensively, officials cite the seizure statistics as proof that the authorities have in fact maintained their pressure on the traffickers. Last year, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 14, the security forces captured 18.6 tons of cocaine and destroyed 826 clandestine drug laboratories. In addition, there was the 1987 extradition to the U.S. of cocaine baron Carlos Lehder, now serving a life sentence in Florida. But immediately following that extradition, the State Council suspended extradition legislation. There were no further extraditions until this week. Mr. Barco could have tried to sidetrack the legal problem -- as he now has done -- with an emergency extradition decree. Instead, he mothballed the issue. Only when the traffickers murdered Mr. Galan did the government take up the narcotics question anew in earnest. Following Mr. Betancur's precedent, Mr. Barco declared war on the drug gangs because they had declared war on him. The questions, thus, remain: Why did Mr. Barco, the belated crusader, dither so long? Was it for fear of the security and financial consequences of a clampdown on the "trade"? Or was it just a matter of misplaced priorities? Whatever the answers, most Colombians today probably would agree on at least one point: No early end to the drug war is in sight. --- Mr. Nares is a free-lance writer living in Colombia. La Opinion, Friday, September 29, 1989; Los planes de Barco tienen que dar resultos pronto by Rafael H. Buitrago, La Opinion: El pasado 5 de septiembre, al hablar al pa’s para presentar del programa contra las drogas, el presidente George Bush calific— de valeroso a su colega el presidente de Colombia Virgilio Barco. El elogio de Bush fue un reconocimiento a la dr‡stica campa–a lanzada por Barco Vargas contra los grandes carteles colombianos de las drogas, a ra’z del asesinato en Bogot‡ del candidato presidencial Luis Carlos Gal‡n, presumiblemente a manos de sicarios pagados por los narcotraficantes. Ahora el presidente Barco est‡ de visita en Estados Unidos. Ayer en la noche se entrevist— brevemente con el presidente Bush, con quien trat— sobre el problema de las drogas, el pacto internacional del cafŽ y las restricciones de exportaci—n de armas de las usadas por los narcotraficantes. Antes de eso hab’a visitado el Congreso y se habla reunido con William Bennett, el zar del programa contra las drogas en Estados Unidos. Bennett llam— a Barco hŽroe de la guerra contra el narcotr‡fico. Los congresistas elogiarion su valent’a. Hoy, a mediod’a de Los Angeles, Barco hablar‡ ante las Naciones Unidas. Es de esperar que el Presidente colombiano reitere los puntos de vista de su Gobierno frente al problema de las drogas. Insistir‡ entonces en que, con independencia de la sangre que se derrama en Colombia, de nada servir‡ si Estados Unidos y otras naciones consumidoras no hacen algo para controlar su demanda de estupefacientes. Poco antes de salir de Colombia, Barco rindi— un informe optimista a sus compatriotas. Colombia marcha hacia la pacificaci—n, librando una batalla decisiva contra el narcotr‡fico y pactando con las guerrillas izquierdistas su desmovilizaci—n y transformaci—n en partidos pol’ticos legales, dijo el Presidente en una alocuci—n radiotelevisada el miŽrcoles en la noche. Colombia ha dejado de ser vista como un pa’s de narcotraficantes que nunca lo ha sido ni lo sera. Ahora todos los entienden que somos un pa’s valiente donde la mayor’a de las personas son honestas y emprendoras, asegur— Barco a sus sufridos compatriotas. Al hablar del pacificaci—n, el mandatorio se refer’a al acuerdo de paz firmado el d’a anterior por su respresante, el consejero presidencial para asuntos de la paz Rafael Pardo, y los m‡ximos l’deres del grupo guerrillero Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19,) Carlos Pizarro Leong—mez y Antonio Navarro Wolf. Pero Barco dej— atr‡s un pa’s sumido en la desperaci—n, y sometido a un intermitente ataque terrorista. Desde que comenz— la campa–a terrorista de los narcotraficantes, han estallado 112 bombas en todo el pa’s, que han matado a ocho personas, herido a 137 y causado pŽrdidas materiales superiores a los cinco milliones de d—lares. Uno de esos atentados dinametros semidestruy— el edificio del El Espectador, segundo diario en importancia en el pa’s, cuyo editor Guillermo Cano fue asesinado el 17 de diciembre de 1986 por asesinos pgados por los narcotraficantes. Las medidas adoptadas por el Gobierno no han sido suficientes para contrarrestar los narcotraficantes esa escalada terrorista. Por el contrario, los narcotraficantes han respondido con extrema dureza a la posibilidad de ser extraditados y a medida que se practican allanamientos y se confiscan propiedades de los narcos, el terrorismo continu‡ golpeando a la poblaci—n. La Corte Suprema de Justicia deber‡ en corto tiempo decidir sobre la validez de las medidas del Gobierno. Se teme con raz—n que la corte decida invalidarlas. Esto dejar’a al Gobierno maniatado para continuar su lucha y con muy pocas probabilidades de ganar apoyo popular para reinciarla. El acuerdo de paz con el M-19 fue el resultado de un lento y paciente esfuerzo del Gobierno de Barco, quien hace exactamente un a–o propuso un plan de paz, como cumplimiento de su promesa inaugural de continuar e institutionalizar el proceso de paz iniciado por el presidente Belisario Betancur, su antecesor. El acuerdo podr’a extenderse a otros grupos guilleros izquierdistas, como las prosoviŽticas Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), el mao’sta EjŽrcito Popular de Liberaci—n (EPL) y otros grupos menores como la guerrilla indigenista Quint’n Lame. Todos Žstos junto con el M-19 y el procastrista EjŽrcito de Liberaci—n Nacional (ELN) est‡n agrupados en la llamada Coordinadora Guerrilla Sim—n Bol’var, y todos, con excepci—n del ELN han mostrado interŽs en acogerse al plan de paz del presidente Barco. Es evidente sin embargo que la paz con las guerrillas est‡ lejos de significar la paz para Colombia. Eso al parecer lo han reconcido los propios jefes guerrilleros. En efecto, al momento de firmarse el acuerdo de paz el martes pasado, los jefes de M-19 sorprendieron a los delegados del Gobierno con un ins—lito pedido: el de que el Gobierno inicie un di‡logo con los narcotraficantes, para poner fin a la guerra terrorista y erradicar de Colombia el cultivo y tr‡fico de estupefacientes. Las opiniones en favor del di‡logo con los narcos, cada vez m‡s numerosas, son sin duda la expresi—n del desaliento y el cansancio del pueblo colombiano con el terrorismo y la certeza de que el Gobierno no est‡ capacitado para contenerlo. Antes del M-19 instaron al Gobierno a dialogar al el alcade de Medell’n, Juan G—mez Mart’nez, la propia ex ministra de Justicia M—nica de Greiff, quien en su primera declaraci—n al abandonar ese cargo hace una semana, sugiri— esa posibilidad al Gobierno. La ex ministra no se limit— a insinuar el di‡logo, sino que dej— entender que en los altos niveles del Gobierno hay malestar con la forma como el presidente Barco ha conducio la guerra al narcotr‡fico. Segœn De Greiff varios ministros se oponen a la extradici—n, por razones filos—ficas. Si bien los pronunciamientos favorables al di‡logo por parte de funcionarios son hasta cierto punto comprensibles, la propuesta del M-19 es ciertamenta sorpresiva. Los grupos de paramilitares que han asolado el pa’s durante los œltimos ocho a–os, financiados por los narcotraficantes, y con el apoyo de miembros activos y retirados de las fuerzas militares, tuvieron como objectivo inicial preciasamente exterminar a las guerrillas izquierdistas, y especialmente al M-19. Ahora este grupo ha propuesto un plan completo de incorporaci—n de los narcotraficantes a la vida normal del pa’s, que comtempla el fin de la extradici—n de Žstos a Estados Unidos y el indulto general por los delitos cometidos, desmonte total de la infraestructura del narcotr‡fico. La firme posici—n del Gobierno se basa en la supuesta posibilidad de capturar a los m‡ximos del cartel de Medell’n, Pablo Escobar Gaviria y Gonzalo Rodr’guez Gacha, quienes de acuerdo con las autoridades de polic’a, est‡n pr‡cticamente cercados y podr’an caer en cualquier momento. Si esto no ocurre pronto, y la corte decide anular los decretos de emergencia, del Gobierno del presidente Barco tendr‡ que estudiar otras opciones en su bœsqueda de una soluci—n al problema del narcotr‡fico y del narcoterrorismo. APn 10/11 1931 Latin Summit Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By MONTE HAYES Associated Press Writer ICA, Peru (AP) -- Police action against cocaine suppliers is futile unless the United States and Europe reduce the demand that drives the illicit trade, President Carlos Andres Perez of Venezuela said Wednesday. Perez spoke on opening day of a summit of seven Latin American presidents in this desert city that also is to consider expelling Panama as the eighth member of the Group of Eight regional organization. Panama's membership was suspended in 1988 after Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega arranged the dismissal of President Eric Delvalle, who had tried to fire Noriega as military commander. The Venezuelan leader called Noriega's military rule a "masked dictatorship." President Alan Garcia of Peru used his opening remarks to "express publicly the Peruvian people's and the Peruvian government's repudiation and condemnation of the military dictatorship." Peru and Venezuela were expected to push for expulsion of Panama, but diplomatic sources said Mexico and some other members felt that would amount to meddling with the internal affairs of another country. In his remarks on the drug trade, Peres said: "The more demand grows in the north, the more production will grow in the south. Police actions will be useless unless demand is reduced." Other opening statements also expressed support for Peru, Colombia and Bolivia, which argue that President Bush's emphasis on attacking the cocaine traffic at the source is not enough. The summit began the day after Presidents Garcia, Virgilio Barco of Colombia and Jaime Paz Zamora of Bolivia invited Bush to attend a drug summit in Latin America within 90 days. Bush accepted immediately. Paz did not remain for the Group of Eight meeting because Bolivia is not a member. Garcia and Barco were joined by Perez of Venezuela, Carlos Salinas de Gortari of Mexico, Jose Sarney of Brazil, Carlos Menem of Argentina and Julio Sanguinetti of Uruguay at the third summit since the regional organization was formed in 1987. The three-day meeting is being conducted in closed session at the Hotel Las Dunas on the outskirts of Ica, a city of 350,000 people 185 miles southeast of Lima. An army battlion of 300 soldiers guarded the hotel and 3,000 plaincothes policemen circulated in the city in case of attacks by Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla group that began fighting Peruvian governments in 1980. The insurgency has cost 15,000 lives by government count. A car bomb police blamed on Shining Path exploded Tuesday night outside an auto parts store in residential Lima, wounding a guard and blowing out the windows of the shop and nearby buildings. Police said rebels also shot and killed a woman candidate for deputy mayor of a Lima district Tuesday night, firing three bullets into her head as she stood behind the counter of her pharmacy. Official reports said 26 other people were killed in seven incidents Tuesday night and Wednesday, including nine policemen, two mayors and two rural mayoral candidates. Diplomatic sources at the summit said the presidents were expected to give full support to Peru, Colombia and Bolivia in their fight against traffickers. Colombia began a crackdown on cocaine gangs Aug. 19. On Tuesday, Barco, Garcia and Paz promised "all-out war" on cocaine in their countries, which produce 90 percent of the world's supply. Their communique stressed that stopping the cocaine trade must be accompanied by vigorous efforts against production and consumption. That reflects reservations in Latin America about Bush's emphasis on police and military actions to stop trafficking in the Andean nations. President Sanguinetti of Uruguay told reporters before the summit began Wednesday: "The problem is not only in Medellin. It is also in the streets of New York City." His reference was to the Medellin drug cartel, which has been at war with the Colombian government since the crackdown began in August. The three-nation communique did not elaborate on differences of approach, but Peru, Bolivia and Colombia have requested more U.S. economic aid to provide alternative sources of income for hundreds of thousands of peasants who live by growing coca, the raw material for cocaine. "It's not a problem of donating some helicopters, sometimes very old helicopters, or donating rifles or bullets," Garcia said recently. "It would be enough to offer a good price and a guaranted market for the products that could substitute for coca." He, Barco and Paz also said European leaders should attend the drug summit. Garcia has said that, if the United States is successful in slowing the flow of cocaine across its borders, traffickers will shift their focus to Europe. Reut 11/20 1837 COLOMBIA SEEKS MORE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AID BOGOTA, Nov 20, Reuter - Colombia's President Virgilio Barco called on the European Community to provide more security assistance and economic aid to help Colombia fight against the drug lords. In a speech before visiting EC commissioner Abel Matutes, Barco said Colombia would welcome more European bilateral aid for its police and assistance to protect judges. Barco said concerted action with the EC was needed to crack down on money laundering in major financial centres, the sale of chemicals to process drugs and illegal arms trafficking. Matutes, in a speech, said the Community was studying measures to hinder money laundering operations and was increasing the budget to help non-EC countries in their anti-narcotics campaigns. Barco, noting Colombia needed support for economic stability, added the EC should improve tariff treatment for Colombian products and end what he termed its discriminatory treatment against Colombia's exports of flowers and bananas. The Community should also promote foreign investment in Colombia. Other ways of helping Colombia included EC support of a renegotiation of the world coffee accord, Barco added. UPn 12/03 1523 Colombia president leaves for Japan By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- President Virgilio Barco left for Japan Sunday hoping to increase trade with the booming Pacific Basin and garner backing for Colombia's troubled economy, weighed down by falling coffee prices and a costly war on drug traffickers. The 68-year-old leader, in the last year of a four-year term, left in a presidential jet accompanied by his wife, Carolina, Foreign Minister Julio Londono Paredes, and a team of economic experts. "This visit has enormous importance for the strengthening of ties between Colombia and the countries of the Pacific," Londono told reporters as he boarded the jet. After stops in Los Angeles and Honolulu, the presidential entourage was scheduled to arrive in Tokyo Tuesday afternoon. Barco will meet with Emperor Akihito, Emperess Michiko, Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and leading parliamentarians before returning home on Friday. Barco is expected to sign cutural and commercial agreements with Japan, including a plan for Japanese technical aid and $100 million in credit for the construction of a pipeline system bringing potable water to impoverished Bogota neighborhoods. Japan's Export-Import Bank, Eximbank, will provide the Colombian Banco del Estado with an additional $100 million in credits, the Bogota newspaper El Espectador reported. In the second semester of this year Eximbank loaned a total of $450 million to Colombian institutions, including the Bank of the Republic. The Japanese, however, refuse to send military aid to Colombia to help in the cocaine war, which analysts predict will shave 1.5 percent off the 4.5 percent economic growth projected for 1989. "Japan cannot give any aid to armies or police ... since it would be contrary to the policy of the archipelago," a Japanese diplomat told reporters recently. Barco's trip is part of Colombia's effort to develop the long-neglected Pacific coast region with links to Japan and other expanding Asian economies. To compensate for falling coffee prices, expected to cost Colombia some $500 million in much-needed foreign exchange this year, the National Coffee Federation is hoping to market canned liquid coffee in Japan under the name "Emerald Mountain," capitalizing on shifting Japanese tastes from traditional green tea to the heavier brew. The Federation hopes to sign an agreement with Mitsubishi Corp. to market some 2,000 tons of the coffee extract, which will be canned by Coca-Cola Japan, El Espectador reported last week. Japan imported 600,000 sacks of Colombian coffee in 1988, and purchases of the bean are expected to reach 1 million sacks this year, the Federation reports said. Sales of Colombian flowers to Japan are also on the rise, according to exporters. In 1988 Colombia exported almost $200,000 worth of carnations to Japan, and Japanese flower experts have crossed the Pacific to train Colombian producers in agricultural technology and Asian tastes. Japan, as a country which rose from the ashes of World War II to become the second largest economic power in the world after the United Stated, holds special interest for Colombia, which is struggling to turn its natural and human resources to economic advantage. "Any country that does not want to fall behind in the world race to growth and progress must have a presence in the Orient, and particularly in Japan," asserted an editorial in Bogota's El Tiempo Sunday. The editorial examined the alliance in Japan between industry and government, "instead of being adversaries, as happens in Colombia," and compared the educational systems of the two countries, claiming Japanese students attend school 240 days a year, while Colombians go only 180 days. The editorial characterized Japan as "country, or rather a civilization, which is taking possession of the world, and which Colombia should get closer to." WP 12/10 Colombians Again Debate Extradition;Legislators ... Colombians Again Debate Extradition;Legislators Oppose Barco's Policy By Douglas Farah Special to The Washington Post BOGOTA, Colombia, Dec. 9 - President Virgilio Barco, facing a political crisis caused by the escalating terrorism of cocaine traffickers, is fighting a new challenge to the extradition of suspected drug lords. The dispute now centers on whether the issue of extraditing suspected drug traffickers to the United States should be on the ballot in a national plebiscite scheduled for Jan. 21. Drug traffickers favor including the issue and have vowed to escalate their war of terrorism if it is not on the ballot. Extradition is viewed by the United States and Barco as vital to combating drug trafficking. It is the one weapon drug traffickers fear because it is more difficult to avoid prosecution in the United States than in Colombia, where it has been relatively easy to bribe or intimidate judges. Barco reinstated extradition following the assassination Aug. 18 of Luis Galan, a leading presidential candidate, at the hands of the drug traffickers. In the past two weeks, the drug traffickers have carried out a series of bloody attacks, including the bombing of an airliner Nov. 27, killing 107 people; Tuesday's murder of a judge handling key drug cases, and Wednesday's bombing of the headquarters of the secret police and court system, which left 52 dead and hundreds wounded. Tuesday, the House of Representatives defied Barco by voting overwhelmingly to include the extradition issue in the referendum, and now the Senate must decide next week whether to follow suit. In response to the rebellion by members of his own party in the House, Barco on Friday demanded the resignation of all 23 of the nation's governors along with other state officials - all of whom are appointed by the executive. Political analysts said the move is an attempt by Barco to undercut the local bases of support and political machines of the representatives who rebelled and to send a warning to the Senate. "It is a move to instill party discipline," said one government official. "It was the most drastic reaction he could take against their political careers." But many Colombians remain ambivalent about extradition and fearful of the consequences. The crater and twisted masses of steel and blood-stained concrete resulting from Wednesday's blast of more than 1,000 pounds of dynamite bear testimony to what the cocaine kings are capable of and have become almost the only topic of conversation. "I no longer know what to think," said one government official. "I do not want my country taken over by narco-terrorists. But if we continue to extradite, how many more innocent people will die? They have already shown they are willing and able to kill people any time and any place. The government cannot fight that." "People are terrified," said one veteran diplomat. "You can see it in their faces. The bomb had a tremendous psychological impact." Drug traffickers, signing their communiques "The Extraditables," have vowed to escalate the violence even further if the Senate does not approve the referendum on extradition. "We will only stop the war when the Senate decides to let the people be our judge," said one communique made public Thursday. "Otherwise, we will continue, as a response to the persecution and abuses committed against us and our families." "The president should not fear what the Congress decides, because Congress is the voice of the people, and the voice of the people is the voice of God," the statement said. "These acts show what these criminals are capable of to get a referendum to turn out in their favor," Barco said in a televised address, referring to the impact of the bombings on the plebiscite. "There would be no electoral campaign, only a campaign of terror to achieve their goals." APn 12/11 1727 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By STAN YARBRO Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- President Virgilio Barco held emergency meetings with members of his Liberal Party on Monday amid newspaper speculation that drug traffickers would try to overthrow him. A bombing campaign blamed on cocaine cartels has killed at least 188 people, and members of congress have been accused of accepting bribes to try to thwart Barco's policy of extraditing drug suspects to the United States. Enrique Santos Calderon, an editor of the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo, wrote in a column published Sunday that the drug cartels may try to take control by installing a junta similar to Manuel Noriega's government in Panama. Noriega has been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges. In a column Friday in the city's other leader newspaper, El Espectador, Maria Teresa Hernan said Colombia could wind up with a "drug trafficker coup carried out with the support of colonels allied with the mafias." Colombian and U.S. officials have said the top drug lords have eluded capture because of military corruption. Barco called emergency meetings with his interior minister, former presidents and congressional leaders Monday to find a solution to the crisis, a presidential spokesman said. The meetings would take place throughout the week, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity. He gave no further details. One of Barco's main objectives was to repair damaged relations with congress and prevent the Senate from approving a national referendum on his extradition policy. A congressional committee was scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to send the bill to the Senate, which could either act on the legislation before the end of its term Friday or chose to ignore the bill. Colombian law requires the Senate to act by Saturday. The government has extradited nine drug suspects to the United States since it began a crackdown on the cocaine cartels following the Aug. 18 assassination of a leading presidential candidate. The House of Representatives voted 109-4 on Dec. 5 to approve a national referendum on extradition. Barco administration officials and newspapers denounced the vote as an ambush of the government's policy. Interior Minister Carlos Lemos Simmonds has said a referendum would lead to voter intimidation and more violence by the cartels. El Espectador suggested Monday that traffickers had paid House members to vote for the referendum. Colombia's drug crisis resulted from "the magnitude of drug trafficker's corruption that has reached the congress in such a disgraceful way," it said in an editorial. Former President Carlos Lleras Restrepo said in an editorial for Nueva Frontera, a weekly magazine he owns, that the country faced an offensive by criminals "offering millions of dollars" to influence the legislative process. Lleras, a member of the Liberal Party, was president from 1966 to 1970. Since the government crackdown on the drug cartels began, 203 bomb attacks have been blamed on traffickers. The two most recent attacks were the worst, the Nov. 27 bombing of an Avianca Airlines 727 that killed all 107 people on board and a Dec. 4 truck bomb that killed 52 and wounded 1,000. Plinio Apuleyo wrote in a column Monday in El Tiempo that the gulf between the Colombian people and their political leaders has never been wider. He said many political representatives did not seem to share the public's pain over the attacks. "Because of corruption and cowardice, many of our representatives are prepared to negotiate even with the devil," Apuleyo said. UPn 12/12 0030 Colombia to make key decision on extradition By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- Colombia's Senate must decide this week whether to let the public vote next month on an extradition treaty allowing suspected drug lords to be sent to trial in the United States. The Senate has until Saturday, when the current term ends, to vote on a legislative package, which also includes constitutional reform and a peace pact with the leftist rebel group. Senate failure to deal with the issue by the deadline could torpedo the constitutional reform and the cease-fire with the rebels. The House of Representatives rebelled against the administration of President Virgilio Barco and Liberal Party leaders last Thursday by tagging an extradition plebiscite onto the national referendum scheduled next month. If a national plebiscite is called, the administration fears voters will succumb to drug lord intimidation and reject extradition, denying the government its most powerful weapon against the cocaine traffickers. Last week, the government called for the resignations of all governors in hopes of pressuring senators up for re-election by naming hostile governors in their states if they refuse to support extradition. Barco also sought talks with Conservative Party leader Misael Pastrana to gather more support in the Senate. The president, whose terms ends in August, said he would defy renegade congressmen's calls that he resign, while Liberal Party chief Julio Cesar Turbay threatened to quit unless the Senate rejected the extradition question. Less than 24 hours after the House decision, suspected drug lords responded by rocking Bogota with a half-ton of dynamite, destroying the secret police headquarters and leaving 63 dead and almost 1,000 wounded. The drug traffickers later vowed to continue the bloodshed until the Senate approved the extradition referendum. "`For peace,' they declared . . . and all those pious explanations were pulverized, hours later, by 500 (kilograms) of dynamite," read an editorial in El Tiempo newspaper Monday. Barco is helpless to block a Senate approval. The president can refuse under Colombian law to sign the legislation, but Senate President Luis Giraldo will most likely be forced to pass the bill into law. Extradition, decreed by Barco Aug. 18 after a string of drug-related assassinations, forms the backbone of the government's offensive on the powerful drug rings. Nine Colombians have been sent to the United States to face drug charges since the beginning of September. A cartel-linked hit squad, "The Extraditables," declared war on the nation in August to halt the extraditions, exploding more than 260 bombs and killing at least 180 people in three months. In violence over the weekend, a journalist who criticized organized crime was shot and killed as he ate lunch with his family. Jose William Espejo, director of the El Tabloide de Tulua newspaper, was in a restaurant with his family in Tulua, 150 miles southwest of the capital in Valle de Cauca state, when gunmen burst into the dining room Sunday and shot him six times, killing him instantly, police said. Police said they had not established motives for the killing and had not captured any suspects. Espejo, the 13th journalist killed this year in Colombia, recently wrote an editorial criticizing organized crime for the widely circulated newspaper in central Valle del Cauca state, radio reports said. Television journalist Jorge Enrique Pulido died Nov. 8 in Bogota of gunshot wounds suffered in an attack Oct. 29. Pulido had been an outspoken critic of the cocaine mafia. BARRERA DOMINGUEZ, Humberto. Lawyer of Jorge Luis OCHOA. BARRICKLOW, Denise. UPI journalist.BATEMAN CAYON, Jaime. Co-founder of M-19 organization; previously associated with FARC. His political alliances are with Cuba (Castro), with whom he and Guillot Lara may have been involved in dealings with drug traffickers. BAUMAN, Kit Journalist with UPI (United Press International).BECKER, Ingrid. UPI journalist. BELTRAN, Antonio. Money launderer associated with the Banco Cafetero. BENITEZ, Rene and Armando. Dangerous traffickers, Cuban born, naturalized US citizens. The would use the Alberto OTERO CASTELLANOS estate at Cartagena as a hideout. In February 1982 Rene Benitez was responsible for murder of two DEA agents who were seeking information of RODRIGUEZ PUENTE. They apparently have the support of the Medellin cartel. BETANCOURT, Neal. Jacksonville, Florida lawyer of Jorge de la Cuesta Marquez. BETANCUR CUARTAS, Belisario. President of Colombia (elected 1982); opponent of traffickers. Appointed Rodrigo LARA BONILLO to Justice Minister in 1983. After the election of Virgilio Barco in 1986, he retired from public life, but still reatins a permanent security force at his Bogota home. (from Grolier's Academic American Online Encyclopedia-accessed through Compuserve): Belisario Betancur, b. 1923, became president of Columbia on May 30, 1982. Betancur was reared in extreme poverty but was able to attend the university in Medellin, where he studied architecture and law. He worked as a journalist and became active in the Conservative party. He was variously a member of the Colombian House of Representatives, minister of labor, and ambassador to Spain. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency in 1962, 1970, and 1978. A split in the opposition Liberal party enabled him to win the 1982 election. Presiding over a liberal coalition, Betancur proposed a new amnesty law aimed at ending almost 40 years of fighting between the government and leftist guerrillas. In late 1982 and in the early months of 1983 that plan was put into effect. More than 300 political prisoners were released and two of the main insurgent groups agreed to a cease-fire. BETANCUR CUARTAS, Juvenal. The former President of Colombia's brother; has supposedly been involved in trafficking activities with Jose Hader ALAVREZ MORENO.BOTERO MORENO, Hernan. Medellin currency dealer, indicted in November 1985 for laundering about $55 million in cartel money in the Landmark Bank, Plantation, Florida. He had been previously a major source of ether used by Medellin traffickers. Extradited to the USA in 1985 and serving 30 years. BOTERO, Jaime Operates in the Martha Upegui de URIBE operation. Related to Juan David BOTERO. BOTERO, Juan David Attorney and fixer for the OCHOA VASQUEZ organization. Related to Jaime BOTERO. BRANIGIN, William. Washington Post foreign correspondent. BRINKLEY, Joel. Reporter for the New York Times. BUILES, Miguel Angel, Jaime and Joaquin. All triggerhappy, with Joaquin, a wealthy Antioqueno money launderer, apparently interested in 1988 in becoming top dog in the Medellin cartel. Joaquin's real estate agency was the center of a 1982 narcotics related gunbattle. Previously allied to Fabio OCHOA RESTREPO. The Builes have bought the biggest hotels on San Andres Island. Joaquin is considered very dangerous, and is a drug user. Presently involved with Medellin trafficker William HALABY. BUITRAGO, Rafael H. Journalist for La Opinion (Los Angeles Spanish language newspaper). BUSTAMANTE, Carlos A. A bagman in the Pablo ESCOBAR, Federico VAUGHAN, Barry SEAL case occurring in Nicaragua in June 1984. Bustamante served as a Dade County outlet for Pablo ESCOBAR and reportedly moved a half ton of cocaine a week. Convicted in 1985, he is serving a 40 year sentence in the USA. CABRERA SAMUDIO, Flavio. On the 1987 GOC list of the 128 most wanted traffickers at large in Colombia. Arrested near Cartagena at La Florida municipality in January 1987. CABRERA SARMIENTO, Jose Antonio. An independent operator operating out of Bogota, Don "Pepe" has a long history. A close associate was Severo Enrique ESCOBAR ORTEGA of Bogota who was extradited to the USA in 1986. Worked with early cocaine traffickers Griselda Blanco de TRUJILLO, the Godmother" of cocaine traffickers who started in the 1970s and was arrested in Irvine, California in 1985 and sentenced to 35 years. (Her sons, Dixon, Snyder and Osvaldo TRUJILLO BLANCO began serving time in California in 1985 for large quantities of cocaine.) Cabrera was also involved with Alberto BRAVO AGUDELO, Griselda's deceased boyfriend, who first appeared in a cocaine case in the USA in 1974. Cabrera was extradited to the USA and sentenced to a long jail term. CADAVID, Marcos. Extradited to USA in 1985 and convicted of trafficking. Member of a notorious extended trafficking family. Known to have worked with both RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA of Cali and Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ of Medellin. Worked in the OCHOA VASQUEZ operation in Miami. Courthouse Security Heavy Accused Drug Kingpin Given VIP Escort --- By Philip Smith Washington Post Staff Writer 02/23/85 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 04: METRO TX Traffic was halted and onlookers gawked yesterday as a black limousine escorted by police motorcycles and heavily armed guards sped from an underground garage at the U.S. District Court building in Washington. The caravan, with flashing red lights and screaming sirens usually used for high government officials and visiting heads of state, carried a 43-year-old Colombian citizen who, these days, is considered a Very Important Person by the Justice Department. He is Marcos Cadavid -- not a dignitary, but an accused South American cocaine kingpin. Cadavid was extradited from Colombia last month to stand trial here March 11. His extradition pleased U.S. law enforcement officials but angered major Latin drug dealers. The extradition is part of a general, U.S.-sponsored crackdown on the international drug trade from the Southern Hemisphere that reportedly has brought threats of retaliation from big-time South American cocaine exporters. The U.S. attorney's office here refuses to discuss details of the security surrounding Cadavid. A law enforcement source said, however, that U.S. intelligence has reported that hitmen have been dispatched to this country in the wake of the stepped-up drug enforcement effort. Whether cocaine traders hope to assassinate a key drug defendant such as Cadavid or inflict violence on U.S. law enforcement or court personnel is unclear, according to the source. But such an attack presumably would serve as a warning to defendants who might otherwise be tempted to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Security arrangements surrounding court appearances here by Cadavid are said to be extraordinary and perhaps unprecedented, according to courthouse regulars. On at least two occasions, Cadavid has been whisked to court for pretrial hearings, transported in a limousine with smoked-glass windows and escorted by U.S. Park Police motorcycles. During one of his visits in mid-January, police with automatic weapons were visible on the courthouse roof. Yesterday, security measures inside the courtroom of District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, who has custody of the Cadavid case, included about a dozen armed U.S. marshals, some of whom sat facing spectators, with their backs to the courtroom proceedings. Federal prosecutors have charged that Cadavid and others smuggled hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into the Miami area through a food distribution warehouse used as a front. Much of the cocaine allegedly was purchased and distributed through a Washington-based network of drug dealers, according to prosecution testimony. CAICEDO JURADO, Franco Guido. Judge responsible for freeing Pablo ESCOBAR GAVIRIA when he was held on drug charges in 1976. Related to Panamanian contact Eduardo Jose CAICEDO, possibly related to Cali trafficker Giovanni CAICEDO TASCON. CAICEDO, Eduardo Jose. Principal cartel contact in Panama and launders there. Judge Franco Guido CAICEDO JURADO freed Pablo Escobar when held on drug charge in 1976. Perhaps related to Cali trafficker Giovanni CAICEDO TASCON, and associate of RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA and Eduard TESCON MORAN, Giovanni's uncle, who had connections to the Torrijos family in Panama but who is now retired. CALDERON, Julio. Early trafficker who with the COTES brothers bought Aerocondor air lines. It was run by Melvin MILLON and trafficking sons. The airlines international rep was Jorge BARCO VARGAS, brother of President Barco. Calderon bought property in Key Biscane and luxury hotels in Barranquilla. His fortunes have waned, and he now works the Atlantic Coast and is tied to the OCHOA clan. CALI CARTEL. Based in Cali, Colombia, this is one of the major narcotics trafficking organizations. Cali Drug Cartel Avoids Crackdown; Powerful Traffickers Operate Differently From Medellin Rivals. The Washington Post, October 05, 1989, FINAL Edition By: Douglas Farah, Special to The Washington Post Section: A SECTION, p. e01 Story Type: News Foreign Line Count: 110 Word Count: 1200 MEDELLIN, Colombia - While leaders of the notorious cocaine cartel that made this bustling city its headquarters for years have been targeted by law enforcement officials as the nation's primary enemies, their counterparts in the equally powerful Cali cartel have almost escaped notice. According to residents in both cities, as well as Colombian and U.S. narcotics experts, the two cartels, which together supply 80 percent of the cocaine in the U.S. market, operate in fundamentally different ways, leading the government to attack the Medellin group while leaving the Cali operation almost untouched. The Cali cartel, based in a city of 1.5 million on a coastal plain, is believed to control the lucrative New York market and has sometimes come into conflict with the Medellin group. The two cartels fought a bloody turf war last year that claimed scores of lives. "The Medellin people are much more violent. They are operating in the Stone Age, killing whoever gets in their way," said one Colombian expert. "The Cali people are much more elegant. They buy people, they buy into the system, they do not offend. They buy police, politicians, whole towns." While the government has offered $250,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest of Pablo Escobar or Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha of the Medellin cartel and has widely publicized the seizures of dozens of their opulent properties, the Cali cartel's leaders, such as Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, are relatively unknown to the public. No reward has been offered for information on them. One senior Colombian military officer said the government would target the Cali cartel, but added, "We cannot do everything at once." While some of their luxurious properties, such as the posh Ciudad Jardin, six miles south of Cali, have been taken over by police, knowledgeable residents say known traffickers and their families are openly back in the city. Several experts said that the leaders of the Medellin cartel made two fundamental mistakes that made them the focus of the government's latest crackdown. The first was trying to enter the formal political structure-- Escobar was an alternate deputy to the national Congress in 1982 but never served--while Cali cartel members have been content to stay behind the scenes. Members of the Medellin cartel were also behind the formation two months ago of the National Restoration Movement (Morena), described by authorities as a neo-fascist, paramilitary organization that is not legally registered. "Morena was born in the bowels of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism," said Gen. Miguel Maza Marquez, commander of the Security Administration Department. "They should not be given legal status as a political party." The second mistake, the sources said, was for leaders of the Medellin cartel, who largely come from poor families and want to be accepted into society, to spend enormous amounts of money trying to buy their way into the closed, race-conscious upper class. "Drug traffic caused a certain type of social revolution," said Mario Arango, a city councilman in Medellin who advocates the legalization of cocaine because he does not believe repression of drug use can work. "It allowed the lower class to enter the consumer society, which was very closed. Now the new rich have dark skins." The Cali leaders are largely from upper middle-class families with good standing in society, and did not have to fight to be accepted. Said a wealthy businessman in Medellin, "Here, they were resented because they showed off their money, but they did not fit. It is very difficult to acquire all the manners and behavior in just one generation." When the Medellin people were frozen out of the formal political structure, they turned their violence, long a tradition in both cartels for internal feuds, on those outside. The most violent are Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha, both reported to be heavy cocaine users, the experts said. "They wondered why politicians were willing to take their money during the campaigns, then not let them participate in the system," said one lawyer. "The double standard angered them." The Medellin cartel is widely blamed for the assassination Aug. 18 of Luis Carlos Galan , the leading presidential candidate, as well as the killings of other prominent officials. Galan had attacked Medellin traffickers by name, drawing a death sentence from the cartel, according to the experts. After Galan's murder, the government launched a crackdown, and suspected drug traffickers responded by setting off more than 30 bombs across town. Since then, this flourishing city of 2 million people, the industrial center of Colombia, has been re-evaluating its ambivalent, long-time relationship to the Medellin cartel, and the business most people dislike but often profit from. "We were all surprised (by the bombings), because if the Medellin cartel loves anything, it is their city, their home," said one leading businessman. "I would say 99 percent of the people oppose drug trafficking, but the effect of money has been accepted by an important number of people in the city and the country." "In this sense we all erred," said Juan Gomez, mayor of Medellin, in an interview. "We thought the business was men exporting drugs and bringing back dollars, and that it was a problem for consumers, not us. Because of the money, we supported or at least tolerated them. It was a mistake." Gomez, who advocates talks between the government and drug traffickers to end the bloodshed, said he had received telephone calls from representatives of the Medellin cartel offering to open the dialogue, but that he did not have the authority to speak, and the national government refused to talk to the traffickers. "Every war ends through dialogue eventually," Gomez said. "So why not go straight to dialogue?" But in one section of Medellin, there is no ambivalence toward drug traffickers. In the Pablo Escobar neighborhood, perched on the edge of Medellin, the drug lord built and donated 500 two-bedroom brick houses with running water and electricity to families that before were living on the city's garbage dump. "He is the only one who ever gave these people anything. The government never did anything for them," said Miguel Angel Ramirez, 67, as he surveyed the well-lit streets. "They love Pablo very much. Before coming here they lived in cardboard hovels, on a garbage heap. They had nothing. That is why many people work with Pablo and help him with his business." Residents are angry because Escobar was forced to go on the run before he could complete his project, which called for building a total of 1,000 houses, schools, churches and football fields for the city's disenfranchised. Despite the rash of bombing in both cities in the past month and heavy military patrols, neither Medellin nor Cali is a Latin American Beirut. As residents, indignant at the way their prosperous, bustling cities have been portrayed, quickly point out, the bombs wounded only a handful of people and were primarily aimed at businesses linked to the government. Many have said that the bombs, most of which only blew out the windows of the targeted buildings, were not all the work of drug traffickers. "I call these things terrorism, but we do not know with certainty in every action, who our enemy is," said Helena Herran de Montoya, governor of Antioquia province where Medellin is situated. CAPTIONS: Colombian soldier watches street activity from downtown Cali rooftop. Explosives experts sift through rubble of Bogota bank after bombing. NAMED PERSONS: ESCOBAR, PABLO; GACHA, GONZALO RODRIGUEZ; RODRIGUEZ, MIGUEL; GOMEZ, JUAN ORGANIZATION NAME: cali cartel DESCRIPTORS: Colombia; Narcotic ,drug violations; Organized crime CALLE LOPEZ, Andres. Arrested in 1984. In 1987 was freed by authorities although wanted in the USA. Tied to Medellin cartel. CAM, Hubert. United Press International journalist. CAMPBELL, James R. Journalist with UPI (United Press International). CANO ISAZA, Guillermo. Former editor of El Espectador and vocal critic and opponent of traffickers. He was assassinated, presumably on the orders of the Medellin cartel (in retalation for a series of articles that had been written about them) on December 17, 1986. His family continues to operate the paper, which continues to oppose the traffickers. CARDENAS GUZMAN, Luis. Peruvian trafficker arrested with HCL shipment in May 1975, and shortly thereafter was arrested in a coca paste bust in Mocoa. CARDONA SALAZAR, Rafael. Miami distribution organizer for Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ. Assisted Fabio OCHOA VASQUEZ with planning the assassination of Barry SEAL. CARDONA VARGAS, Jaime. Early Medellin trafficker working in USA and number two man until captured near Medellin in October 1977, with some 530 kilos of HCL that had just arrived from Santa Cruz del Guaviare. Little subsequently heard of Cardona Vargas and his organization, which apparently has some times to Alfredo GOMEZ LOPEZ, another early Medellin operation. CARILLO, Fernando. Drug store chain owner who obtains raw materials for cocaine refining. Former owner of Deportivo Independiente Santa Fe of Bogota. Indicted for drug shipments to Florida. The club is now held by Silvio and Fanor ARIZABALETA ARZAYUS drug traffickers from Valle del Cauca. Diego CARRILLO, a brother, died in 1983 following an explosion at one of their cocaine processing plants in Neiva, Huila. CARLINI, Roberto Peter Medellin trafficker extradited to the USA on October 14, 1989. UPse 10/14 1327 Alleged drug trafficker extradited to Florida ORLANDO, Fla. (UPI) -- A Colombian national sought for three years by state law enforcement authorities for cocaine trafficking was extradited to Florida early Saturday, state law enforcement officials said. Roberto Carlini, 38, the son of Italian immigrants arrived in Orlando in the custody of U.S. Marshals shortly after midnight, Statewide Prosecutor Pete Antonacci said Saturday. Carlini is one of three alleged drug dealers linked to the Medellin Cartel who were released by the Colombian government to face federal drug charges in the United States. "I would say he's a key player as far as both state and federal authorities are concerned," Antonacci said, adding that Carlini faces federal charges of conspiracy to import and conspiracy to possess marijuana. But the state charges Carlini faces are more serious, Antonacci said. Andy Zelman, an assistant statewide prosecutor in the Orlando office, said Carlini is wanted on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to violate the racketeering act, trafficking in cocaine and conspiracy to traffic cocaine. The trafficking charges carry a 15-year mandatory sentence. Carlini faces a total of 115 years in state prison if convicted. The charges stem from activities in 1985 involving over 1,000 kilos of cocaine, Zelman said. The case was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and charges were filed by the state attorney's office in Palm Beach in 1986, Zelman said. The federal charges are more recent, he said. "He's a good-sized fish. No question about it," Zelman said, adding that two of Carlini's properties in Palm Beach were seized by state authorities. Zelman said Carlini was a distributor for the Donado family, who are also under indictment in Florida. According to Zelman, Carlini distributed loads flown in by Frank Brady, an American who was also indicted by the statewide prosecutor's office. Antonacci said Carlini's is the first extradition to Florida since 1986, when Jose Cabrini Sarmiento, a key figure in the Carlos Lehder ring, was brought to Florida and tried on drug trafficking charges. Cabrera is in Florida State Prison in Starke, serving a 60-year prison sentence for cocaine trafficking. "We became aware he was taken into custody in Colombia six, seven weeks ago, Antonacci said. "We prepared the extradition documents and sent them to Washington, where they were translated and sent to Colombia." Antonacci said he "didn't seek any public profile on Carlini's arrest because I felt it would be easier for the Colombian government to act in his case. "I'm very pleased the Colombian government has done this. It's a very good first step. We have a list of 20 others they could be giving up too. Of course they've got to find them first." Zelman said Carlini was being held in federal custody in Orlando and it was unlikely Carlini would get bond. He was uncertain whether Carlini would be released to be tried by state officials before facing federal charges. "None of that's been worked out yet," Zelman said. APn 10/16 2246 Colombian Suspects Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By IKE FLORES Associated Press Writer ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Two of three Colombians extradited to the United States on drug charges over the weekend were ordered held without bond Monday during hearings held under tight security. The three were brought to this country together, then transported separately to Miami, Orlando and Detroit to face charges in those cities. Ana Rodriguez de Tamayo, 50, was dropped off in Miami and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Peter Palermo on Monday. He ordered her held without bond and set another hearing for Friday. In Orlando, Roberto Carlini-Arrico, 38, an ex-Florida resident who fled to Colombia after a 1986 indictment on state charges of drug trafficking, was also ordered held without bond to await a federal trial with his mother, a brother and a sister. They are jailed in central Florida. The third person taken Saturday from Colombia, Bernardo Pelaez Roldan, 44, was transported to Detroit, where he was convicted in absentia in March 1984 of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. The extraditions brought to four the number of people hauled out of Colombia since President Virgilio Barco imposed emergency measures against drug traffickers Aug. 18. Eduardo Martinez Romero was taken to Atlanta on Sept. 6 to face money-laundering charges brought in March. Mrs. Rodriguez is charged in a 1983 indictment with conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. If convicted on both counts, she faces up to 30 years in federal prison and $50,000 in fines. Seventeen others were charged in the indictment, including at least three members of the Bolivian military. Eleven are still fugitives and six have either been convicted or pleaded guilty, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan. Carlini, according to the 1986 indictment, was a distributor for thousands of pounds of cocaine that entered south Florida through a Colombia-Bahamas-Florida supply network during the mid-80s. He was extradited after a federal grand jury in Orlando last month charged him with conspiracy to import and distribute 7,000 pounds of marijuana between November 1988 and August 1989. Carlini faces up to life in prison and $4 million in fines if convicted. "This case shows that our investigation and charging of Colombian defendants can lead to their extradition to face justice in the United States," said U.S. Attorney Robert Genzman, who called Carlini "a significant defendant" in the federal drug crackdown. Another of Roberto Carlini's brothers, Paulo, and a cousin who identified herself as Susana, attended the magistrate's hearing in Orlando and told reporters their family was being harassed on flimsy charges. "Don't worry, Roberto, we are with you," Susana told her cousin before the hearing began. "This is all a show." Carlini is to be arraigned Wednesday. Mrs. Rodriguez's hearing was moved from a magistrate's hearing room to a courtroom at U.S. District Court for security reasons. The courtroom was ringed by U.S. marshals and a metal detector was temporarily installed outside. "In view of the threats made in Colombia by the cartels, we are taking every precaution," U.S. Marshal Daniel Horgan said. UPse 01/03 1453 Colombian cocaine trafficker pleads guilty ORLANDO, Fla. (UPI) -- One of the first suspected drug smugglers extradited from Colombia this fall entered a surprise guilty plea Wednesday, the second day of his federal drug trial. Roberto Carlini, 38, of Colombia, pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 7,000 pounds of marijuana. In exchange, the government agreed to drop a conspiracy to import charge and pending charges against his mother, who was also on trial. U.S. District Judge Patricia Fawsett set sentencing for March 19. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Moreno said Carlini faced a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in federal prison. Also Wednesday, Carlini agreed to plead guilty to state charges of racketeering and cocaine trafficking for receiving 2 tons of cocaine shipped to West Palm Beach in 1982 and 1983, said Andrew Zelman, an assistant statewide prosecutor in Orlando. Carlini faces a mandatory 15-year prison terms on those charges, Zelman said. Carlini, who was extradited in October, was one of the first of a crop of suspected drug traffickers seized in Colombia and transported to the United States this fall. His federal drug trial began Tuesday with jury selection. Testimony was to begin Wednesday, but Moreno said Carlini decided Tuesday to change his plea. Carlini's mother, Angela Carlini, 60, a Colombian living in Cocoa Beach, was convicted Dec. 18 on charges she sold 44 pounds of cocaine to undercover officers in Brevard County and possessed an illegal automatic rifle. She was a codefendant in her son's trial, facing the same two marijuana charges, but Moreno said the government agreed to drop those charges. "There was no point in pursuing her. She's about 60 years old," he said. Both mother and son were in the Seminole County Jail awaiting sentencing. Angela Carlini is to be sentenced Feb. 26. Moreno described Carlini as a major drug trafficker who was responsible for the distribution of more than 200 pounds of cocaine annually. The 7,000 pounds of marijuana cited in the indictment never reached the United States, Moreno said. It was shipped from Colombia to Antigua, where it was stolen, he said. No hearing date has been in state court for Carlini to plead guilty, Zelman said. The state agreed to drop eight of 10 counts in a 1986 indictment that charged Carlini with receiving 2 tons of cocaine in 1982 and 1983, Zelman said. "The cocaine would be flown from Colombia to the Bahamas and later flown to the U.S. then driven to him in West Palm Beach," he said. "He was the distributor in the U.S.," Zelman said. CARMICHAEL, Dan. UPI journalist. CARVALHO, Ivan Dario. Arrested in 1975 in Bogota while heading a major cocaine operation. A forger and cocaine "cook", Carvalho is a native of Medellin; he had close ties to the "cocaine queen" Veronica Rivera de VARGAS. CASTRILLON, Teodoro. A trusted member of both the OCHOA and Medellin organizations. Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ used him to investigate the possibility of expanding into European activities in during his (Ochoa's) visit to Spain in 1984. CHALARCA CORTES, Jorge Humberto. Medellin trafficker and associate of Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha; based in Mexico. APn 11/10 1811 Mexico-Cocaine Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By CANDICE HUGHES Associated Press Writer MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Authorities said Friday they had arrested a Colombian accused of smuggling 50 tons of cocaine into the United States and Mexican policemen who protected him. Federal judicial police confiscated a half-ton of cocaine, weapons, vehicles, jet fuel and radio communications gear, Deputy Attorney General Javier Coello Trejo told a news conference. He said Jorge Humberto Chalarca Cortes, known as El Negro, was the main representative in Mexico of the Medellin cartel, the most notorious Colombian cocaine gang. Coello said Chalarca was a close associate of alleged Medellin cartel leader Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. He said the Colombian was arrested Thursday night at his Mexico City apartment along with his Venezuelan wife, Cristina Rosas Rodriguez. Chalarca's operation moved at least 50 tons of cocaine to the United States through Mexico the past four years, Coello said, most of it via California and Florida. The other suspects were apprehended in a series of operations by federal drug agents in Mexico City, Mazatlan and northern Tamaulipas and Sonora states, he said. Among them was the head of the state police in Tamaulipas, Arturo Cuellar Tijerina, and one of Cuellar's agents, Carlos Eduardo Perales, the deputy attorney general told reporters. He said Perales admitted obtaining jet fuel in McAllen, Texas, for the gang's clandestine landing strips. McAllen is on the Texas-Tamaulipas border across from Reynosa. Among other suspects is an employee of the Mexican government telephone company, Yolanda Haxiola Sandoval. Coello said she helped Charlarca avoid detection by arranging for his calls to Colombia to be registered as official government calls. He said another telephone company employee was being sought. Two other suspects, Alejandro Bernal Madrigal and a U.S. citizen named Julio Chagy de la Rosa, admitted using a Miami business to launder drug money, he said. Coello said U.S. authorities and Interpol, the international police organization, cooperated in the investigation. HL Mexico Cocaine Flow Goes On Cartel War, Seizures Have Little Effect --- BY William Branigin Washington Post Foreign Service DD 11/21/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: A SECTION TX MONTERREY Mexico -- Despite a crackdown on drug cartels in Colombia and huge cocaine seizures on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border recently, vast quantities of illegal narcotics continue to flow from Colombia to the United States through Mexico virtually unimpeded, according to U.S. and Mexican officials. So frustrating has the situation become that authorities in both countries are developing countermeasures aimed at giving Mexico the capability eventually to shoot down cocaine-laden airplanes that now land almost with impunity in northern Mexico. The United States would contribute intelligence on incoming drug flights and possibly some material help to the plan, law-enforcement sources said. But the cooperation would stop well short of U.S.-Mexican "joint operations," which Mexico opposes on grounds of national sovereignty. While the question of whether to shoot down suspected drug planes that refuse orders to land has provoked considerable debate in the United States, Mexico has no such qualms. "Not only are we prepared to shoot down {drug} planes, but we have done it already," said Javier Coello Trejo, Mexico's deputy attorney general for narcotics matters. He referred to an incident earlier this year in which Federal Judicial Police officers on patrol in the desert of the northern state of Coahuila used small-arms fire to force down a plane that refused to land. The officers seized 600 kilograms of cocaine from the aircraft and arrested three Colombians and a Mexican guide. In an interview during a conference here last week of attorneys general from Mexican and U.S. border states, Coello Trejo said Mexican authorities were working on measures to prevent drug flights from using this country as a way station, but he declined to disclose details. "The Mexicans currently don't have the capability for in-flight interception" of suspected drug flights, said a U.S. official. "It's part of the plan to acquire that." However, American authorities indicated that this may not occur for some time and that a lack of U.S. funding was a major obstacle. Meanwhile, Colombian cocaine traffickers have been taking advantage of the porous 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border and desolate areas that stretch up to 300 miles south of it in which it is possible to land drug-laden aircraft with little risk. "They're flying in at will," one American antinarcotics official said. State officials attending the three-day conference that ended here Friday concurred in separate interviews that record cocaine seizures on both sides of the border seemed to have had little effect on U.S. supplies. "Nothing we've seen has demonstrated to us that we've had a slowdown in the flow," said Nelson Kempsky, chief deputy attorney general of California. According to George J. Doane, head of the California attorney general's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, the price of cocaine rose slightly after a world record seizure of more than 20 tons in Los Angeles Sept. 29, but quickly settled down again. Ten days later, undercover agents were able to buy cocaine in bulk at the same price as before the seizure, he said. "It was almost like a market scare," Doane said. Within a week of the 21.4-ton Los Angeles seizure, U.S. authorities had captured nine tons of cocaine crammed into a house in Harlingen, Tex., and more than five tons on a ship intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in international waters off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The almost 36 tons netted in the three seizures nearly equaled the 40 tons of cocaine captured in Florida in all of fiscal 1989. The total value of the three seizures was estimated at around $11 billion. Combined with record seizures in Mexico -- 27 tons of cocaine since December 1988, compared to 33 tons during the previous six years -- the U.S. busts underscored complaints by American law-enforcement officials that a major trend of Colombian smuggling through Mexico into the American southwest was being largely ignored in Washington. Whereas the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimated two years ago that about 30 percent of the cocaine flowing into the United States was coming through Mexico, the estimates now range from 50 to 70 percent. By sending their products across the southwestern U.S. border and Gulf of Mexico, U.S. officials said, the Colombian cocaine barons not only avoid a vast American antismuggling force that has been built up in Florida and the Caribbean in the last six years, but they also lower their costs in supplying lucrative West Coast markets. A growing trend is to fly the cocaine into Mexico in twin-engine turboprop planes that carry about half a ton a load, turn it over to Mexican partners and store it for awhile on the Mexican side of the border, U.S. officials said. The drugs are then smuggled across the border in small lots by traditional Mexican contraband rings, collected in safehouses on the U.S. side and trucked to the West Coast, where Colombians resume control of distribution. This essentially was the method used to smuggle the 21.4 tons of cocaine that was discovered by police and drug agents at a Los Angeles warehouse Sept. 29, U.S. and Mexican officials said. In a cooperative effort in which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Mexican Federal Judicial Police shared information about suspects in the case, Mexican police raided a motel in the border city of Ciudad Juarez a month after the seizure and arrested Rafael Munoz Talavera, the alleged ringleader of a 300-member network. Munoz, 38, confessed to smuggling the cache found in Los Angeles and said his ring had moved more than 33 tons of Colombian cocaine across the border in the last three years. He later repudiated the confession, however, claiming it was extracted under torture. Among some 60 properties seized from Munoz after his arrest were five vast ranches in Chihuahua state, two mansions worth more than $3 million each in Acapulco and a suburb of El Paso, Tex., and various farms, condominiums, restaurants and other businesses. So far this year, Mexican police have arrested scores of Colombians on drug charges, including two nephews of drug * lords Pablo Escobar and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. But perhaps the highest ranking Colombian arrested in Mexico is Jorge Chalarca Cortes, 30, an alleged member of Rodriguez Gacha's organization who was picked up this month with five other Colombians and a dozen Mexicans, including a state police commander, on charges of belonging to a ring that had smuggled more than 50 tons of cocaine into the United States since 1985. As a result of the Los Angeles case, U.S. and Mexican authorities are investigating possible official corruption on their respective sides of the border in an attempt to explain how so much cocaine could have been smuggled into the United States undetected. Often, the investigation revealed, the smugglers simply drove the drugs across the border in the trunks of their cars. "Half the time they didn't even bother to conceal it," said one U.S. antinarcotics officer. "What would make them so comfortable that they wouldn't even bother to hide the stuff?" On the other hand, U.S. officials at the conference said, traffickers know authorities can inspect only a fraction of vehicles that cross the border. According to U.S. Customs figures, more than 193,000 vehicles per day crossed from Mexico in fiscal 1989. "There's no way in the world we can check every car that's coming across," said Kempsky, chief deputy attorney general of California. Any attempt to do so would bring trade and tourism to a halt, another official said. Although U.S. federal authorities hailed the three recent multi-ton busts as examples of greater effectiveness, antinarcotics officials who deal with the problem daily were not so sanguine. The Los Angeles and Harlingen seizures came as the result of anonymous tips, the officials pointed out, and the seizure at sea followed a chance encounter with a Coast Guard vessel. "The seizures were not the result of aggressive interdiction," one official said. "It was a fluke. In reality it had nothing to do with our pricey buildup along the border." COLE, Richard. AP journalist. COLEMAN, Joseph. UPI journalist. Facts about Colombia (from Grolier's Encyclopedia, accessed via Compuserve): TITLE: Colombia OFFICIAL NAME. Republic of Colombia LAND. Area: 1,138,914 sq km (439,737 sq mi). Capital and largest city: Bogota (1985 est. pop., 3,982,941). Elevations. Highest--Cristobal Colon Peak, 5,775 m (18,947 ft); lowest--sea level, along the coast. PEOPLE. Population (1988 est.): 30,600,000. Density (1988 est.): 27 personsper sq km (70 per sq mi). Distribution (1988): 65% urban, 35% rural. AnnualGrowth (1987-88): 2.1%. Official Language: Spanish. Major Religion: Roman Catholicism. ECONOMY. GNP (1986): $35.5 billion; $1,230 per capita. Labor distribution (1981): agriculture--26%; industry--21%; services (1980)--53%; Major crops, products, and industries. cassava, rice, potatoes, corn, sugarcane, bananas, coffee, cabbage, sorghum, cotton, onions, tomatoes, tobacco, cacao, wheat, barley; processed food, beverages, textiles, chemicals, metal products, transportation equipment, steel, cement, paper, refined petroleum; mining, tourism, fishing. Foreign Trade (1986): imports--$3.9 billion; exports--$5.1 billion; principal trade partners--United States, West Germany, Venezuela, Japan. Currency. 1 Colombian peso = 100 centavos. Currency Exchange Rate (Sept. 21, 1988). 1 Colombian peso = $0.0032 GOVERNMENT. Type: republic. Political Parties: Liberal party, Conservative party, Communist party. Government Leaders (1988): Virgilio Barco Vargas--president. Legislature: Congress. Political Subdivisions: 23 departments, 5 intendancies, 5 commissaries, Bogota special district. EDUCATION AND HEALTH. Literacy (1986). 80% of adult population. Universities and other institutions of higher learning (1986): 231. Hospital Beds (1983). 28,880. Physicians (1983). 21,778. Life Expectancy (1985): women--66.0; men--61.4. Infant Mortality (1987-88): 48 per 1,000 live births. COMMUNICATIONS. Railroads (1987): 3,563 km (2,214 mi) total. Roads (1987): 9,350 km (5,810 mi) paved; 66,100 km (41,073 mi) unpaved. Major Ports: 6. Major Airfields: 11. CORREA ARROYAVE, Pablo, Carlos, Arturo and Rigoberto. Carlos was reported to have been killed prior to 1988, although a Carlos Dario, called a "mid-level Medellin narcotics trafficker" was picked up by police in February 1988. At the time, Pablo was reported to be doing time in the USA for cocaine smuggling and money laundering. The Carlos picked up in 1988 was wanted for murder. Rigoberto and Arturo were arrested in Pennsylvania in 1986; they were indicted and convicted of moving 7.5 tons of HCL into USA and laundering $25 million. Pablo, member of the Los Pablos gang who created Tanquilandia, (Pablo ESCOBAR, Pablo CORREA RAMOS--since slain, and himself) was present at the January 1981 capo meeting held at the OCHOA ranch at Repelon, Atlantico, where decision was made to ship HCL via Acandi, Gulf of Uruba, and where it was decided to create the cocaine center that later became known as Tranquilandia. The Los Pablos founded both Tranquilandia--which was discovered because a shipment of 76 drums of ether was traced from Chicago to the site--and the Colombian Villa coca operations discovered in Yari. Pablo Correa Ramos (?) was apparently murdered by order of Pablo ESCOBAR some time later, see FBIS, 22 Jun 88. It is possible that a relative (?), Jairo, helped initiate the apparent gang was that broke out in late 1987 involving the Cali and Medellin cartels. CORREA GOMEZ, Fernando. Boyfriend of major trafficker Martha Maria Upegui de URIBE. CORREA MAYA, Felix. Medellin banker and money manager. CORREA, Jairo. Brother (?) of Pablo, who along with Francisco BARBOSA ESTUPINAN ran a major operations in the Magdalena Medio region until the major bust of May 88. Founder of the "La Dorada" cartel in Caldas near Magdalena River. Really considered a part of the Medellin cartel. The question exists whether Correa and Barbosa have switched from the Cali to the Medellin group. CUEVAS RAMIREZ, Nelson. Trafficker extradited to the United States in December, 1989. UPne 12/15 1138 U.S. brings Colombian to New York on drug charges NEW YORK (UPI) -- U.S. authorities spirited a suspected drug trafficker from Bogota To New York Friday, where he was to be indicted on narcotics charges, the U.S. Marshals Service said. Nelson Cuevas Ramirez, the 10th Colombian to be extradited to the United States since August when Colombian President Virgilio Barco began his campaign against drug trafficking, was to be arraigned before a U.S. magistrate at 2 p.m. in Manhattan. Ramirez is the first extradited since a bombing killed dozens of people in front of the Colombian national police headquarters last week. The bombing was one of scores in recent months attributed to drug cartels, which are waging a violent campaign of intimidation against the extraditions. Also, 42 members of Colombia's judiciary have been killed since drug lords declared "total war" on the extradition policy. Cuevas Ramirez, 55, indicted on drug charges in Manhattan in October, was turned over by Colombian authorities to a team of the Marshals Service Special Operations Group Thursday night in Bogota, Marshals Service Director K. Michael Moore announced in a statement released in Washington. The special operations team placed Cuevas Ramirez aboard a Marshals Service jet and he was flown to New York City, arriving at 4:15 a.m. Friday, Moore's statement said. Cuevas Ramirez was in custody pending arraignment in U.S. District Court, the statement added. "President Virgilio Barco and the government of Colombia are again to be applauded for the continued ... resolve in standing up to the narco-terrorists through these continued extraditions," Moore said. Last week, the House of Representatives defied the Barco administration and added a question on extradition to a referendum on constitutional reform. The Senate now must decide the issue, pinned between the pro-extradition Barco administration and drug lords who threaten to escalate their bombing campaign unless the extradition issue is put on the ballot. The federal indictment returned against Cuevas Ramirez accuses him of consipracy to import and distribute approximately 330 pounds of cocaine, and the imporation and possession with the intent to distribute 245 pounds of cocaine. The 245 pounds of cocaine were seized at the Westchester County airport in New York in April 1987. APn 12/16 0705 Cocaine Extradition Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. NEW YORK (AP) -- A Colombian who was extradited to face drug-importation charges was ordered held without bail after a prosecutor argued he was likely to flee the country if freed. Nelson Cuevas Ramirez, 55, pleaded innocent Friday in U.S. District Court to two counts of conspiracy and an importation charge connected with the shipment of 240 pounds of cocaine to this country. He is the 10th person to be extradited from Colombia since August, when that country began a new drive against drug trafficking, Ramirez, who arrived in New York early Friday from Bogota, entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Naomi Buchwald. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Glazer argued that Ramirez was likely to leave the jurisdiction if freed on bail. His court-appointed lawyer, Ruth Chamberlin, didn't contest the government's position. Negotiations for the cocaine allegedly occurred in Panama, and the 111 kilograms were seized in April 1987 at the Westchester County Airport in New York, the indictment said. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, as many as 300 Colombians have been charged in various U.S. cities on drug-related charges, although many of the indictments are sealed. UPn 12/16 0353 Colombian extradicted to New York; arraigned on dru... Colombian extradicted to New York; arraigned on drug charges NEW YORK (UPI) -- A suspected Colombian drug trafficker extradicted to New York from Bogota pleaded innocent Friday to conspiracy and other charges for allegedly importing hundreds of pounds of cocaine into the United States. Nelson Cuevas Ramirez is the 10th Colombian to be extradited to the United States since last August when Colombian President Virgilio Barco began his campaign against drug trafficking. Forty-two members of Colombia's judiciary have been killed since drug lords declared "total war" on the extradition policy. Last week, a bombing attributed to drug cartels killed dozens of people and heavily damaged the Colombian national police headquarters. Ramirez, 55, indicted in New York with three other suspected drug traffickers, was turned over by Colombian authorities to a team of the federal Marshals Thursday night in Bogota, officials said. Speaking through a translator, Ramirez was arraigned in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Naomi Buchwald. Also indicted was Mauricio Londono-Villa, who is in custody following his arrest in October, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Glazer. The two others indicted, Luis Hernando Garces-Restrepo, also known as "Don Chepe," and Jose Jesus Blandon, remain at large and are believed to be hiding in Colombia, Glazer said. Ramirez and his three cohorts are accused of conspiring to import and distribute approximately 330 pounds of cocaine, and the importation and possession with the intent to distribute 245 pounds of cocaine. The 245 pounds of cocaine were seized at the Westchester County airport in New York in April 1987. Glazer refused to discuss what ties Ramirez or the other three suspected drug traffickers may have to Colombia's drug cartels. In the statement about Ramirez's arrest, Moore commended Colombian authorities for the extradition of the suspected drug trafficker. "President Virgilio Barco and the government of Colombia are again to be applauded for the continued ... resolve in standing up to the narco-terrorists through these continued extraditions," the statement read. Last week, the Colombian House of Representatives defied the Barco administration and added a question on extradition to a referendum on constitutional reform. The Senate now must decide the issue, pinned between the pro-extradition Barco administration and drug lords who threaten to escalate their bombing campaign unless the extradition issue is put on the ballot. CUEVAS, Oscar. Cali cartel money launderer. Convicted in 1986 of laundering $25 million, perhaps related to Bogota trafficker Carlos CUEVAS. CURA DE MOYA, Cesar. Pilot who reportedly moves HCL for the Medellin cartel. Called one of the chief capos of Cordoba and may be tied to the NADER trafficking family of the same region. DANGONG NOGUERA, Julio and Victor. Julio is a Northcoast trafficker wanted in the USA. He was captured in Baranquilla in January 1987, and released (?). Victor is a congressman. They, along with cousins Orlando and Rafael NOGUERA operate out of Cienaga, Magdalena and are said to have the largest drug fortune on the Atlantic Coast. They operate out of their strip at La Ye where the Dangong Noguera family (which is considerable) congregates. They are responsible for shipping the OCHOA clans HCL to the USA. It was said that M-19 guerrilla leader Jaime BATEMAN and the Conservative Congressman and drug trafficker Antonio ESCOBAR BRAVO took off from La Ye on the day of theaccident when they died in a plane crash. DANIES, Enrique. Colombian Minister of Communication. Assumed position after Carlos Lemos Simmonds became Minister of the Interior; former governor of Guajira province.DAVILA JIMENO, Raul Alberto. In the late 1970s the Davila family moved from trafficking marijuana to cocaine. A Florida warrant for Raul's arrest was issued in Florida in April 1979. The Davila organization was still operational along the north coast in 1987 and was moving both cocaine and marijuana. DE GREIFF, Monica. Former Colombian Minister of Justice (assumed office July 16, 1989); under death sentence by cartel leaders during President Barco Vargas' 1989 crackdown for signing the extradition order for Eduardo Martinez Romero, an accused money launderer; despite her initial resistance to the traffickers' terrorism during the 1989 drug war, she resigned as Minister of Justice on September 21, 1989, fearing for the life of her husband and three year old son. She declined the position of ambassador to Portugal, preferring to enter private life, probably in the United States. The Torrance Daily Breeze, Wednesday, August 30, 1989; Colombia official won't quit by James Rowley, The Associated Press: WASHINGTON-Colombian Justice Minister Monica de Greiff vowed Tuesday to stay on the job to fight her country's drug lords and appealed for $19 million in new U.S. aid to protect judges from the Medellin cartel. The law is under siege in Colombia and we must protect it in every way we can, de Greiff told a news conference at the official residence of the Colombian ambassador. I never considered resigning, she said in response to a question about such reports. The threats are out there, but I am satisfied with my protection right now. The 32-year old lawyer said she would go back to Colombia next week after concluding discussions with the Bush administration about her request for additional aid. I am determined that the integrity of out justice system survives this crisis and I hope to play my full part in assuring this, de Greiff said. Meanwhile, in Bogota, the father of three purported drug barons begged the government on Tuesday to end its fierce anti-narcotics drive and negotiate peace. Fabio Ochoa Restrepo, the father three reputed co..e kingpins, appealed in an open letter to President Virgilio Barco to bury the hatchet and agree to talk to the drug barons. Let there be dialogue, let there be peace, let's have forgiveness, let's carry out a kind of erasing and clean slate, Ochoa Restrepo wrote. The letter was published Tuesday in a Bogota newspaper. Bombs exploded at six state liquor stores Tuesday in Medellin. The shops are a source of patronage for local political leaders. A seventh bomb went off outside a tourist agency office in Bogota. No one was hurt, police said. They estimated damage at $100,000. The justice minister, who met Monday in Washington, D.C. with Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and other top Justice Department aides, continued talks Tuesday with the Bush administration about her request for $19 million to protect Colombia's judges from assassination. The administration only last week approved a $65 million military aid program, and the Pentagon said Tuesday that disbursement of funds under that program is awaiting Colombia's list of needs. At the news conference, de Greiff told reporters, We must uphold the rule of law, and regrettably at this moment that requires intensive physical protection of our judges. The Bush administration already has promised $5 million over two years for training programs to bolster judicial security. We have asked the United States for more support not only in words but in resources, she told reporters. I am very pleased with what we have done; I think we can do more, but I think we can work out things. De Greiff, her country's eighth justice minister in three years, said she told Thornburgh that Colombia needed the additional aid to buy armored cars, metal detectors and other security devices to protect judges from the wave of assassinations mounted by the drug cartel. Both our countries are countries of laws even at a time when our enemies are operating against us with no respect for law of even the minimal standards of decency, she said. The State Department, meanwhile, updated its warning against non- essential travel for U.S. citizens in Colombia and suggested, for the first time, that American citizens there consider leaving. Although Americans have not yet been the target of any violence, visitors and American resident in Colombia should carefully re- evaluate whether it is essential that they travel to or remain in Colombia at this time, said the new statement. The last travel advisory, issued last weekend, was limited to recommending that travel to Colombia be postponed for several weeks. In addition to raising the possibility of resident U.S. citizens leaving the country, the update also recommended that new travel to Colombia be postponed indefinitely. President Bush, who discussed this anti-drug strategy with top Cabinet officials at his Maine seaside retreat, said the administration will cooperate with Colombia to the best of our ability. The president declined to comment specifically on de Greiff's request for more money but added that it's being worked out now, the details. The Pentagon said it will begin delivering military equipment under the $65 million aid package as soon as it receives a list of material sought by the Colombian government. When the list is returned to the United States delivery will begin, Defense Department spokesman Pete Williams told reporters. Williams declined to say what type of equipment would be provided. Colombian Minister Resigns After Threats. The Washington Post, September 23, 1989, FINAL Edition By: Douglas Farah, Special to The Washington Post Section: A SECTION, p. a17 Story Type: News National; News Foreign Line Count: 49 Word Count: 544 BOGOTA, Colombia, Sept. 22 - In a move widely viewed as a blow to the government's five-week-old war on cocaine, Justice Minister Monica de Greiff announced her resignation today following weeks of death threats from drug traffickers. De Greiff, 32, looking composed at a hastily arranged press conference, said that her personal security had become a serious concern for the government of President Virgilio Barco, and that she had resigned Thursday night after turning down an offer of the ambassadorship to Portugal. In a brief statment, de Greiff said Barco had decided "he needed another type of person in the ministry and has every right to ask for my resignation" as justice minister--one of the toughest jobs in a country wracked by an ongoing terrorist campaign against judges and law enforcement officials who dare to take on the cocaine cartels. Barco asked Communications Minister Carlos Lemos Simmonds to take over de Greiff 's duties. Lemos Simmonds is a former foreign minister and ambassador to the Organization of American States. De Greiff said she would travel to the United States Saturday to be with her husband and 3-year-old son, who are living there following death threats by the drug barons. But she said she planned to return to Colombia in two weeks and perhaps enter politics. "I love Colombia, and I think we all have to be united during these difficult times," she said. De Greiff was a key figure in the decision to renew summary extraditions of suspected drug traffickers who are wanted in the United States, making her a most-wanted target by drug traffickers. While only one person has been extradited since the current crackdown began Aug. 18 following the assassination of a leading presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Galan, the drug cartel, in communiques signed "the Extraditables," vowed to wage a "total war" against the government and kill 10 judges for every person sent to the United States to stand trial. The resignation comes as Barco faces harsh criticism over the battle against cocaine traffickers and growing tension with the United States over the denial or cancellation of U.S. visas to more than two dozen prominent politicians because of alleged ties to drug traffickers. At the same time, terrorist bombings have increased in the capital, with 12 bombs going off Thursday, badly damaging offices of political parties. De Greiff, who took the job July 16 after serving as undersecretary of justice, was the eighth justice minister in the past three years. One of her predecessors, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, was murdered in 1984. There have been reports for weeks that she would resign, which she denied. Immediately after the crackdown began, de Greiff went to the United States to plead for U.S. aid. The country was in an uproar today over a list of 25 lawmakers and politicians who have reportedly been denied U.S. visas or had their existing ones revoked because of their alleged ties to drug trafficking. Foreign Minister Julio Londono today made public a letter to the U.S. Embassy in which he said: "My government considers that (steps) of this kind, without an adequate clarification and precise explanation, could generate a climate of undesirable relations between the two countries." U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Phillip McLain denied such a "blacklist" existed and said the U.S. Embassy would not comment on individual cases of visa denials. CAPTIONS: MONICA de GREIFF. NAMED PERSONS: DE GREIFF, MONICA; SIMMONDS, CARLOS LEMOS DESCRIPTORS: Colombia; Freelancing; Resignations; Threats; Narcotic and drug violations; United States THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Copyright Times Mirror Company 1989 DATE: SATURDAY September 23, 1989 EDITION: Home Edition LENGTH: MEDIUM PART-NAME: ONE PAGE: 5 PART-NUMBER: 1 COLUMN: 3 TYPE-OF-MATERIAL: Wire DATELINE: BOGOTA, Colombia DESK: Foreign SOURCE: From Reuters COLOMBIAN JUSTICE MINISTER CONFIRMS SHE QUIT Justice Minister Monica de Greiff, who became a symbol of courageous defiance in Colombia's drug war, confirmed Friday that she has resigned, saying she did so after President Virgilio Barco Vargas asked her to take a new post. Barco named Communications Minister Carlos Lemos Simmonds to succeed her, and De Greiff said the change should not alter Colombia's crackdown on its cocaine cartels. The 32-year-old De Greiff, who during her 10 weeks in office had been the subject of repeated death threats, told reporters that she decided to submit her resignation Thursday, two days after Barco offered her the post of ambassador to Portugal. She declined that post. ''The president removes and installs ministers as he wants. The president wanted a change now and I am not going to start a scandal over this,'' she said. Asked if Colombia's image in its drug war would change with her departure, De Greiff said: ''I think it should be exactly the same. I am not the only one doing this job and many people are fighting.'' She denied there was any political infighting between her and other Cabinet ministers. Leading newspapers had speculated there would be a Cabinet reshuffle in the wake of De Greiff's resignation. In Washington, a State Department official said the Bush Administration remains confident about Barco's commitment to fight drug cartels despite De Greiff's resignation. De Greiff was the sixth justice minister in Barco's three-year presidency. Each time one has stepped down, there has been speculation that it was an act of capitulation to death threats. Most of De Greiff's predecessors in this decade were threatened with death. One was assassinated in 1984 and another, who resigned to become ambassador to Hungary in 1987, was shot and seriously wounded while walking on a Budapest street. Observers said that De Greiff's resignation is certain to be interpreted as a setback for the anti-drugs offensive proclaimed by Barco on Aug. 18, after the assassination of a leading presidential candidate who campaigned against drug traffickers. De Greiff did not disclose her plans for the future beyond saying that would make a brief private visit to the United States, where her husband and son are, before returning to Colombia. PHOTOGRAPH: Justice Minister Monica de Greiff discussing resignation. PHOTOGRAPHER: Associated Press KEYWORDS: DE GREIFF, MONICA RESIGNATIONS COLOMBIA -- GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS DRUG TRAFFICKING -- COLOMBIA THREATS Coke is still it in The Economist, 30 September - 6 October 1989: The murder by a drugs gang of a Colombian presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Galan, on August 18th, unleashed a small war. It is still in its phoney stage, and could yet peter out in Confusion. President Virgilio Barco promised revenge. President George Bush swore to back him. Britain is belatedly sending a gunboat, probably the Alacrity. More than 10,000 Colombians, most of them insignificant vagrants, were arrested under the emergency powers, then released. Weapons (not all of hem suitable) and dollars ( too few to make much difference) began to flow south from the United States. The gangsters hit back, with bombs in banks and public buildings, and the usual threats of more murder. The minister of justice, Mrs Monica de Greiff, was the eighth holder of that terrifying job since Mr Barco became president three years ago. She is 32 and has a son of three; having taken office in July, she understandably began trying to resign in August. On September 21st President Barco eventually let her go, unable to find a successor, asked the minister of communications to handler her work. Her departure was taken as a symbolic victory for the bad guys. The government's symbolic victory was less significant: the swift extradition to face trial in the United States of one alleged bookkeeper for the Medellin drugs cartel. A few other extradition orders, none for big fish, trundle slowly through the courts. American spokesmen say the gangsters are running scared. The big traders, they claim, have been flushed out of their ranches, discos and football clubs, into hiding in the mountains and forests. Fewer clandestine flights deliver raw materials to the Colombian processors from growers in Peru and Bolivia, where the price of coca paste has dropped. American agents in main coca-growing area of Peru think they have spotted Colombian merchants there. From the trackless borders of Brazil come rumours of relocated cocaine laboratories. Even if true, this is no victory. Colombia's judges, prosecutors and policemen (and their families) remain without adequate protection, operating a constitution with strong safeguards for suspects and an infinite capacity for delay. There are also good financial reasons why Colombia's anti-cocaine struggle looks less fervent than the Americans had hoped. The best strike against the big dealers would be interception of their profits. Yet most middle-class Colombians hold money in illegal dollar accounts, not because they are drug dealers but because they lack confidence in their home currency. They favour banking secrecy; none more so than the many decent folk (and some crooks) now seeking refuge in the United States. By good management as well as drug revenues, Colombia has prospered in recent years. In July the international coffee agreement collapsed. The price of a third of Colombia's exports is now roughly half of what is was last January. The coffee-producing countries have been denouncing he United States (which drinks more of the stuff than anyone else) for dismantling the agreement, and want it rebuilt. That is hardly possible: high prices and new instant¼-coffee-making techniques mean that the world now grows more coffee than it can possibly drink, so the price must inevitably fall. Yet cheaper coffee does more than cut $400m off Colombia's export earnings. The government has guaranteed growers a fixed price for all this season's coffee. That will now cost it much more than the shrunken value of the crop; the public-sector deficit will soar, and so will inflation. Lowering the price paid to 500,000 shareholders will encourage to look for a more profitable crop. Guess what. APn 10/28 0547 Colombia-de Greiff Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By RICHARD COLE Associated Press Writer MIAMI (AP) -- Colombia's former justice minister said the entire international community must help her nation battle its drug barons, and could start by helping to pay for reforms of the Colombian justice system. Monica de Greiff, 32, served only 70 days as her nation's top law enforcement official before resigning last month amid threats from traffickers and fleeing with her family to the United States. Dozens of plainclothes U.S. marshals and Miami police officers stood guard Friday as she addressed the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Miami, her first public speech since leaving office. "I am not in favor of a dialogue (with drug traffickers), and I upheld that policy in the time I served as a minister," Ms. de Greiff said. "And I believe that continues to be the policy." Instead, she said the international community must cease feuding over whether the drug problem is one of producing or consuming nations and form a united front against drugs. "Our societies have been challenged by this invisible enemy, a common enemy," said Ms. de Geiff. "There is no historical precedent for this kind of war." Neither the Opium Wars in China during the last century nor the U.S. experiment with Prohibition in the 1920s created problems of the current magnitude, she said. "Colombia cannot continue to fight alone with the United States as its only partner," said Ms. de Greiff. She said one concrete step would be for the international financial community to smooth the way for a $40 million loan to modernize and protect Colombia's beleaguered judicial branch. Ms. de Greiff resigned at the height of drug-related violence sparked by the Aug. 18 assassination of leading presidential candidate Sen. Luis Carlos Galan. Her resignation was widely attributed to repeated death threats, but she has said she quit because President Virgilio Barco wanted to replace her. Since leaving office, Ms. de Greiff has been living in the U.S. with her husband, Argentine public relations consultant Miguel Paley, and their 3-year-old son. She said she has not been threatened in the U.S. and plans to stay in this country for the present. DE LA CUESTA MARQUEZ, Jorge. Pilot of Pablo ESCOBAR. APn 10/19 2025 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Police said they arrested the personal pilot of Colombia's alleged cocaine godfather Thursday and will hold him for extradition to the United States. The pilot, Jorge de la Cuesta Marquez, is wanted in Florida on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, national police Col. Oscar Pelaez Carmona said in a news release. He identified De la Cuesta as the pilot of Pablo Escobar, the leader of the Medellin cocaine cartel. Pelaez would not give details of the arrest except to say De la Cuesta was arrested in an apartment in northern Bogota. With De la Cuesta's arrest, five Colombians are waiting to be extradited to the United States. The Colombian government has extradited four others already. None of those extradited or awaiting extradition is on the U.S. Justice Department's list of the 12 most wanted drug suspects in Colombia. President Virgilio Barco resumed extraditions Aug. 18 following the slayings of a leading presidential candidate, a federal judge, and a police colonel by drug barons. Another federal judge was killed by a gunman in Medellin on Tuesday, three days after three Colombians were extradited. A group calling itself the Extraditables said in a telephone call to a Medellin radio station the murder was in revenge for the extraditions carried out so far. Barco has said he will not back down in his war on drug traffickers, and the traffickers have responded with communiques that they prefer a grave in Colombia to a jail cell in the United States. In an effort to force the government to call off extraditions, the traffickers have killed a governor, bombed two newspapers, killed eight news media employees and set off 164 explosions. The explosions at banks, shopping areas, hotels, schools and government offices have killed 16 people. The latest occurred Wednesday in Bogota's main plaza when a hand grenade exploded, apparently accidentally, and killed the man carrying it. The man was only steps from the building of the national congress. UPn 11/30 1803 Cocaine `kingpin' extradited from Colombia By DAN CARMICHAEL WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Colombia turned over a "kingpin" in the Medellin cocaine cartel and he was quickly extradited to the United States to stand trial on drug charges, the Justice Department said Thursday. Jorge Mario de la Cuesta was indicted in February in a massive cocaine importation case, along with four other accused leaders of the Medellin cartel, the Justice Department said. Cuesta is accused in a federal drug indictment of participating in a conspiracy that resulted in the smuggling of more than 16 tons of cocaine into the United States. Colombian authorities turned him over to a special team of United States marshals at 7 a.m. EST in Bogota. The Justice Department said de la Cuesta was placed aboard a jet and flown to Jacksonville, Fla. De la Cuesta arrived in Florida at 12:10 p.m. EST and appeared later before U.S. Magistrate Harvey Schlesinger, who ordered a bond hearing Friday afternoon. Prosecutors want de la Cuesta held pending trial. The hearing was continued to allow the Colombian suspect to confer with his lawyer, Neal Betancourt of Jacksonville. De la Cuesta's trial was scheduled for Feb. 5, 1990. The Justice Department said de la Cuesta is the ninth person extradited from Colombia to the United States since the president of Colombia, Virgilio Barco, began a major anti-drug offensive in August after the assassination of a leading presidential candidate. According to the indictment, returned in Jacksonville on Feb. 24, de la Cuesta piloted or was aboard aircraft that flew more than 9,500 pounds of cocaine from Colombia to the Bahamas. From the Bahamas, the indictment charged, the cocaine was shipped to the United States aboard planes and boats. According to the de la Cuesta indictment, the conspiracy involves five people alleged to be leaders of the often-violent Medellin cocaine cartel: Carlos Lehder, serving a life prison sentence after being convicted in Jacksonville, Pablo Escobar-Gaviria, Jose Rodriguez-Gacha, Jorge Ochoa-Vasquez, and Fabio Ochoa-Vasquez. All these people, except Lehder, are defendants in the case. The others are accused of being major leaders in the cocaine cartel, but have eluded capture by Colombian authorities. Although the Justice Department identified de la Cuesta as a "kingpin" in the Medellin cartel, he is not one of the 12 "most wanted" Colombians on a list made public by Attorney General Dick Thornburgh this summer. None of the 12 has been caught. Lehder currently is serving a life-without-parole sentence in federal prison, plus 135 years. According to the indictment, Escobar-Gaviria organized an assassination squad that killed Lara Bonilla, the Colombian justice minister, in 1984. Lehder flew from Colombia in an airplane flown by de la Cuesta -- going first to Cayo Largo, Cuba, and then to a Nicaraguan air base at Los Brasiles, Nicaragua, the indictment said. The indictment also said the other four leaders of the Medellin cartel flew from Colombia to Panama and then -- with the assassination squad -- joined Lehder in Nicaragua. The charges state that de la Cuesta later gave one of Lehder's airplanes to the Nicaraguan government as a gift. The five Medellin cartel leaders "made arrangements to pay Nicaraguan officials large sums of money to allow them to remain in Nicaragua and to allow them to utilize Nicaragua as a base for smuggling cocaine to the United States," the indictment said. DE LA GUARDIA, Antonio. Colonel in Cuban military; involved with Pablo Escobar in transshipment of cocaine through Cuba; sentenced to death. DEL CID, LUIS. Panamanian army colonel and associate of Manuel NORIEGA. APn 12/26 1337 Panama-del Cid Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By MICHAEL WARREN Associated Press Writer MIAMI (AP) -- A Panamanian officer accused of helping deposed dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega smuggle cocaine for the Medellin cartel was jailed in Florida today after surrendering in Panama, the Justice Department said. Lt. Col. Luis del Cid, who commanded a Panama Defense Forces unit in the province of Chiriqui, was placed in the custody of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents after he surrendered Saturday, said Deborah Burstion-Wade, an agency spokeswoman in Washington. He was flown to the United States under tight security Monday and held at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center south of Miami, Ms. Burstion-Wade said. Del Cid pleaded innocent to drug-related charges today before U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler and was ordered held without bond pending a Jan. 2 hearing. Del Cid, 46, repeated his claim that he turned himself in to fight the charges. "I surrender myself. I wanted to be brought here," he told the judge through a translator. Frank Rubino, one of Noriega's attorneys, said he came to the court session today to monitor the situation and arrange to speak with del Cid, who is now represented by a public defender. Rubino said he does not think he will defend del Cid. "We are confident that we have the evidence to convict him," U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtenin said at a news conference this morning before heading to del Cid's first court appearance. Lehtenin described del Cid as one of Noriega's "righthand men" and said he was the ousted Panamanian leader's liaison, courier and emissary in drug trafficking deals with Colombian drug lords. Del Cid was one of 15 Noriega associates named in an indictment unsealed Feb. 5, 1988, by a federal grand jury in Miami. He was wanted on four counts related to cocaine possession and laundering drug profits, the spokeswoman said. According to the indictment, del Cid acted as a liaison and money courier between Colombia's Medellin cartel and Noriega. The indictment accused Noriega of accepting a $4.6 million bribe from the organization to protect shipments of cocaine, launder money, supply drug laboratories and shield drug traffickers from the law. A federal grand jury in Tampa indicted Noriega on charges of taking a separate $5.4 million bribe from the Colombia drug cartel. If convicted on all counts, del Cid could be sentenced to 70 years in prison and fined $550,000, according to Lehtinen's office. After del Cid's surrender, he declared loyalty to the government of Guillermo Endara, installed as president last week after U.S. troops invaded Panama to remove Noriega from power. He remained in custody in the Central American country until DEA agents escorted him to Miami. "Normally he would have been flown in by U.S. marshals, but this was not an ordinary case," Ms. Burstion-Wade said. The Justice Department has said that if Noriega is brought to the United States, he would be tried first in Miami because the prosecutors' case there was stronger than in Tampa. APn 12/27 0025 Panama-del Cid Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By RICHARD COLE Associated Press Writer MIAMI (AP) -- A Panamanian officer considered one of Manuel Noriega's "right-hand men" and accused of helping the deposed dictator smuggle cocaine for the Medellin cartel pleaded innocent before a federal judge Tuesday. "I surrendered myself -- I wanted to be brought here," Lt. Col. Luis del Cid told U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler. Del Cid, 46, faces racketeering, drug-smuggling and money-laundering charges in the same February 1988 indictment that accused Noriega and Medellin cartel figures of importing cocaine into the United States. The commander of a Panama Defense Forces unit in the northern Panama province of Chiriqui, del Cid surrendered to U.S. forces Saturday after last week's invasion and was brought to Miami on Monday. He is the first key Noriega aide named in the case to be brought into court. Del Cid was "a liason, courier and emissary for Manuel Noriega, dealing with drug trafficking," U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen said. "We allege he personally imported shipments of cocaine, and he personally transmitted large amounts of cash." Lehtinen called del Cid "one of the right-hand men of Gen. Noriega." Wearing faded jeans and a blue polo shirt, del Cid strongly denied the four counts in court and demanded a jury trial. Hoeveler appointed a public defender as del Cid's temporary counsel after the Panamanian testified he carried only $7,000 in cash with him and had no access to a frozen savings account in Panama. "His ability to get money out of Panama would be very hard at this time," the public defender, Ken Swartz, told the judge. "He is unemployed. His former employer is out of business." The judge turned back efforts by the U.S. attorney's office to ask detailed questions of del Cid in an effort to uncover any additional assets, saying such testimony could affect the racketeering counts against him. Outside the courtroom, Lehtinen said federal investigators are convinced the conspirators are sitting on large amounts of cash. "They were dealing with large amounts of drugs -- that makes a potential for a lot of profit," Lehtinen said. "We've always believed they made a lot of money." One of Noriega's criminal attorneys, Frank Rubino, appeared at the hearing. He said he did not expect to represent del Cid but wanted to monitor the case. Lehtinen asked the judge to bar any consultations between del Cid and Noriega's attorney, saying the defendant might not understand that Rubino might not have del Cid's best interests in mind, but Hoeveler refused. Asked if his real concern was that Noriega might try to pressure his former aide, Lehtinen said only, "I'd rather go with my explanation." The U.S. attorney referred any questions about Noriega to officials in Washington. Lehtinen refused to say what contacts his office had made with del Cid, or if he had indicated a willingness to testify against Noriega. Del Cid faces a maximum of 70 years in prison and fines of $550,000. He was ordered held without bond at the Metropolitan Correctional Center outside Miami until a full hearing Jan. 2. The Miami indictment accuses Noriega, del Cid, cartel leader Pablo Escobar Gaviria and 12 others of running drugs and using Panama as a safe haven. Noriega, using del Cid as an emissary, allegedly allowed the cartel to process drugs, launder money and ship cocaine through Panama, accepting a $4.6 million bribe from the Colombians. Del Cid is accused of having a personal role in a 400-kilogram cocaine shipment to Florida in December 1982. He also allegedly picked up $100,000 from Noriega's personal pilot, Floyd Carlton Cacerez, in November 1982, and delivered $200,000 to Carlton at the military headquarters in Panama City a month later. Carlton is one of the principal witnesses in the case. Two minor defendants, Brian Alden Davidow and William Saldarriaga, were to go on trial here Jan. 8, but Lehtinen indicated Tuesday he expects to ask for a delay in that case. It will not take long to begin any prosecution of del Cid, however, the U.S. attorney said. "We are confident that we have the evidence to convict him," Lehtinen said. "We're ready to try him." A separate federal grand jury in Tampa indicted Noriega and others on charges of taking a $5.4 million bribe from the Medellin cartel. But the Justice Department has said if Noriega is brought to the United States, he would be tried first in Miami because the prosecution case there is stronger. Del Cid was not named in the Tampa indictment. DELGADO BUENO, Juan Guillermo. UPn 11/04 1340 Colombian drug suspect spirited to Florida By KIT BAUMAN TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (UPI) -- A Colombian hotel owner wanted on U.S. cocaine trafficking charges dating as far back as early 1983 was spirited out of Bogota Saturday and extradited to Florida, federal marshals said. Guillermo Juan Delgado Bueno, a former Florida resident, appeared under heavy guard before a U.S. magistrate in Tallahassee, who ordered the suspect held until a formal arraignment later, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service said. "The only comment we can make is that he's being held in a very secure area in the Northern District of Florida," the spokesman said. Delgado Bueno was flown out of Colombia shortly after 6:30 a.m. Saturday by the service's Special Operations Group and arrived in Tallahassee at 10 a.m., authorities said. He was indicted in Gainesville, Fla., in 1985 on cocaine trafficking conspiracy charges and also has been indicted on similar charges in California in 1983 and in Illinois in 1985. Colombian authorities arrested Delgado Bueno, 54, on Sept. 14, but did not turn him over to U.S. marshals until Saturday, in response to an extradition [24H[JPress for more ! [H[JExecutive News Svc. request from the Justice Department. "The (Florida) indictment alleges that Delgado Bueno was part of a significant drug trafficking conspiracy," said W.L. McLendon, a Florida spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service. "It is an important development in the fight against drugs that he has now been returned to the United States to finally go on trial." Government and commercial buildings in Colombia have been the scenes of bombings and assasinations since the nation's powerful drug cartels declared war against the government earlier this year in retaliation for a new policy of extraditing suspected drug traffickers to the United States for trial. It was reported Saturday in Colombia that judges in the drug cartel stronghold of Medellin have threatened to resign unless the government takes steps to protect them from attacks by drug-financed hit squads. Delgado Bueno was indicted in Florida on Oct. 25, 1985, on charges of conspiring with 17 other persons from 1980 to 1985 to import cocaine into the United States. The Colombian hotel owner was also indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on Feb. 11, 1983, on charges of conspiring from 1976 to 1980 in California, Florida, and Texas to import cocaine. U.S. Marshal Glen E. Robinson in the Northern District of California said [24H[JPress for more ! [H[JExecutive News Svc. that the indictment there alleged Delgado Bueno conspired to import 280 pounds of cocaine, including drugs that were hidden in shipments of wood sent from Colombia to San Francisco. Robinson said the businessman and a co-defendant were paid $2 million from one sale of 85 pounds of cocaine. Delgado Bueno also was one of eight people named in an Illinois federal indictment returned Sept. 27, 1985. He was charged, under the alias Willie Bueno, with conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute in Jackson County, Ill., from 1981 to 1983. Delgado Bueno was a resident of Miami and Key Biscayne, Fla., but recently resided in Cali and San Andres, Colombia, authorities said. DIAS AZCA, Jose. Caught in Uchiza, Peru in December 1986. Dias Azca is an assassin who in 1977 murdered a policeman who infiltrated the RIVERA LLORENTE group of traffickers in Peru. DONADO ALVAREZ, Alvaro and Rafael. Northcoast traffickers who reside in the same municipality as the DANGONG family. Wanted in the USA. DONADO SUAREZ, Rodolfo and Alvaro. Rodolfo is a Colombian northcoast Capo who works with the Medellin cartel. An extradition request for Alvaro is outstanding from the southern district of Florida, USA. Both reside in Barranquilla and both were indicted in the US in 1986 for shipping a number of 500 kilo loads between their ranch at El Banco, Colombia through Cat Cay, Bahamas, to Florida. Rodolfo was arrested in Cartegena in January 1987. Alvaro was arrested in Valledupar in February 1987. DUARTE ACERO, Jose Ivan. Indicted in Miami for the attempted murder of two DEA agents. ECHEVERRY URIBE, Tulio Mario. Gained prominence in 1986 when found to be the owner of 3 ton HCL shipment bound through Venezuela. His partner was Carlos ALCANTARA, and the two apparently are tied to the Cali group. EDDY, Paul. Reporter for the London Sunday Times; co-author of The Cocaine Wars.ELN (EjŽrcito de Liberacion Nacional-National Liberation Army). Colombian terrorist groups; unlike others, not a part of President Barco's attempt to make peace with insurgents during 1989 war with drug traffickers. UPne 10/25 1710 Leftist rebels occupy two towns in Colombia BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- About 100 leftist rebels attacked and occupied two northeastern Colombia towns for several hours Wednesday morning, killing at lest two people and wounding another six, authorities said. The attacks were not believed linked to the nation's war with cocaine cartels but a bomb that rocked the city of Cartagena late Tuesday was apparently the work of drug-financed hit men, police said. In Washington, the Justice Department announced Wednesday that it has asked Colombia to extradite two suspected drug traffickers captured last weekend. At 1:20 a.m., 70 guerrillas of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, attacked a police post in La Vega, North Santander state. Two policemen were wounded in the ensuing battle. At the same time about 30 ELN rebels opened fire on a police barracks in Cachira, destroying the station, killing one person and wounding four policemen, who were flown by helicopter to a hospital in the regional capital Bucaramanga. Police reported one guerrilla was killed and several wounded. "We can't go out into the street because they're still fighting," a resident of Cachira said in a morning telephone interview with RCN radio as machine gun fire echoed in the background. The rebels apparently occupied Cachira for several hours Wednesday morning, but were driven out my police and soldiers by 8 a.m. Police said an army division was combing the sparcely populated region for the 100 insurgents who retreated into the mountains surrounding the towns, about 250 miles northeast of Bogota. In Cartagena, troops lined the streets to prevent a repeat of Tuesday night's car bomb attack that damaged 25 homes in the hotel-studded resort area Bocagrande. The car bomb, apparently part of the drug lords' campaign against the government, exploded about 10 p.m. in the luxury neighborhood, leaving substantial material damage but no casualties. Police and soldiers set up road blocks in strategic parts of the city, which was hosting a national business convention this week. Also Tuesday, the bodyguard of an employee of the embattled El Espectador newspaper was shot to death in Medellin as he waited at a red light on his motorcycle, police said Wednesday. Luis Osorio Macias, 29, was shot by unknown gunmen and his girlfriend was killed a short time later by gunmen who broke into her home. El Espectador has been devastated by killings, bombings and death threats because of its anti-drug stance, but police did not immediately link Tuesday's shootings to the cartels. Earlier Tuesday, a Supreme Court judge said Colombia cannot use a presidential emergency order to extradite accused drug traffickers wanted in the United States, but can arrange extraditions under a 101-year-old treaty. Confusion over the effect of the judge's statement Tuesday prompted the government to publicly reaffirm its commitment to extraditing drug suspects under the state-of-siege decree signed Aug. 18 by President Virgilio Barco. "This measure was unanimously declared constitutional by the Supreme Court of Justice," Colombia's National Security Council said in a statement issued in Bogota and Washington. The council comprises heads of the government, military and police. After a wave of assassinations, Barco established "administrative" extraditions permitting the Justice Ministry to send drug suspects to the United States without consulting the Supreme Court. Four suspects have been extradited since Barco issued the order and powerful cocaine cartels declared war on the government, staging a series of bloody bombings and killings. In Washington, Justice Department spokesman David Runkel said Wednesday "there's been some confusion out of the court system in Colombia" but added, "We expect the extradition process to continue." He also said the United States asked Colombia to extradite two people to North Carolina to face trial on 1988 cocaine conspiracy charges. The two suspects were arrested Saturday in Bucaramanga. They were identified as Roberto Caballero Rangel and his sister, Diana Caballero Rangel-Gamber. "We know of nothing in Colombia that would adversely impact the current extradition proceedings," Runkel said. "We believe the Barco government is performing courageously in extraditing the people it has extradited." APn 10/25 1753 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Leftist guerrillas armed with mortars and automatic weapons stormed two northeastern towns Wednesday in Colombia's worst rebel violence since 1987. Initial reports from helicopter crews who retrieved the dead indicated five policemen and one guerrilla were killed and nine policemen wounded, the army reported. Military spokesmen said the attackers apparently were from the National Liberation Army, a group led by a defrocked Roman Catholic priest who patterns his insurgency on the teachings of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Wednesday's raids apparently were not related to the government war on drug traffickers that began Aug. 19. The army has claimed for seven years, without producing proof, that some leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers work in tandem. It has had difficulty supporting the claim because right-wing death squads financed by the cocaine barons have killed hundreds of the guerrillas' supporters. More than 700 members of the leftist Patriotic Union party alone have been killed by death squads that began operating six years ago, after guerrillas kidnapped a drug trafficker's sister and a $10 million ransom was paid. On Wednesday, about 60 men and women invaded Cachira, a town of 15,000 people 250 miles northeast of Bogota, at 1 a.m. and destroyed the police station with mortar fire, said a statement from divisional army headquarters in Bucaramanga. Two policemen and a guerrilla were killed and four policemen were wounded during five hours of fighting in Cachira, said the statement broacast by the Caracol radio network. Police reinforcements arriving along a dirt road at 6 a.m. were ambushed by the guerrillas, who killed three more officers and wounded three, the statement said. Another band of guerrillas tried unsuccessfully to overrun the police station at La Vega, about 15 miles from Cachira, and two policemen were wounded in a seven-hour battle, the army statement reported. It said the raiders left pamphlets and wall graffiti in both towns indicating they were from the National Liberation Army led by Manuel Perez, the defrocked priest. His group has become the most active of a half-dozen guerrilla guerrilla organizations and has blown holes in Colombia's biggest oil pipeline several times. Perez organized it in 1960 and is believed to have about 2,000 followers. Army reports said his guerrillas dynamited a power line and killed two peasants accused of being informants Tuesday, and shot down a helicopter carrying aboiut $84,000 to a government-owned farmers' bank Saturday, killing the pilot and a bank employee. The rebel violence Wednesday was the worst since guerrillas raided an average of one town a week two years ago and more than 50 people were killed in one month. APn 11/08 1710 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Soldiers killed eight guerrillas in northern Colombia, the army reported Wednesday, and a newspaper said a former rebel leader who had served in Congress was convicted of treason by former comrades. Meanwhile an anti-drug crusading journalist shot three times by hitmen hired by traffickers died Wednesday from his injuries. Interior Minister Carlos Lemmos Simmonds deplored the slaying of World Vision TV news director Jorge Enrique Pulido, who was shot Oct. 29 in his car in downtown Bogota. "We will continue lamenting deaths such as these until we win the war against drug traffickers," Simmonds said. Pulido, the 46th journalist to be killed in Colombia since 1977, was the most recent victim of the war that began in mid-August when the government vowed to crack down on Colombian drug barons. El Tiempo said the death sentence of Braulio Herrera was suspended and he went into exile in Moscow. A Defense Ministry statement said the guerrillas killed in two battles Tuesday were from the National Liberation Army, one of six Colombian guerrilla groups. It said five were killed near Bagre, a town 200 miles north of Bogota, and three near Simiti, 230 miles north of the capital. Herrera was a field commander of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces guerrilla group. He was elected to Congress in 1986 for the Patriotic Union Party, which guerrillas organized as part of a peace effort by Belisario Betancur, then president of Colombia. For years, the guerrilla group had controlled a part of central Colombia called the Middle Magdalena, a stretch of about 200 miles along the Magdalena River, which runs nearly the length of Colombia. Paramilitary groups opposed to the guerrillas gained control of the area during the truce with the Betancur government. The guerrilla leadership asked Herrera to take command in the Middle Magdalena and restore its dominance, El Tiempo said, quoting four former guerrillas. Herrera had 109 combatants of a unit of about 200 guerrillas executed on suspicion of being army spies, El Tiempo quoted the former insurgents as saying. It said that practically destroyed guerrilla influence in the area and the guerrilla high command tried Herrera for treason. El Tiempo did not say when the trial occurred. According to newspaper, the former guerrillas said a group of leftists they did not identify interceded to get the death sentence suspended. The pro-Soviet Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces was organized more than 30 years ago and is believed to have about 3,000 combatants.EPL (EjŽrcito Popular de Liberacion)-Popular Liberation Army. Colombian terrorist group; part of President Barco's attempt to reach peace with insurgents during 1989 war with drug traffickers.ESCOBAR GAVIRIA, Pablo Emilio, b. 1950. AKA Carlos ECHAVARRIA. As a youth was charged with everything from car theft to murder to kidnapping. Began with Medellin group as a triggerman. In June 1976 he was captured in Itaqui, Antioquia with 39 kg of cocaine. He was jailed and later freed along with his cousin Gustavo GAVIRIA by judge Franco Guido CAICEDO JURADO. In 1978 was member of group that took important steps in the attempt to move from a loose association of Medellin traffickers to form a cartel to control the movement of cocaine from leaf to distribution in the USA. Among Escobar's early companions were: GARCIA BOLIVAR, Hernando de Jesus GAVIRIA RIVERO, Gustavo de Jesus, a cousin, who along with Pablo ESCOBAR was involved in moving HCL from Ecuador to Colombia in 1976. Captured, jailed, and with the help of Escobar who was also jailed, killed off all accusers was freed. HENAO VALLEJO, Mario, (brother-in-law). HURTADO JARAMILLO, Marco Alonso MAYA ESPINOZA, James. Pablo Escobar was the primary cocaine HCL distributor on US Atlantic Coast and the Medellin contact with Panamanian strongman NORIEGA. His personal pilot was Barry SEAL, later killed by cartel gunmen in Louisiana. Generally considered the "Undisputed leader" of the Medellin cartel. Considered the prime suspect who ordered the assassination of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla in 1984. With his wife he was arrested at a Medellin Police checkpoint in November 86. He was soon released, but his wife was held until the proper "payoff" was made (or the proper big cheese contacted). In July 1987, the GOC revoked an arrest order for Escobar after the Colombian Supreme Court invalidated a treaty by which he could have been extradited to the USA. A carbomb exploded in front of his apartment building in January 13, 88, and probably resulted from the ongoing battle with the Cali cartel. *Has had properties expropriated in Miami.* Recently, with RODRIGUEZ GACHA helped set up the Magdalena Medio cocaine complex (he had a major property and zoo at his Hacienda Napoles in Puerto Triunfo); complex was managed by "Pacho" BARBOSA ESTUPINAN and JAIRO CORREA. His frontmen for investments include: *RODRIGUEZ PUENTE, Humberto, former Department Governor of Bolivar (Cartagena) and *MENDEZ, Rodney, launderer in Bogota, and formerly VP of Avianca. Owner of noted restaurant in Bogota. He may be a relative of Medellin trafficker Benito MENDEZ in front of whose residence a carbomb was exploded in 1986. COVO TORRES, Victor, who is probably still serving time in US on narc charges. BUITRAGO MUSTAFO, Feiser Humberto, and father, who run some Escobar businesses. MOLINA YEPES, Luis Carlos, identified as a treasurer and renowned dollar launderer, who is wanted by the GOC for issuing checks that paid for the murder of Guillermo CANO ISAZA, former editor of El Espectador newspaper, Bogota. Escobar, who has a fortune estimated at more than US$ 2 billion, is under indictment in Los Angeles, Miami and Atlanta. HL AROUND THE WORLD Drug Figure Flees Colombia Shootout --- From News Services and Staff Reports DD 03/23/88 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 21: A SECTION TX MEDELLIN Colombia -- Pablo Escobar Gaviria, sought as a top man in the notorious Medellin drug cartel, escaped arrest after a shootout early yesterday between his heavily armed bodyguards and soldiers, the Army said. One man, thought to be one of the bodyguards, was injured, and 25 bodyguards were arrested, the Army said. Guns, documents, communications equipment and vehicles were seized, it said. Escobar Gaviria was indicted on U.S. drug charges in 1986 -- and again last month along with Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega and 14 others. In January, Colombia issued an order for his arrest and extradition to the United States. The Army said its patrols surrounded his luxury estate before dawn, but tripped a sophisticated alarm system allowing Escobar Gaviria to escape in the shootout between troops and his guards. Troops began searching for him. HL U.S. Sues Nine Banks in Drug Money-Laundering --- BY Michael Isikoff Washington Post Staff Writer DD 03/30/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: A SECTION TX The Justice Department, completing what Attorney General Dick Thornburgh called "the largest money-laundering crackdown ever carried out," yesterday sued nine U.S. and foreign banks seeking $433 million in drug money allegedly laundered through the banks by agents of Colombia's Medellin cocaine cartel. At the same time, federal prosecutors in Atlanta unsealed the indictment of 29 new defendants in the case, including several cartel leaders, its chief financial agent and a major Colombian bank and its Panamanian subsidiary. But the case was marred quickly when one of the key suspects eluded an undercover Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) team that had been planning to arrest him moments before Thornburgh's 10 a.m. news conference in Washington. During the news conference, Thornburgh and John C. Lawn, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said that the PDF, led by Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, had already arrested the suspect, who was later identified as Eduardo Martinez of Medellin, Colombia, allegedly the cartel's chief U.S. money broker. But hours later, embarrassed Justice Department attorneys acknowledged that Martinez was being shielded inside a Panamanian bank after being tipped off to the planned arrest. By the end of the day, the PDF team had entered the bank, but Martinez had "escaped. He's no longer there," one Justice Department attorney said. Some officials said that Martinez may have deduced the plan to arrest him by hearing accounts of Thornburgh's news conference on the radio. Another theory is that the PDF, whose leader, Noriega, was indicted by two U.S. grand juries last year for allegedly taking payoffs from the cartel, permitted Martinez to escape, officials said. "How it happened that he got away is being investigated," said David Runkel, chief spokesman for Thornburgh. The lawsuits and indictments are the Justice Department's latest strike against a sophisticated international money-laundering operation that is believed to have moved $1.2 billion in drug funds over the past two years. The center of the operation, which the drug traffickers referred to as "La Mina" or "The Mine," was a group of Armenian jewelers in Los Angeles who were arrested last month and charged with routing massive drug profits from around the country through their jewelry stores and then into cartel bank accounts in Uruguay and Panama. Yesterday's court actions revealed a separate undercover investigation in Atlanta in which DEA agents posed as money launderers for the cartel. At one point, Lawn said, a major cartel operative "told us we were not processing funds quickly enough. 'You should learn from La Mina. They can launder the money in 48 hours.' " That comment and the volume of La Mina operations led officials to conclude that the jewelry store chain was among the principal cartel money-laundering schemes in the United States. The cartel, whose leaders Pablo Escobar and Jorge Ochoa were named defendants in the Atlanta indictment, is allegedly responsible for 80 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States. Escobar, Ochoa and other cartel chiefs have been indicted numerous times by U.S. grand juries but remain at large in Colombia. In an unusual twist, a civil suit filed in New York seeks a court order demanding that nine banks and three Uruguayan corporations return $433 million in alleged La Mina profits that were moved through the banks and transferred to overseas branches. Among the banks named in the lawsuit were Citibank, the Bank of New York, Republic National Bank, American Express Bank and the Bank of Commerce and Credit International. Federal prosecutors stressed that the civil suit does not charge that the banks knowingly handled drug money. But in a new use of the civil forfeiture laws, the Justice Department contended that because the $433 million represented the proceeds from narcotics sales, the money belonged to the U.S. government and that it was the obligation of the banks to get it back. "We're saying that money is not due to the dopers; it's due to us," said Charles Saphos, chief of the Justice Department's narcotics section. John Maloney, a spokesman for Citibank, said late yesterday that the bank's lawyers had not yet seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it. But he confirmed that the Justice Department had frozen some accounts at the bank. "Obviously, we will cooperate," Maloney said. The only banks that were criminally indicted yesterday were Banco de Occidente, which has headquarters in Cali, Colombia, and its Panamanian subsidiary. Banco de Occidente is a major Colombian bank with 33 branch offices in Bogota and 12 offices in Cali. Prosecutors charged that Clara Garcia, one of the senior officers of the Panamanian branch, had traveled to the United States to review accounts and had told undercover federal agents that the bank was receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in drug profits from the cartel. @CAPTION: Dick Thornburgh. @CAPTION: Announcing crackdown on narcotics cartel were Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, DEA chief John Lawn and FBI Director William Sessions. ART:phm phm afp Cuba Details Drug Deals Officers Said Involved With Medellin Cartel --- BY Julia Preston Washington Post Foreign Service DD 06/23/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 27: A SECTION TX MIAMI June 22 -- The Cuban government said today that high-level Cuban military officers who were arrested June 12 in Havana had worked with Colombia's notorious Medellin cartel to smuggle at least six tons of cocaine to the United States since 1986. The revelation came in a long, exhaustively detailed report this morning in Granma, the official Communist Party daily. The article suggested that the vastly wealthy Colombian cartel, which has undermined judicial and political systems throughout much of Latin America, has also been able to penetrate Cuba's military up to senior levels. The newspaper article said the officers, led by Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez and Col. Antonio de la Guardia Font, had collected $3.4 million for facilitating the transshipment of cocaine and marijuana from Colombia through Cuban airspace and waters to the United States. Government investigators reportedly found $1.1 million stashed near the homes of the two officers and four of their collaborators. Granma said the government was disclosing the crimes to "tear up from the roots" the spread of narcotics trafficking in Cuba. The goverment warned that henceforth it will shoot down any aircraft that fails to identify itself properly. According to the Granma account, Ochoa's key aide in the drug ring was Cuban Capt. Jorge Martinez Valdez, who in May 1988 met in Medellin, Colombia, with cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar. Ochoa was said to have been drawn into the drug trade by an American he met in Panama whose name is given as Frank Morfa. Ochoa and his aides were said to have tried to carry out a number of cocaine shipments through Cuba between 1986 and December 1988. But the efforts were reported to have failed because of logistical setbacks and poor planning. At one point, Granma said, Escobar threatened to send a personal mission to Cuba to complain about the cocaine he lost in these efforts. However, a group of traffickers linked to de la Guardia was much morersuccessful, Granma reported: Between January 1987 and April 1989, the group carriedrout 19 transshipment operations, only four of which facled. De la Guardia, Granma reported, was part of a secret unit in the Interior Ministry in charge of working with American smugglers to send Cuba computer parts, medical equipment and other high-technology U.S. goods, which are banned under the U.S. trade embargo. The article suggested that this type of smuggling had been going on for years from Varadero Beach, on Cuba's north coast. So for de la Guardia, it was easy to ship Colombian cocaine -- packed in Cuban tobacco boxes -- in boats returning to Florida after dropping off contraband. These boats also collected cocaine dropped in flourescent bags from Colombian airplanes flying over Cuban waters. U.S. drug enforcement officials had noted a surge in cocaine transshipment from Cuba in recent years and had pinpointed Varadero as the point of dispatch. Granma said President Fidel Castro took note of U.S. Coast Guard accusations, which coincided with other bits of information reaching him, and decided to undertake an investigation. De la Guardia is said to have made his contacts with the Colombian cartel through Cuban intelligence agents in Panama. There have been news reports that several Cuban diplomats were arrested in Panama and returned to Cuba in recent days. Colombian Judge In Drug Case Killed --- From News Services and Staff Reports DD 08/18/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 26: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Colombia -- Appeals court judge Carlos Ernesto Valencia was shot dead Wednesday night just hours after he had upheld an arrest warrant for accused Medellin drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar. Police said three gunmen riding motorcycles sprayed machine-gun fire at the judge as he left his office, also wounding his bodyguard and two passersby. Valencia, 43, died later in a hospital. Colombia's national judges association called yesterday for all of the country's 4,379 judges to resign en masse after the assassination as a protest of the government's failure to provide sufficient protection. By early yesterday afternoon, 50 of Bogota's 55 appeals court judges had resigned, Justice Ministry spokeswoman Amparo Gomez said. More than 50 judges have been killed in Colombia over the last decade. APn 10/11 2233 Colombia-Escobar Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Pablo Escobar Gaviria, the reputed leader of the largest cocaine cartel in the world, reportedly sent a letter to the director of the newspaper La Prensa Wednesday asking for helping in arranging peace talks with the government. Escobar heads the list of Colombian drug traffickers wanted by the United States. The following is a translation by The AP of the letter, read over the national radio chain Caracol: (1) The conversations between us and the government began many days before the government offered its peace proposal to the Colombian people. (2) Present at the conversations were those of us mentioned by the national and international press. We made various proposals and expressed our point of view in several different meetings. (3) In those meetings, we complained of the abuses committed against our innocent families, of the arbitrary detentions of our elderly and our women, of the repressive raids, of the confiscations and all the other types of outrages. (4) We also let the government know that we have not been, nor will be, ready to permit these types of infamous violations of all of our rights. (5) We also raised the issue of a Colombian peace founded on a direct dialogue with the commanders of the country's different (army) brigades, with the commanders of the different guerrilla groups, with the commanders the paramilitary and self-defense groups, with the representatives of the emerald miners and with the leaders of the different groups of extraditables. One of our own ideas, the text of one of our own phrases, was included in the text of the president's Sept. 1, 1988, speech concerning his peace plan. Mr. Director: For the sake of peace we ask publicly for your mediation and for the mediation of the other directors of the country's important newspapers. We ask publicly for the mediation of the Catholic Church, and for the participation of the political class, the judicial powers represented by their unions and magistrates. We ask publicly for the participation of the government and the public promise of guarantees, both physical and judicial, for the participants in the direct dialogue in the search for peace. Mr. Director: Just as war decrees can be issued so can peace decrees be issued. Colombian peace is more important than the considerations and conceptions of the other governments of the world. Pablo Escobar Gaviria 10/12 1400 COLOMBIAN DRUG LORD ASKS FOR PEACE TALKS WITH GOVERNMENT BOGOTA, Colombia (OCT. 12) UPI - Pablo Escobar Gaviria, reputed kingpin of the infamous Medellin drug cartel, publicly called for a truce in Colombia's increasingly violent drug wars Thursday and offered to negotiate a peace pact. The offer came as national RCN radio said cartel funded hit squads continued their terror reign, gunning down two undercover government drug agents in the town of Cali and exploding another bomb in Medellin. The explosion blew out windows in some 20 offices and homes in the area. It appears the bomb went off by accident when it fell out of a taxi. Witnesses said people riding in the vehicle were injured. In the coastal town of Cali, police said the two murdered agents had escaped previous attempts on their lives. A police report quoted by RCN said the agents who had been on an intelligence mission were gunned down on a public street by two assassins on a motorcycle. They died instantly. In an open letter to a Bogota newspaper, Escobar, who tops the U.S. list of the 12 most wanted Colombian drug figures, asked for "physical and legal protection for participatns in a direct dialogue to seek peace." The letter, addressed to Juan Pastrana Arango, director of the newspaper La Prensa, asked the publisher to help set up such a dialogue. It was signed by Escobar and carried a print of a right index finger. Police could not immediately confirm that the print was Escovar's. Copies of the letter were sent to other news media. Pastrana Arango said he refused the role of mediator because he doesn't have "the confidence, approximation or contact" with the parties. Escobar, 39, said in the letter: "We seek peace through direct dialogue. In the same way that war is declared, peace can also be declared. "We publicly ask the participation of the government and the public promise of phycical and legal guarantees for the participants in a direct dialgue to seek peace." The letter also noted the government met earlier with former Finance Minister Joaquin Vallejo Arbelaez, who had delivered an offer by the cartel leaders to end the violence and give up the drug trafficking business in exchange for amnesty and immunity from prosecution on tax charges. The government rejected the offer. After the Aug. 18 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, President Virgilio Barco reinstituted an extradition treaty with the United States by executive order, leading to a declaration of war by the so-called "Extraditables". They unleashed a wave of bombings and killings that have at least 11 people dead and scores wounded. More than 160 bombs have exploded in Colombia since Aug. 24. On Tuesday drug cartel hitmen killed four people in shooting incidents in Medellin Tuesday. Two of the victims were employees of the Medellin daily newspaper El Espectador, whose aggressive campaign against the drug cartels made it the target of a 200-pound dynamite bomb Sept. 1 that damaged the building and killed two passers-by. In Monterrey, Mexico, on Wednesday, the director of the newspaper told the Inter-American Press Association that the daily would continue to fight drug trafficking despite attacks on its employees. "They want to terrify the press and principally El Espectador because it has always been a standard-bearer in this fight against drug trafficking " Luis Gabriel Cano told about 200 media representatives attending the IAPA's 45th assembly. "We will not back down in the fight against drug trafficking." The newspaper Wednesday asked the government to protect its property and employees and suspended delivery in some areas, complaining of insufficient police protection. Meanwhile, two men wanted in the United States on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering were arrested Sunday by secret police in Barranquilla, authorities said Thursday. Leonidas Vargas Vargas and Manuel Palma Molina are being held for possible extradition to face the U.S. charges, police said. Police said Vargas Vargas is accused of heading commercial cocaine operations in the United States for the Medellin cartel. The Justice Ministry announced it completed the paperwork on the extradition to the United States of Elena Rodriguez Zuniga, held since last week. She is believed involved with the Medellin cartel. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Copyright Times Mirror Company 1989 DATE: SUNDAY October 22, 1989 EDITION: Home Edition LENGTH: LONG PART-NAME: ONE PAGE: 1 PART-NUMBER: A COLUMN: 1 TYPE-OF-MATERIAL: Profile DATELINE: BOGOTA, Colombia DESK: Foreign SOURCE: WILLIAM R. LONG TIMES STAFF WRITER COLOMBIA DRUG LORDS FIND FUGITIVE LIFE ERODES POWER Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha have joined the notorious ranks of Billy the Kid and Al Capone. After years on the rampage, the two Colombian drug lords seem bigger than life and as bad as bandits come. Forbes magazine estimates the pair's wealth in the billions of dollars. In addition to buying the compliance of countless Colombian officials, they are nown to finance paramilitary platoons in rural areas and squads of hired killers in the cities. They have been accused of ordering hundreds of killings, including those of government ministers, presidential candidates, police officials, judges and journalists. Escobar, 39, and Rodriguez Gacha, 42, have come close to cowing a nation of 30 million people with bullets and bribes. The ruthless methods that made them infamous have even added a new word to Colombia's lexicon of violence: narcoterrorismo . In the last two months, however, the dreaded cartel barons have lost much of the fearsome power that their guns and money gave them. Beleaguered by government security forces, the two have suspended most of their drug operations in Colombia to concentrate on avoiding capture, Colombian and American officials say. Their trafficking organization, known as the Medellin cartel, has been hit hard by an onslaught of government raids and the arrests of key associates. Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha are said to move from hide-out to hide-out, staying just a jump ahead of investigators and security forces. ''Reportedly, they came very close to being captured several times and managed to escape,'' a senior American official said the other day. In an attempt to intimidate the society and undermine the government's declared goal of seizing them for extradition to the United States, the narcoterrorists are pressing a campaign of dynamite bombings. At least 150 bombs, most of them blamed on Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha, have exploded during the last two months, killing a total of 10 people. In the deadliest blast so far, more than 100 pounds of dynamite set off in a parked car Monday killed four employees of the pro-government Vanguardia Liberal newspaper in Bucaramanga, 190 miles north of Bogota. The official anti-drug blitz has concentrated on Escobar, Rodriguez Gacha and their associates rather than other trafficking groups. ''It is a war against Escobar and (Rodriguez) Gacha, obviously,'' said Juan Carlos Pastrana, editor of the Bogota newspaper La Prensa. ''I haven't seen any war against the others.'' Security forces have raided scores of ranches, urban apartments, offices and other properties. Authorities have seized hundreds of airplanes and automobiles, and large stockpiles of weapons and drugs. Not since 1984, when the Medellin cartel was accused of assassinating Colombia's justice minister, has the pressure to capture Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha been so strong. That year, the two took temporary refuge in neighboring Panama, but now they are known to be hiding in Colombia. The government has issued ''wanted'' posters bearing photos of the two men and offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to their arrest. Authorities have announced the arrests of nearly a dozen key members of Escobar's and Rodriguez Gacha's organizations, including Jose Rafael Abello, identified by police as the No. 4 man in the*Medellin*cartel.*Four other accused Colombian traffickers have been sent to the United States for trial since President Virgilio Barco Vargas, using his powers under a longstanding state of siege, issued a decree Aug. 18 permitting extradition Still, the most important Colombian traffickers remain at large. They include Jorge Luis Ochoa, another leader in the*Medellin-based*network, and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and Jose Santacruz Londono, reputedly the top leaders of a rival*cartel*based in the city of Cali. The most-wanted bandits of all are Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha; no other traffickers have come close to combining cunning, greed and open violence with such frightening force as those two. ''Their power arises from the fact that they have the biggest enterprises, the richest and the most brutal,'' said the senior U.S. official, who asked not to be further identified. ''They are very mobile,'' the official added. ''These guys have been on the lam now for some time. Their operations, their life style, have been geared to keeping moving.'' Because of the official blitz, Colombian traffickers have ''closed down large portions of their cocaine production,'' the American official said. ''They are transiting very little cocaine out of Colombia.'' As a result, Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha can keep a lower profile. ''When they close down, then it becomes much more difficult to find them because they are not doing their usual things.'' he said. ''They are not out taking care of their trafficking empire.'' At the same time, however, the confiscation of many ranches and offices, communications equipment and other property belonging to the two has limited their resources and hiding places, said a high Colombian police official. ''They are feeling seriously wounded,'' he said. The official, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, confirmed that Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha have evaded capture in more than one close call recently. ''Those operations generally fail because there are so many people who are their friends,'' he said. But he added that the two are starting to lose the collaboration of Colombians who once aided them out of fear or friendship, especially in rural areas where they hide. ''They are now more alone,'' the official said. ''They are disoriented and scared. They see that the authorities are really after them, and they see that money no longer works.'' He speculated that Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha must be getting nervous, more prone to make mistakes. ''We know more or less in what area they are hiding,'' he said. ''We are looking for the right moment and the right opportunity.'' Meanwhile, he said, cocaine traffic out of Colombia has been reduced to ''small shipments'' by lesser-known traffickers. He also said that Escobar, Rodriguez Gacha and other drug lords are stashing their cocaine stocks, which are appreciating in value as the reduced flow pushes up prices in the United States. ''They might be producing, but very little, maybe 20%,'' the official said. Both this official and the American disagreed with speculation from U.S. law enforcement officers that large cargoes of cocaine recently seized, such as the 19.8 tons discovered Sept. 29 in a Sylmar warehouse, had been shipped since the Colombian crackdown. An officer in another police agency said the continuing government campaign is digging up a growing body of information, which is being collected and constantly analyzed in computers. Greater knowledge about the operations of Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha is putting them in an increasingly vulnerable position and giving authorities a moral boost, according to the official. ''The intelligence is producing more and more results every day,'' he said. ''We are stronger today, much more capable. The personnel is much more eager.'' The*Medellin*cartel*is not a true*cartel*in the business sense, but rather a loose association of drug makers, distributors, transportation specialists and others. Although Escobar is regarded as the richest and most powerful of them all, there is no structure with formal hierarchy and chains of command. Many analysts say the trafficking organizations are more of a Mafia than a *cartel.*In fact, Escobar is sometimes called ''El Padrino,'' Spanish for ''the Godfather.'' Short and pudgy, with curly black hair and hazel eyes, he went to high school in a blue-collar district of*Medellin,*now a city of 2 million people. His first known business venture was stealing gravestones so that they could be resurfaced and resold. Later he became a car thief and a bodyguard for an electronics smuggler. He made a quick $100,000 in the early 1970s by kidnaping and ransoming a*Medellin* executive. In 1976, police arrested him for possession of 39 pounds of cocaine. Typically, Escobar never went to trial. A year after the bust, gunmen killed the two arresting officers. By then, Escobar's cocaine-smuggling gang was known on the streets of *Medellin*as Los Pablos. Business boomed in the late 1970s, and by the early 1980s, the newly rich kingpin was investing heavily in real estate, including an $8-million apartment complex in Florida. His $60-million Colombian ranch, called Napoles, boasted a spacious zoo with African animals and a bullet-riddled sedan that was said to have belonged to John Dillinger or Al Capone. Escobar won election as an alternate member of the Colombian Congress in 1982, filling in on the floor when the full member was absent. In*Medellin,*he sought respectability with his own radio show, newspaper and a civic program called*''Medellin*Without Slums.'' In his most famous act of philanthropy, he financed Barrio Pablo Escobar, a hillside housing development for former slum dwellers. But those who are familiar with Escobar's business methods were undeceived by the Mr. Nice Guy image. ''More than anybody in the*Medellin*cartel,*Escobar was known as an enforcer,'' wrote Miami Herald reporter Guy Gugliotta in ''Kings of Cocaine,'' an authoritative 1989 book on the*cartel.*''He never forgot an insult; he held grudges; he took revenge.'' Among killings Escobar has been charged with or accused of are the assassinations of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla in April, 1984; Superior Court Judge Tulio Castro Gil in July, 1985; former anti-narcotics police Col. Jaime Ramirez in November, 1986; Editor-in-Chief Guillermo Cano of the Bogota newspaper El Espectador in December, 1986, and Atty. Gen. Carlos Mauro Hoyos in January, 1988. Escobar's partner, Rodriguez Gacha, is equally ruthless and vindictive. He has been charged in some of the same killings and in others, including the assassination of former leftist presidential candidate Jaime Pardo Leal in October, 1987. Both Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha are implicated in the slaying of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan on Aug. 18, the act that prompted President Barco to launch his campaign. And both have been charged with issuing orders to kill dozens of rural workers in massacres by ''paramilitary'' commandos. Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha, who own numerous ranches, are believed to have financed dozens of armed groups that originally were formed to protect ranchers against guerrillas but became tools for narcoterrorism. Rodriguez Gacha also has marshaled groups of gunmen this year in a violent campaign to take over rich emerald mines in a mountainous area north of Bogota. The so-called ''Emerald War'' began in February when gunmen killed emerald tycoon Gilberto Molina, who was once known as Rodriguez Gacha's friend and mentor, along with 16 other persons at a party in Molina's home. Rodriguez Gacha's hometown is Pacho, on the southern edge of the emerald fields. He grew up poor, and like many Colombian campesinos , his formal education did not go beyond grade school. His friendly country manners and his fabulous financial success made him a popular celebrity for miles around. In the town of La Dorada, west of Pacho, Rodriguez Gacha celebrated his birthday in May, 1986, with a three-day party that has became famous throughout Colombia. Escobar, Ochoa and other drug lords attended the public bash, highlighted by a horse parade through the town, according to press reports. Even though Rodriguez Gacha had more than 100 bodyguards on hand for the occasion, a local police commander provided officers for security. Known as ''El Mexicano'' because of his fascination with Mexico, Rodriguez Gacha owns a string of ranches in the Pacho area with Mexican names such as Cuernavaca, Chihuahua, Sonora and Mazatlan. ''He ran the Pacho area,'' an intelligence official told The Times in September. In a later interview, the same official said security forces were about to close in on Rodriguez Gacha more than two months ago at a discotheque he owns in Pacho, but residents tipped him off in time to escape. ''He had the sympathy of the majority of the town,'' the official said. His friends also apparently included military officers. A 1988 investigation of the kingpin's telephone bills in Pacho revealed calls to several military headquarters. In recent weeks, Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha, apparently weary of their life on the run, have issued repeated messages calling for a ''dialogue'' with authorities to negotiate a peace settlement. ''This is what I propose,'' Escobar was quoted as saying in an interview published in late August by the French newspaper Liberation. ''We will give the government all of the confiscated properties and also the airplanes. Our only desire is to integrate into society, legal society, but it is the government that doesn't want it.'' Liberation said he added: ''If total war must be waged, we will do it until the end.'' Also in late August, Rodriguez Gacha told a Colombian television journalist by telephone that the traffickers would give up their drug business in exchange for amnesty. ''We are fighting, trying to be heard so that they will dialogue with us,'' Rodriguez Gacha said. Authorities barred Colombian media from airing the taped interview. In late September, both Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha renewed their proposals for a dialogue in telephone calls to Norberto Morales, chairman of the Colombian House of Representatives. Morales said that they both offered to ''put an end to the war and bring several million dollars into the country.'' Barco vows that he will not relent in his ''crusade'' against traffickers, but Colombian political scientist Rodrigo Losada says the narcoterrorists are also unlikely to relent. ''We are going down a blind alley, in a sense,'' Losada said. ''I don't believe we have the means to guarantee that we will free ourselves of this problem. It is a very terrible situation.'' Losada said he fears that Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha will escalate their terror campaign, targeting important political figures for more of what the press here describes as ''magnicides.'' ''If the narcoterrorism stays at the current level, the country can tolerate that for a long time,'' said Losada, a researcher with the Bogota think tank named Instituto SER. ''But if the narcotraficantes are able to strike very strong blows, such as killing a former president, the government might give in.'' PHOTOGRAPH: (Bulldog Edition) Pablo Escobar PHOTOGRAPHER: Reuters Press (return) to continue...-> PHOTOGRAPH: (Bulldog Edition) TV wanted posters offer rewards for capture of drug lords Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. PHOTOGRAPHER: Associated Press KEYWORDS: FUGITIVES *MEDELLIN*CARTEL* Colombia's War on Drugs Zeroes In on Just Two Men Capture of Cartel Leaders Grows Urgent --- BY Michael Getler AND Eugene Robinson Washington Post Foreign Service DD 10/29/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Colombia Oct. 28 -- The Colombian government's war against drug trafficking has become a war focused on capturing or killing two men -- Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, the two most violent of the Medellin cartel's drug lords. With a new public opinion poll released Friday showing support waning for the government's hard-line stand, and with prominent politicians calling for negotiations with the drug traffickers to stem domestic violence, it has become more urgent for the government to show significant results from President Virgilio Barco's two-month-old declaration of "total war." That effort is now centered almost exclusively on Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha, as indicated by the government's decision Friday to more than double its reward -- from $250,000 to $625,000 -- for information leading to the capture of either man. No price has been put on the head of any other accused trafficker. Escobar, 39, made his reputation as an "enforcer" for the Medellin cartel and now is considered a kind of first-among-equals among the group's leaders. He has bestowed gifts on poor Medellin neighborhoods, was once chosen by voters as a congressional alternate and is believed behind many of the most notorious cartel-backed slayings. Rodriguez Gacha, 42, is suspected of being behind the assassination Aug. 18 of Sen. Luis Carlos Galan, a popular politician who was considered likely to be elected Colombia's next president in May. Rodriguez Gacha is known as "El Mexicano" because of his infatuation with Mexican culture and rose to prominence in the violent world of emerald dealing before branching into drugs. Both men maintain private armies of trained killers and have been linked to rightist death-squad slayings of leftist activists. Eliminating Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha -- if the informer-riddled police and military can catch up with them -- would give the government its single most crucial payoff, according to political, diplomatic and other sources here who follow the anti-drug campaign closely. It would, in this view, remove the two men believed responsible for a large share of the assassinations, kidnappings and bombings that have sown fear throughout Colombian cities and restore the government's credibility. At first, the Colombian public overwhelmingly backed Barco's crackdown, which was announced hours after the assassination of Galan. The government made quick and unprecedented strides against the traffickers -- seizing expensive homes, ranches, airfields, cocaine processing labs and large amounts of cash and drugs. Authorities conducted raids throughout the country and made thousands of arrests. But only hundreds remain in custody, and they include none of the dozen or so kingpins who run the two global rings based in Medellin and Cali that control about 80 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States. In the past several weeks, as the number of more readily accessible targets has been depleted, the focus of the government's efforts has shifted from what has been criticized as a "body-count" strategy of seizing assets toward an all-out effort to capture Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha. What impact the removal of those two drug lords would have on the $4 billion annual Colombian share of the international drug trade is debatable. Many experts believe there are many others who can take over in Medellin. Also, the equally large Cali cartel -- a lower-profile organization that also uses threats and murder but avoids the dramatic violence of the Medellin cartel -- would still have to be dealt with. But the benefits within Colombia -- in popular and political terms -- of a reduction in the kind of violence associated with the current leaders of the Medellin cartel are not disputed. One leading political figure here, who also asked not to be identified, claims that he has been told that leaders of the two cartels met secretly in Panama in recent weeks and that Escobar asked his Cali counterparts to form a common front in the face of the government crackdown. According to this account, which could not be verified, Escobar was rebuffed by Cali leaders who, the source said, responded: "We didn't start this war. You are the ones who are killing people. You are the ones who are killing judges. . . . This is your problem." The public opinion poll released Friday is the first concrete indication that the drug traffickers' campaign of terror bombings on the one hand and repeated calls for negotiation on the other has begun to affect the way Barco's drug war is viewed by many Colombians. There have been more than 200 violent attacks since the traffickers began their retaliation against Barco's crackdown, according to government figures, most of them bombings. The attacks have resulted in at least 30 deaths and more than 100 injuries. The poll, conducted by the National Polling Center for the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo and the Caracol national radio network, showed that 61 percent of Colombians support dialogue as the way to resolve the problem of drug trafficking, with only 30 percent in favor of taking "a strong hand." This marks a clear decline in the strong national support for Barco's hard-line approach in the immediate aftermath of the Galan assassination, when polls showed large majorities of Colombians in favor of confiscating drug suspects' assets, extraditing them to face trial in the United States and the other tough measures he launched. This week, following release in the press of the latest of a series of letters from the traffickers asking for dialogue, the heads of both chambers of the Colombian Congress said they would participate in negotiations under some circumstances. Several other prominent political figures, notably Medellin Mayor Juan Gomez, have been saying for some time that the solution lies through negotiation. What is unresolved is whether many of those who favor dialogue with the traffickers would be willing to accept tacitly the operation of the cartels if the drug-related domestic violence were ended. Opponents of dialogue argue that it would mean "the end of Colombian democracy," in the words of Maria Jimena Duzan, a columnist for the Bogota daily newspaper El Espectador. "The narcos' proposal to stop the violence would really say that we -- the traffickers -- run the government, and not the state," she said. Those who support Barco's tough stand, including El Espectador's editor, Fernando Cano, fear that the drug lords have gained ground on public opinion these last several weeks because Barco has inexplicably remained silent in the face of the calls for dialogue. "People are again becoming passive because he's not been out there leading the people," Cano said. The drug traffickers are running a "well-managed campaign on the political and local level in favor of dialogue, but there has been silence from Barco." Barco did reject the traffickers' latest proposal for talks, but the rejection came in a communique issued in the National Security Council, dealing mainly with a recent Supreme Court decision on the extradition issue. No one doubts Barco's commitment to the drug war or his resolve to reject any compromise or dialogue with the traffickers. But if Barco continues to lose support between now and next May's election and shows no new results, such as the capture of Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha, it will be even more difficult for his successor to carry on a hard line. "The only way to stop this is to catch them within the next six months," said Duzan, who said she fears that the establishment, including business interests, will see that "the only way to save their interests is to accept a dialogue, perhaps without saying so openly." Cesar Gaviria of Barco's Liberal Party, thought to be leading the presidential race, was close to Galan and has been consistently tough toward the drug traffickers. But Ernesto Samper, another prominent candidate from the Liberal Party who also supports Barco's crackdown, said he believes a broader, more "global" approach is needed. "A war against Gacha and Escobar is quite different from a war against the phenomenon of drug trafficking," he said. "The feeling that the people have in this country is that we are fighting two people." "The people in the street are starting to say, 'This is not our problem. We are suffering. We are innocent people. The government can't stop this bombing. We are paying the costs, and this is not our war,' " Samper said. "So the people say, 'Okay, where are these two guys,' and they think it is impossible to win the war because the government can't catch them." Samper, like many Colombian leaders, believes the war can never be won until the United States controls its consumption problem, but that in the meantime Colombia is paying a disproportionately high price in suffering. Many Colombians say they would like to get rid of drug trafficking altogether, but are convinced that Colombia can never accomplish this by itself. Since 1980, about 350 judicial employees, including 50 judges, have been killed in drug-related violence. About 45 employees of news organization have been murdered, eight since the government's war against the cocaine barons began. Thousands have died from political violence in the past decade, including police officers, local officials and more than 500 members of a leftist party, the Patriotic Union, that has been trying to organize in the countryside. On Friday, a leftist political leader at a heavily guarded state government building in Medellin was killed by submachine gun fire, and a police officer at a base near Bogota was killed by a bomb. "There is no question the cartels have been hurt by what he has done," one U.S. official said of Barco. Aircraft flights from neighboring Peru to Colombia carrying cocaine for final processing have reportedly been cut by half, the official said, as has the local price in Peru of less refined coca paste. But Barco's campaign ultimately will depend on whether the military and police forces here can be sufficiently cleansed of paid informers or bribed officials to carry out major operations as sensitive as the capture of the two Medellin kingpins -- a daunting task under the best of circumstances in this sprawling, rugged nation of 30 million people. Gen. Miguel Maza, head of the umbrella security and investigative agency known as the DAS and acknowledged as the most effective law enforcement official in the fight against the traffickers, has boasted on several occasions that the police and the military came close to capturing Escobar outside Medellin and Rodriguez Gacha near the town of Pacho but missed them by minutes. His comments, however, are now widely viewed as a mistake, as they appear to reinforce the notion that operations are still being compromised by informers. Colombia's ambassador to Bolivia said in a newspaper interview published in La Paz today that he believes Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha are hiding in the Bolivian jungle. But Bolivia's anti-drug force said it has no evidence the two are in the country, the Reuter news agency reported. Experts here who asked not to be identified said they believed that Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha would resist to the end and not be taken alive. Even if they were captured, the sources said, there are forces here that would probably prefer the well-connected ring leaders not live long enough to take the witness stand in the United States in the event they were extradited. @CAPTION: GONZALO RODRIGUEZ GACHA. @CAPTION: PABLO ESCOBAR. @CAPTION: An officer walks out of marble-lined bathroom at drug lord's confiscated home. ART:phm ph REUTER APn 11/24 1002 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Police and army units raided a drug traffickers' fortress and apparently came close to capturing the head of the notorious Medellin cocaine cartel, police said today. The newspaper El Tiempo reported that the cartel leader, Pablo Escobar, fled into the jungle wearing only his pants. Officials did not confirm this. El Tiempo said two of Escobar's bodyguards were killed and 55 people were arrested in the raid, which took place early Thursday. Hundreds of troops from government security forces blocked roads throughout the area, 70 miles west of Medellin, in an attempt to catch Escobar, El Tiempo said, and helicopters patrolled the area to prevent him from fleeing by air. Army troops and members of a special police anti-drug unit, not told where they were going, headed out in helicopters and raided the ranch in central Colombia, El Tiempo and two other Bogota dailies, El Espectador and La Prensa, said. El Tiempo, quoting officers commanding units of the troops involved, said Escobar, who is wanted in the United States, ran into the jungle wearing only pants. It quoted police as saying they are sure it was Escobar who fled because he left behind a shirt with documents in it belonging to him. National Police spokesman Octavio Vargas said today that it is believed Escobar and another Medellin member fled during the raid. He spoke during an interview with the Colombian radio network Caracol. La Prensa, quoting police sources, said Escobar and another member of the Medellin cartel were at a meeting at the ranch when the police moved in. The office of President Virgilio Barco said in a communique today the raid was on an operations center of the Medellin cartel but it did not mention Escobar. The police seized automobiles, boats, weapons, ammunition and communications equipment, El Tiempo said. Escobar, 39, tops the U.S. Justice Department's list of the 12 most wanted drug traffickers in Colombia. The Justice Department says he traffics in cocaine, marijuana, and possibly heroin and has been indicted five times in the United States on drug- trafficking, conspiracy, racketeering and obstruction of justice charges. He is named in indictments in Florida, Louisiana and Colorado. A former alternate senator from Medellin, he faces a 1986 indictment in Colombia for the murder of a newspaper owner. None of the 12 suspects on the Justice Department list has been captured. UPn 11/24 1212 Drug lord slips dragnet in skivvies By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- Fugitive cocaine czar Pablo Escobar Gaviria escaped in his underwear into Colombia's northern jungles, eluding lighting raids by soldiers who killed two of his Medellin cartel bodyguards and captured 55 suspects, police said Friday. Soldiers fanned out Friday in helicopters and speedboats across Colombia's densely forested Antioquia state, near a ranch allegedly controlled by Escobar, the reputed head of Colombia's most powerful cocaine empire, who is wanted for extradition to the United States. "Escobar seems to be in the area," Gen. Octavio Vargas, the National Police operations director, told Bogota's Caracol radio. "We are going to continue the search as long as necessary." Vargas confirmed previous reports that Escobar escaped in only his underwear as police and army helicopters on Thursday assaulted the ranch house in the Magdelena River valley where he had been hiding. Medellin drug chieftain Jose Rodriguez Gacha and one of the drug-trafficking Ochoa brothers also were believed to have escaped the raids that began Wednesday night and continued Thursday, Vargas said. Two members of Escobar's private army were killed and five wounded in the fighting, said Brig. Gen. Miguel Antonio Gomez Padilla, commander of the National Police. There were no reported security force casualties, he said. Soldiers arrested 55 bodyguards and reputed associates, whose fierce fighting apparently allowed Escobar and other cartel leaders to escape, officials said. Escobar's personal documents and a telephone list containing the names of people closely linked to Escobar were found at the ranch, police said. Escobar, Gacha, and the Ochoa brothers -- Jorge Luis, Juan David and Fabio -- allegedly run the Medellin cocaine cartel, the country's most prominent drug ring. The Medellin network reportedly supplies 80 percent of the cocaine consumed in the United States. Escobar, a former congressman who reportedly started his infamous career as a car thief, is one of the richest men in the world whose holdings are estimated at $2 billion dollars. He is wanted on drug trafficking charges by U.S. courts in Florida, Louisiana and Colorado. Washington has requested his extradition. Apparently awakened by the approaching helicopters, Escobar fled with 10 bodyguards, leaving behind a shirt with his personal identification card in the breast pocket, news reports said. The force of Colombian soldiers, police and undercover security agents seized four cartel-controlled ranches and an array of jeeps, speedboats, weapons and two-way radios, Vargas said. The Magdalena River valley, 90 miles north of Bogota, is a drug cartel stronghold and home of several right-wing paramilitary groups. The raids were the closest authorities have come to capturing a top kingpin since the government launched an all-out offensive on the drug mafia in August. Eight Colombians accused of drug trafficking have been sent to the United States since President Virgilio Barco re-established extradition on Aug. 18 after a string of assassinations attributed to the cocaine cartels. More than 250 bombs have exploded in the past three months -- killing at least 35 people, wounding hundreds and causing $18 million in damage -- since the drug lords went on a rampage in an effort to halt the extraditions. Also Friday, a bomb went off in southern Bogota, destroying a newly contructed police kiosk, authorities reported. No one was injured in the attack, possibly the work of leftist guerrilla groups avenging recent army offensives that have left 25 revolutionaries dead, police said. Four guerrillas and two soldiers were killed Thursday in battles between the leftist National Liberation Army and the armed forces in northeast Colombia, a Defense Ministry source said. Fierce fighting between the army and the rebels in Cesar and Santander states began a week ago and have left 35 people dead, among them soldiers, policemen and guerrillas. The National Liberation Army, which has repeatedly bombed the oil pipelines in the area, is accused of the October killing of Monsignor Jesus Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve, the bishop of Arauca state. There are five active leftist rebel armies in Colombia, with some 10,000 armed members. APn 11/24 2032 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Two kingpins of the notorious Medellin cocaine cartel managed to escape during a police raid on their operations center in a northern jungle and have eluded air and ground searches, officials said Friday. President Virgilio Barco's office said police killed two cartel gunmen and wounded 10 others in shootouts during the sweep Thursday. Fifty-five people, including five women, were arrested at the jungle site and three nearby ranches, said the office communique. It reported no police casualties. Police seized 10 automobiles, two boats, weapons, ammunition and communications equipment during the raid about 110 miles north of Bogota, the communique said. The Bogota newspaper El Tiempo said the police operation was such a surprise that one of the cartel's kingpins, Pablo Escobar, fled wearing only his pants. National police Gen. Octavio Vargas said it was believed that Jorge Luis Ochoa, another major leader of the Medellin cartel, also was at the operations center when police attacked. He said helicopter gunships and warplanes crisscrossed the area in case the fugitives tried to escape by air, and ground patrols were making a methodical search of the jungle district some 70 miles east of Medellin. Vargas, in a broadcast interview, said the raid was the result of a tip from a Colombian citizen and indicated the information was in response to a reward of nearly $300,000 offered for clues leading to Escobar's arrest. He said the raid was carried out by a special anti-drug strike force created after drug traffickers received advance warnings about planned actions by regular police units. The strike force, backed by warplanes and army troops, was not told where it was headed or who might be captured, according to Vargas. He said a fierce gunbattle developed as helicopters carrying the strike force landed and the police charged. Escobar, and perhaps Ochoa, were able to escape as policemen fought with dozens of gunmen, Vargas said. He did not say how police knew that either Escobar or Ochoa were at the center, but El Tiempo quoted strike force commanders as saying clothing was found with documents belonging to Escobar. It said a shirtless Escobar was seen running into the jungle. A reporter and photographer from El Tiempo went with the police on the raid. The presidential communiqhe said cartel's operation center was in the state of Antioquia, at the junction of the Cocorna and Magadalena rivers. If Escobar and Ochoa were at the center or main ranch, it would have been the closest security forces came to capturing them since the government declared war on traffickers more than three months ago. Barco made a war declaration hours after traffickers assassinated a presidential candidate, Sen. Luis Galan, at a Bogota election rally Aug. 18. AROUND THE WORLD Colombian Police Search Jungle for Drug Lord --- From news services DD 11/25/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 19: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Colombia -- Police and soldiers searched a dense jungle valley yesterday for accused Medellin drug lord Pablo Escobar after the storming of four of his estates earlier in the week. Police operations director Gen. Octavio Vargas said police on Wednesday raided the estates in Cocorna, about 95 miles northwest of Bogota, acting on a tip that Escobar and two other top cartel leaders were meeting there. Police said they killed two men and rounded up Escobar's bodyguards. Vargas said in a radio interview that it was a commando-type raid with helicopters. He did not specify who had escaped into the jungle, but added that Escobar and a member of the Medellin-based Ochoa Vasquez family appeared to be in the zone being searched. A police spokesman said the search was led by 300 members of an elite police force, backed by at least eight police helicopters and army and air force support. A presidential press office statement Thursday night said that 55 people had been arrested in the raid. Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha are the main targets of the government's anti-narcotics offensive. Rewards equaling $230,000 have been posted for information leading to their arrest. ESCOBAR HERNANDEZ, Jesus Emilio. Early founder of Medellin association of traffickers, along with Fabio RESTREPO OCHOA and Alfredo GOMEZ LOPEZ. Arrested in February 1976 in Colombia and soon released. ESCOBAR ORTEGA, Severo. Politician and trafficker from Zipaquira near Bogota. Known to visit the RIVERA GONZALEZ trafficking family in Leticia. Owned a cocaine refining lab near Medina. Worked with Victor Eduardo MERA MOSQUERA and Rodolfo and Javier OSPINA BARAYA in their cocaine-laden flower export operation. Owns an estate in Santa Marta and many other properties. His wife Evidaliny Garzon de ESCOBAR was involved in trafficking in New York. Escobar and MERA MOSQUERA were apprehended by the DEA but were released by mistake in New York. They fled to Colombia. Extradition request for Garzon de ESCOBAR was denied by President Barco. His son was kidnapped by the M-19 at about the same time as Martha Nieves OCHOA VASQUEZ. ESCOBAR, Edgar. Edgar is a trafficker and nephew of Pablo ESCOBAR GAVIRIA. Brother of Roberto ESCOBAR. ESCOBAR, Roberto. Following the killing of Lara Bonilla, Roberto's house was raided and a large arsenal of weapons was found. Brother of Edgar and nephew of Pablo ESCOBAR. ESCOBAR, Severo. Son of Severo Escobar Ortega; nephew of Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria. He was arrested in Switzerland in December, 1989. APn 12/06 1114 Switzerland-Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. LUGANO, Switzerland (AP) -- A leading drug trafficker in Europe whose uncle helps run the Medellin cartel in Colombia has been arrested in a raid on a luxury hotel in southern Switzerland, police said today. A police spokesman who declined to give his name confirmed reports in the French-language Tribune de Geneve that Severo "Junior" Escobar, 30, was arrested Nov. 29. The spokesman refused to give further details. A Justice Ministry spokeswoman, Ursula Riedel, said Swiss authorities had not received any extradition requests for Escobar, described by news reports as the top Colombian drug trafficker in Europe and No. 6 in the international cocaine mafia hierarchy. He is said to be the nephew of Pablo Escobar Gaviria, the reputed head of Colombia's Medellin cocaine cartel. The elder Escobar is one of the top 12 Colombian drug dealers sought in the United States and has been indicted five times in Florida and Louisiana and Colorado on a variety of drug charges. The younger Escobar's father, also named Severo Sr., was convicted of drug charges in the United States in 1984 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Police arrested the younger Escobar and four Colombian companions in a raid on a luxury hotel in the Swiss-Italian border town of Lugano, where the group had been staying for two months, the Tribune de Geneve reported. The newspaper said police seized seven pounds of pure cocaine, which the men allegedly had received as a sample prior to the planned delivery of 440 pounds of the drug destined for the Swiss and Italian markets. The arrests followed months of investigations in Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands and West Germany, the report said. The Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia said Escobar managed a smuggling network that brought huge loads of cocaine to supply the Swiss, German and Dutch markets. The Barcelona-based newspaper described his capture as a major blow to the Medellin cartel's drug trafficking network in Europe. ESCRUCERIA DELGADO, Samuel Alberto. Former senator from Narino. Convicted in North Carolina in November 1987 and sentenced to 240 years in prison. His wife and son are also wanted in the same investigation. Numerous Escruceria are traffickers including Samuel's son, Samuel ESCRUCERIA MANZ. They operate out of Pasto, and are tied to the Cali cartel and to Bogota money launderers. In 1988 at least five members of the family ran for political office in Tumaco. FARAH, Douglas. Washington Post journalist. FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). Colombian terrorist organization; part of President Barco's attempt to make peace with insurgent organizations during the 1989 war against drug traffickers. APn 11/20 2228 Colombia-Guerrillas Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Nine leftist guerrillas and one soldier were killed Monday in a battle in southern Colombia, the Defense Ministry reported. A ministry communique said army troops fought members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, in Rosa, a town 185 miles south of Bogota. The pro-Soviet FARC, with an estimated 4,400 members, is the oldest and largest of Colombia's five guerrilla groups. The Defense Ministry said there was no apparent connection between the fighting Monday and the government's three-month-old crackdown against Colombian drug traffickers and their hired hitmen. FERREIRA CAMARGO, Carlos. One of the 65 "extraditables" who signed the infamous May 1986 letter sent to the GOC. FINEROCK, Don. UPI journalist. FLORES, Ike. AP (Associated Press) journalist. FORERO FETECUA, Rafael. Bogota councilman, pirate real estate developer, and involved in the trafficker's Banco de los Trabajadores scandal. Alleged front man for the RODRIGUEZ OREJUELAS in Bogota. FREED, Kenneth. Reporter for the Los Angeles Times. FULLEDA, Federico. UPI journalist. GALAN, Luis Carlos. Senator, presidential candidate and protege of incumbent president Virgilio Barco Vargas. He was assassinated, presumably on orders of Medellin kingpins, on Friday, August 18th, 1989 for his opposition to them. This assassination, combined with the deportation of Medellin money launderer Eduardo MARTINEZ ROMERO by Minister of Justice De Greiff and US President George Bush's war on drugs, renewed antagonism between the cartels and the Colombian government. Colombia Buries Slain Candidate President Blames Consumers of Drugs 10,000 Arrested --- BY Eugene Robinson Washington Post Foreign Service DD 08/21/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Colombia Aug. 20 -- The government hit hard with raids, searches and nearly 10,000 arrests today in its new war against Colombia's powerful drug traffickers, while tens of thousands lined Bogota's streets for the funeral of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, assassinated Friday night. President Virgilio Barco blamed the killing on the millions of people who use drugs and thus sustain the cocaine cartels. Witnesses said the president's eyes filled with tears as he greeted Galan's family at the funeral. "Each Colombian or foreigner who consumes drugs should *remember that he is helping those who assassinated Luis Carlos Galan," Barco said. "Colombia is the greatest victim of an international narcotics organization dedicated to narcotics trafficking -- a great and powerful organization the likes of which has never existed in the world." International condemnation of Galan's slaying included a message from Pope John Paul II, and in Washington Attorney General Dick Thornburgh said the United States should consider sending troops, if requested, to help Colombia in its fight against the drug cartels. None of the major cocaine traffickers was among the 10,000 who the government announced were arrested in widespread raids, so Barco's promise to extradite the drug barons to face trial in the United States was not immediately put to the test. There was widespread speculation that some of the cocaine traffickers had fled the country. In the past, some of the traffickers have moved their headquarters to Panama at moments when the Colombian government was pursuing them vigorously. Under a decree by Barco, detainees may be held up to seven days without charges. Authorities began searches and raids of properties throughout the country as part of Barco's plan to seize the assets of drug dealers. Among the sites, according to the Defense Ministry, were four ranches owned by Gonzalao Rodriguez Gacha, cited as a member of the powerful Medellin cartel who is believed to head the group's "enforcement" operations; and several Medellin buildings and a discotheque owned by Pablo Escobar, reputed leader of the Medellin cartel and often described as the world's biggest drug dealer. The offensive was prompted by the killing of Galan as he took the stage at a campaign rally in a Bogota suburb. Up to seven men opened fire at the crowded rally, killing Galan and injuring about a dozen others. Galan, a Liberal Party senator and an outspoken opponent of the drug traffickers, had been leading in the opinion polls anticipating next year's presidential election. Earlier Friday, gunmen had killed the police chief of Antioquia Province, where Medellin is located. And on Wednesday, killers shot a judge in Bogota who had refused to clear Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha of charges stemming from earlier assassinations. The killing of the judge prompted a nationwide labor strike shutting down the courts, as judges demanded more effective protection. Colombia's judges had threatened to resign en masse, but a spokesman said today that the strike was over and that nine judges would work full time to bring Galan's killer to justice. "This is not the time for strikes and resignations," a leader of the judges' group said. It was not known whether any of the thousands arrested since Saturday night were suspects in any of the recent slayings. Tens of thousands of people lined the route of Galan's funeral procession amid tight security and what witnesses described as an atmosphere of great tension. A crowd packed the square in front of Bogota's cathedral to hear Cardinal Mario Rebollo read a message from the pope which told of his "feelings of pain and condemnation" on hearing of Galan's "brutal assassination committed by drug traffickers." Witnesses said that many in the crowd waved white handkerchiefs, and that some were heard to demand the arrest of Escobar. Helicopters were seen circling overhead while police and soldiers with automatic weapons watched from rooftops and the cathedral's bell towers. The Associated Press added: Galan's death brought renewed calls for firmer action, including a military campaign on the drug strongholds. Political support for stronger measures seemed limited, however, with some political leaders calling for negotiations with the cartels. "We have tried many measures without success. Now is the time for dialogue," said Juan Gomez Martinez, the mayor of Medellin. Since 1981, 220 national judges and court employees have been killed, mostly by thugs working for the drug cartels, according to the association of Judicial System Employees, the court workers' union. @CAPTION:Massive crowd accompanies coffin of assassinated presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, borne for burial in Bogota. Gunmen Took Part of Future In Colombia Galan's Assassination Tests Political System --- BY Eugene Robinson Washington Post Foreign Service DD 08/28/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 20: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Colombia Aug. 27 -- It was just after 8 p.m. when Luis Carlos Galan arrived in Soacha, a working-class town just outside Bogota, for a campaign rally. A multitude waited with banners and balloons, cheering the front-running presidential candidate as his entourage arrived. The event was ready to begin; Galan took the stage. Minutes later, Galan lay mortally wounded. As his life bled out of him, so did hope and faith in this nation's political system hemorrhage from millions of Colombians for whom Galan was a special champion, a point of light in the vast darkness. Even in a country sadly accustomed to violence and sudden death, the Aug. 18 assassination of Galan was a stunning blow, enough to impel an all-out new offensive against the drug traffickers believed to have ordered his murder. Colombians draw parallels with the 1968 killing of Robert F. Kennedy, then a U.S. presidential candidate. Both assassinations are seen as the snuffing out of great promise just at the moment when it was about to be fulfilled. Said former president Misael Pastrana, who is from a rival party: "They killed not just the present, but the future as well." The day after the killing, the headline in one Bogota newspaper read: "A hope is assassinated." Another daily lamented: "The country is disintegrating." According to public opinion polls, Galan led all other contenders and was likely to be chosen Colombia's president in elections next year. He was a member of the Liberal Party of President Virgilio Barco but came from a different faction previously known as the "New Liberalism." Since Galan's death, the faction has been called simply "Galanism." The movement, founded in 1980, sought to open the tradition-bound party to wider participation and was especially popular among younger voters. Galan is the second of the four founders of the "New Liberalism" to be assassinated. Rodrigo Lara Bonilla was serving as justice minister when he was murdered in 1984, triggering a crackdown similar to that now under way against the cocaine underworld. Colombia has long been governed by the Liberal and Conservative parties, both of which are firmly controlled by a set of old established, wealthy families known here as "the oligarchy." The closed nature of this political and social elite is generally considered one of the reasons why Colombia is beset by a half-dozen groups of leftist guerrillas, which provide an outlet for the country's impoverished majority that has not existed in the legitimate political system. Because Galan's movement pledged to open up the system, some observers see a political motivation in his killing. "The assassination of Galan is part of the plan by the extreme right to use violence, terror and murder to impede the democratic changes that the country so urgently needs," said Gustavo Osorio, vice president of the central labor federation. A former assistant attorney general, who asked not to be named, said he even doubted that Galan's killing was the work of the drug traffickers. "Look at who had the most to gain," the source said. "It was the right wing that was most interested in Galan's death." But most signs do point to involvement by the traffickers in the assassination. Galan was an outspoken opponent of the drug trade and was considered likely to fight the traffickers strenuously if he reached the presidency. Moreover, the traffickers have formed alliances with the extreme right wing, and the traffickers' squadrons of trained killers are accused of serving as an "enforcement" arm for the right wing in a series of rural massacres over the past few years. Born in 1943, Galan studied law and began his career as a journalist for Bogota's leading daily, El Tiempo, in 1965. He became known for his incisive editorials and was seen as a young man who would eventually leave his mark. When he was 27, he went to interview Misael Pastrana, who had just been elected president. The story goes that Pastrana told him to stop taking notes, since he would never get to publish the article he was preparing. When Galan asked why, Pastrana responded, "Because you will be the new minister of education." His term as minister is not remembered as a great success, but he went on to become ambassador to Rome and in 1978 was elected to the Senate for the first time. In 1980, he helped found the New Liberalism, and over the years, he became the group's undisputed leader. Galan was said to dislike wearing the bulletproof vest that is standard garb for Colombian political figures, but before he went to the rally in Soacha he put it on. The bullets that killed him entered below the vest and ripped through his abdomen. He was also accompanied at the rally by a security detail of nearly 20 armed guards. The assassins were waiting, perhaps hiding, behind the many placards that faced the stage. Police have arrested 13 people on suspicion of being involved in the slaying, and it is a measure of the horror Colombians felt at the killing that a dozen witnesses have identified several of the suspects as having been present. Potential witnesses put themselves in grave danger by pointing out suspects in slayings that may be connected with the powerful drug cartels. Galan is survived by his wife and his three sons, one of whom, Juan Manuel Galan, delivered a moving eulogy at Galan's funeral. "How sad it is to see a man like my father live, fight and die for Colombia without achieving his dream of seeing his country in peace," the 18-year-old Galan said. "I believe his sacrifice was not in vain." *@CAPTION:Mourners visit slain candidate Luis Carlos Galan's grave in Bogota yesterday. ART:ph afp The Los Angeles Times, Sunday, September 4, 1989; 2 Admit Killing Galan, Bogota General Says Associated Press: BOGOTA, Colombia-Two captured men havbe confessed to killing a popular presidential candidate, the army says, and a congressional leader says he was contacted by Colombia's two most notorious drug lords with a new offer to negotiate. Bogota's half a dozen daily newspapers quoted an army general Saturday as saying the army now knows who hired the alledged assassins of Sen. Luis Carlos Galan, whose Aug. 18 killing led the government to declare war on drug traffickers. But Gen. Ramon Niebles did not disclose who ordered the killing, the newspapers said. Niebles made the statement Friday at a news conference. The general was quoted as saying that the two men who confessed to killing Galan were part of a band called the Blackies. The two men were captured Thursday in a Bogota house where the army found weapons, ammunition and 220 pounds of dynamite, the general said. Twice before, police have said they captured Galan's killers-once five men, and once 11 men. Both times the suspects were released after a few days. Meanwhile, the president of Colombia's House of Representatives, Norberto Morales, told a news conference in Medellin that he was telephoned by Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, kingpins of the infamous Medellin cartel. Morales said Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha offered to invest millions of dollars in Colombian industry if a truce is reached. He said he passed the information along to President Virgilio Barco Vargas, who has refused to conduct negotiations with the traffickers. Candlelight Marks Tribute To Slain Colombian Leader Supporters Gather at Lafayette Square --- BY Elizabeth Aoki Washington Post Staff Writer DD 09/07/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 27: A SECTION TX Several hundred members of the area's Colombian community gathered in Lafayette Square last night for a candlelight *vigil in memory of Luis Carlos Galan, the slain candidate for the Colombian presidency, and to show support for the push against that nation's drug lords. Galan's brother, Alberto, and sister, Helena, delivered a brief prayer during the vigil, and read aloud several dozen names of public figures in Colombia who have been assassinated by drug traffickers. The solemn crowd, whose members held lighted candles as they stood across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, were addressed by Del. Walter E. Fauntroy (D-D.C.) and Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), both of whom called for greater efforts to combat the cocaine trade. "These cartels are the greatest threat to international order since Nazi Germany," Fauntroy said. "I want to encourage you to keep up this effort." Added Rangel: "Once again, America is at war. But the people in the battle lines and at the trenches are in your beloved country Colombia. And you do not stand alone." Letters from President Bush and the Colombian ambassador to the United States, Victor Mosquera Chaux, were read aloud in Spanish and English by the vigil's organizers. "We applaud the courageous actions of President {Virgilio} Barco and everyone else who stands up to these criminals who undermine the foundations of our society," Bush wrote. "Your example will serve as our guide." The gathering was organized by the Young Americans and Colombians Against Narcotics, a group with about 200 supporters in the Washington area. In an interview before the vigil, Alberto Galan said the effort was intended "to involve the North American society and Colombians here to show their solidarity with Colombia." "Our family has gathered and decided to keep working for the ideas that Luis Carlos had," he said. "He was deeply against violence because he understood the never-ending cycle *of violence and more violence." Luis Carlos Galan was shot to death at a campaign appearance in Soacha, Colombia, on Aug. 18. "There are many people at risk in Colombia," Alberto Galan said. "That is a sacrifice that this society underestimates and does not recognize -- not only with words, but facts and actions." He called for stronger efforts by the governments of the United States and Colombia to fight the drug cartels, including making it more difficult for drug dealers to invest in the United States. Galan remembered his brother as an honest man who had a good chance of being elected president. Now that he is dead, he said, "Colombia will have to search for new leaders. And that will not be so easy." GARLAND, Ed U.S. (Atlanta based?) attorney for accused Medellin money launderer Eduardo Martinez Romero. GASSER, Jose Roberto. Bolivian landowner and coca producer. Associated with Roberto SUAREZ GOMEZ. GAVIRIA RIVERO, Gustavo. AKA Alvaro ESCOBAR, is cousin of Pablo ESCOBAR, and works closely with that leader, and, apparently, with Joaquin BUILES. He acts as middleman in coca base shipments between Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. GAVIRIA, Jose Arturo. Attorney for Martha Maria Upegui de Uribe, Pablo Escobar and Gustavo Gaviria. It is possible that he is related to the last two.GETLER, Michael Washington Post journalist.GIMBERNAT ORDEIG, Enrique. Madrid lawyer; represented Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ there in 1984. GIRALDO SOTO, Hernando. Boyhood friend of Gilberto RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA. Apparently first member of Cali cartel to set up an organization in the USA. Ran the distribution network in New York until arrested, whereupon he was replaced by Jose SANTACRUZ LONDONO. In Colombia in 1986, he was acquitted of drug trafficking charges along with RODRIGUEZ and SANTACRUZ. GOMEZ GUTIERREZ, Carlos Tulio. Cali trafficker. While held for trial in Caldas, and awaiting possible extradition to USA on trafficking charges, he was one of 65 traffickers who offered in May 1986, in a letter sent to the GOC, to pay the foreign debt, repatriate their capital and close cocaine laboratories in exchange for no extradition to the USA and prosecution only in Colombia. Based on a Northern California 1983 indictment, he was extradited to the USA in May 1987. GOMEZ LOPEZ, Alfredo. Considered the "padrino" of Medellin cocaine traffickers. Formed the first association with Jesus Emilio ESCOBAR HERNANDEZ and Fabio RESTREPO OCHOA. Cooperated with the Boyaca emerald smugglers. Worked with Luis Carlos CAVIRIA OCHOA in New York and his wife Martha Ligia CARDONA, who was a money launderer. Forced to flee Medellin in mid-1976 after which a new struggle for control of the Medellin group occurred. GOMEZ VAN GRIECKEN, Jorge Dario "Pocholo" and Lucas. Jorge arrested in February 1983, while an alternate Congressman, when 25 kilos of HCL were found on his ranch. He was shot in the leg while shooting it out with police. Lucas is wanted in the US and though briefly jailed in Bogota, was soon freed. Colombian President Betancur would extradite neither to the USA. The Gomez V. brothers began with marijuana and moved into cocaine. The Gomez are hotel owners in Barranquilla. In Guajira they worked with major trafficker Emiro de Jesus MEJIA ROMERO. In May 1984, immediately following the death of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara, warrants for the arrest of MEJIA ROMERO and Lucas GOMEZ VAN BREIKEN. President Betancur had previously freed Lucas in December 1983, in spite of a request for extradition from the USA. GOMEZ ZAPATA, Carlos Humberto. Once called Colombia's most important Methaqualone dealer with production plants in Pereira and Cali. The US sought his extradition in 1985, while he was held by Colombian authorities. His cousin is Cesar GAVIRIA TRUJILLO, former Minister of Government. GONZALEZ RUIZ, Wilfredo "Willi". Purchases precursors and has many "chemist" contracts in Ecuador. Has spent many years in Brazil and Paraguay. GUARNIZO, Eduardo. Owner of planes shipping HCL to the USA, and a warrant for arrest was issued in Colombia in 1979 when 630 kilos of HCL were seized in Turbo. GUGLIOTTA, Guy. Co-author of Kings of Cocaine. GUILLOT LARA, Jaime. Narcotics trafficker and M-19 revolutionary; based in Cali, and known to have many associates in narcotics, revolutionary and terrorist circles. GUIZADO, Ivan Dario. Gunman in the assassination of LARA BONILLA. HAYS, Monte. Associated Press (AP) journalist. HEDGES, Michael. Reporter for the Washington Times. HERRERA ZULETA, Benjamin. Called the "black father of cocaine". A veteran trafficker who worked in both Cali and, more recently, in Medellin. Jailed in the USA after trafficking cocaine in the late 1970s. Released, and said to have opened trafficking routes into the USA from the southern cone. Apparently wanted by the Government of Argentina. Said to be working with Medellin operator Martha Maria Upegui de URIBE, other reports indicate he has disappeared. HUGHES, Candice. Associated Press journalist. HURTADO, Rendon. Medellin trafficker; killed with Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha in December, 1989. UPn 12/19 1553 Police: Slain `bodyguard' was a drug cartel leader By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- A man killed last week at the side of drug kingpin Jose Rodriguez Gacha has been identified as one of the secondary leaders of the powerful Medellin cocaine cartel, police said Tuesday. Authorities initially thought the man was one of the bodyguards slain during a gun battle with police. But Luz Mary Celades, the wife of Rodriguez Gacha, identified the body as that of Gilberto Rendon Hurtado, the alleged No. 8 man in the Medellin cartel. Rendon Hurtado was wanted for extradition to the United States, but he was not on the so-called dirty dozen list of top drug traffickers wanted by the U.S. government. Five prisoners died in a battle at a Bogota prison Tuesday in what appears to have been a clash between emerald smugglers in the wake of Rodriguez Gacha's death. The prisoners were stabbed and bludgeoned to death and two others were wounded in Modelo Prison in what authorities said they believed was a confronation between bands formerly run by Rodriguez Gacha and emerald king Victor Carranza, a prison official said. U.S. and Colombian officials had expected a struggle over the drug baron's immense fortune and share in the multibillion dollar drug and emerald trades. Rodriguez Gacha, the No. 2 man in the Medellin ring, and six others were killed in a gun battle with police Friday when they tried to shoot their way out of a police ambush on a ranch in northern Colombia. Rodriguez Gacha, his son Freddy Rodriguez Celades, Rendon Hurtado and four bodyguards were killed in the shootout. Authorities continued to search Tuesday for some 30 gunmen who had been protecting Rodriguez Gacha last week. Police said all was quiet in Pacho, 19 miles north of the capital, where Rodriguez Gacha and his son Freddy were buried Sunday in a small ceremony. The slaying of Rodriguez Gacha was the first major victory for the government in its battle against the druglords. President Virgilio Barco launched an all-out offensive on the cocaine cartels in August following a string of drug-related assassinations. Argentina Tuesday became the latest country to provide assistance to the Colombian government in its war against the cocaine cartels. Argentine Vice President Eduardo Alberto Duhalde officially handed over three Argentine-made Pucara warplanes to Barco in a ceremony at Catam military airport in Bogota. Police sources said helicopters donated by friendly countries were used in the effort to track down Rodriguez Gacha last week. Police spotted Rodriguez Gacha in the port city of Cartagena and followed the fleeing drug lord to the small ranch in Tulu, where he made his last stand. Rodriguez Gacha had arranged a meeting with Medellin cartel chief Pablo Escobar near Cartagena, possibly to plot a terrorist attack on President Bush at the Feb. 15 Andean drug summit in the Caribbean resort city, unconfirmed news reports said Monday. The drug lords were planning to meet in Turbaco, 6 miles south of Cartagena, but the scheme fell apart when police launched their manhunt on Rodriguez Gacha, La Prensa newspaper reported Monday without citing a source. Bush is scheduled to meet with the presidents of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and representatives from 20 countries Feb. 15 to put together an international drug war strategy. Two weeks ago, a team of U.S. security experts visited Cartagena to coordinate plans with Colombian authorities, and last week the assistant secretary of state for Latin America, Bernard Aronson, came to Bogota to finalize details for Bush's visit. The U.S. official who met reporters Monday said despite security arrangements, Bush's visit is "not without its concerns." Members of Congress have warned the president not to travel to violence-torn Colombia, where drug cartel terrorists have set off more than 260 bombs in the past four months, killing close to 200 people. The official also insisted the drug summit was not merely a photo opportunity for Bush, and that much had been accomplished during the preparations for the meeting. Escobar, the most wanted man in Colombia, is said to be somewhere in northern Colombia and police claim to be closing in on him. Police nearly captured Escobar last month when he was spotted on a ranch in Antioquia state in jungles north of Bogota, but he managed to escape in his shorts while armed thugs battled authorities. Escobar, who was a congressman from 1982 to 1986, is wanted for drug trafficking in Florida, Louisiana and Colorado, and tops the U.S. list of the 12 most-wanted cocaine czars. Police received dozens of prank calls this weekend warning of terrorist bomb attacks to avenge Rodriguez Gacha's death. ISIKOFF, Michael. Washington Post journalist. KATZENBACH, John. Writer for the Washington Post.KLEIN, Yair. Israeli mercenary; allegedly provided training and services to the Medellin cartel. Bogota Security Alleges Mercenary Aid to Cartels --- BY Eugene Robinson Washington Post Foreign Service 08/29/89 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Colombia Aug. 28 -- At least five Israeli and 11 British mercenaries helped train teams of assassins for Colombian cocaine traffickers and their right-wing allies, according to a confidential report by the Colombian security forces. Accused drug barons such as Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha and Pablo Escobar, said to be leaders of the Medellin cocaine cartel, sent trainees to be instructed at the remote training camps between December 1987 and May 1988, according to the report by Colombia's Administrative Security Department, an umbrella security and intelligence-gathering agency known by its Spanish initials, DAS. The mercenaries referred to in the report are believed to have left the country after completing their stints as instructors. A spokesman for the government said last week that authorities have no specific information indicating that any mercenaries are currently in the country, and there have been no reports of any being arrested in the government's current campaign against the drug cartels. The report, a copy of which was made available here, sheds light on the murky relationships between major drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitary "self-defense" groups in the countryside, and also on the gestation of the private armies of sicarios, or assassins, who carry out the drug cartels' killings. According to the report, "the drug traffickers Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha (El Mexicano) and Henry de Jesus Perez (Don Dario) contracted for the services of foreign mercenaries to train personnel at the schools for assassins in the Magdalena Medio," an area in the north that the cocaine cartels, right-wing groups and guerrilla forces have turned into one of Colombia's most violent regions. A group of five Israeli nationals led a course at a training camp called "50" near Puerto Boyaca, the report states. First names are given for four of the trainers but there was no other identification. However, Yair Klein, a retired Israeli lieutenant colonel now in Israel, acknowledged having led a team of instructors in Puerto Boyaca in early 1988. He has said he was there only to help ranchers learn to defend themselves against guerrilla attacks, and had no involvement with drug traffickers. {In Jerusalem, the Associated Press reported, Israeli police questioned Klein and Reserve Lt. Col. Amatzia Shueli. Israel Radio said the session lasted nine hours and was followed by collection of their passports and confiscation of documents at Klein's farm. Foreign Minister Moshe Arens said, "We will do everything in our power to enforce the law and prevent all aid by Israelis to the drug cartel."} The DAS report states that the ranchers' group by that time had become firmly linked to drug traffickers. Suspected cartel leaders, notably Rodriguez Gacha, have bought millions of acres of ranchland in areas like the Magdalena Medio in recent years. As major landowners, they have forged alliances with established ranchers against the leftist guerrilla groups that are active in those remote regions. Some 50 students participated in that course, all of them sent by various drug-trafficking organizations, according to the report. That session was abbreviated, the report states, because the Israeli instructors said they were scheduled to go "to Honduras and Costa Rica to give training to the Nicaraguan contras." The Israelis brought sophisticated devices like night-vision equipment, infrared flashlights and telescopic sights, the report says. In another training session, 11 British nationals led a similar course, according to the report. This group was said to be led by a "robust" retired colonel in his forties named "Peter." This course -- begun at the same training center but interrupted by a visit from the antinarcotics police and subsequently moved to another site -- consisted of instruction in the use of grenades and plastic explosives, camouflage techniques and other subject matter, the report notes, adding that the British instructors were liberally tattooed with "butterflies, diamonds, anchors, daggers, birds and airplanes on their chests, arms and shoulders." The network of "schools" and other facilities was linked by a radio communications system, according to the report. The overall infrastructure, also used in the drug business, included several airplanes, among them a DC-3; some 120 vehicles, including four-wheel-drive trucks, motorcycles, bulldozers, tractors and about a dozen boats. The history of training operations like those described in the report begins nearly a decade ago, when right-wing rural interests began organizing "self-defense" brigades to combat the half-dozen guerrilla armies active in the countryside. Drug traffickers' involvement is said to have begun in 1981, when a female member of the Ochoa clan -- which helped found the Medellin cocaine cartel -- was kidnapped by the M-19 guerrilla group. The drug traffickers formed a group called Death to Kidnappers and began an escalating war against the guerrillas. The conflict intensified as suspected drug kingpins diversified into ranching and became involved in the "self-defense" brigades put together by their new neighbors. "It is clear that behind the groups that at first were formed for 'self-defense' now lies . . . drug trafficking," the DAS report states. The men taught in the training centers are believed responsible for massacres in rural villages and assassinations of left-leaning politicians that have left hundreds dead over the last few years. The centers' graduates also are said to include enforcers for the drug cartels. The New York Times, Friday September 1, 1989; Israeli Reservist Denies Training Drug Dealers by Joel Brinkley, The New York Times: Tel Aviv, Aug. 31-Yair Klein, an Israeli mercenary, is at the center of an international clamor. He is under investigation by the Israeli and Colombian governments because of reports that men he trained, saying he believed they were cattle ranchers, assassinated Senator Luis Carlos Galan, the leading candidate for president of Colombia and a campaigner against drug trafficking. Mr. Galan's death this month set off the war between the Colombian government and the cocaine rings that carried out the assassination. In a two-hour interview today in his comfortable but something less than plush office suite on a side street in Tel Aviv, Mr. Klein said: It's possible that one of the people in our course killed Galan. But I say again, we worked with farmers. If after we left, one of them worked with drug dealers, we couldn't know. Israel's Police Department announced today that it is going to end its investigation of Mr. Klein and his company, Spearhead, Inc., within a week, unless the Colombian government supplies evidence for the case that Israel has requested. Examining only the limited evidence available here, Yehousha Caspi, the chief police investigator, said this afternoon that Israel has no proof that Mr. Klein or other Israeli mercenaries trained drug traffickers' hit squads. Mr. Klein was clearly cheered by the police announcement, but it was not an unequivocal absolution. Though he did not name names, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin was clearly talking about Mr. Klein and his company on Wednesday night when he said one or two Israeli companies either worked without permission of the Defense Ministry or went beyond the permission. Mr. Klein acknowledged that a promotional tape his company made in Colombia, showing his students armed with automatic rifles storming a building, also shows people whom Colombian officials have identified as important members of the Medellin cartel. These people were visitors from the outside I didn't know, Mr. Klein said. The tape was shown on Colombian and American television, and Mr. Klein's recorded voice on it, speaking in Hebrew, set off the investigation and public furor here that has not been abated. This afternoon the Defense Ministry announced that it had ordered the families of about 40 Israelis who live in Colombia to leave the country, apparently out of fear of retaliation against Israelis because of the reported activities of Mr. Klein and others. I did not work with drug dealers, he said with a firm voice and a shake of the head. If drug dealers got into the group we worked with, one or two of them, then God only knows. Everyone's talking, everyone knows. But I have receipts from the Colombian security services to validate what I'm saying. Asked to produce the receipt, he said he left it in Colombia. Mr. Klein, a 46-year old former army officer who remains a colonel in the Army reserves, opened his foreign military training business 10 years ago and got his first contracts during the Lebanon war. He said he sold uniforms and other equipment, not including weapons, to the Christian Phalangist militia in Beirut in 1983. Mr. Klein said, My character is to enter areas where other sales agents are not allowed. From there Mr. Klein said he sold equipment to the South Lebanon Army, Israel's ally, in the period before the Israeli government began supplying the army itself. He was not specific about the range of his activities in the following months and years, perhaps because business was poor. But Mr. Klein and his wife also owned a restaurant and a gas station in Israel that may have kept them busy. He said he first heard about the need for military trainers in Colombia from a friend and business associate in Israel, and he traveled to Colombia in early 1988. He was refused the required government permit for military training, both he and the Defense Ministry say. But Mr. Klein asserts that since he was training civilians, a permit was not needed. The ministry is likely to take issue with that. His initial contact was with Colombian government officials, he said, but soon he was deep in the jungle training cattle ranchers to fight the M-19 guerillas and other leftist rebels. We had three-month training courses, he said, and for those the ranchers came armed with M-16 and Uzi automatic rifles, grenades, explosives and an assortment of other weapons. Mr. Klein said he did not know where the weapons came from and did not ask. He displayed snapshots of his students, about 30 troops wearing uniforms of blue-jean shirt and pants. Every one of them also wore blue caps with Caterpillar logos. Many of them had bullets still in them and other wounds, left over from battles with the guerrillas, he said. Earlier this year, he said, stories began appearing in the Colombian press saying people he had trained had been involved in the assassinations of some labor union officers. The Colombian government complained to the Israeli ambassador, and then he was officially notified by the Israeli government that he was in violation of the law by working without a permit and should desist immediately. Our answer was that out work was over, and that we had left Colombia, he said. I got a warning, but at that time I was already out. From it all, Mr. Klein says Spearhead earned $20,000. He scoffs at the figure $800,000, widely reported in the Israeli press as his pay. Mr. Klein's story has brought both support and skepticism from different public officials. Ariel Sharon, who suggests military solutions to many of Israel's problems, said today that Mr. Klein and others have already been judged, adding: It's simply unbelievable that. With out own hands we are making ourselves responsible for the subject of drugs in Colombia. In response to that, Yossi Sarid, leftist member of Parliament, said, A bluffer like Klein needs a lot of defending because his versions of events concerning banana growers is itself a banana version-here and there soft, here and there rotten. Mr. Klein said: I am adventurous. Not many people have the character to go into the jungle and with guerrillas all around that can attack the camps I have no doubt that the large part of the people we taught were not drug dealers. At the same time, he acknowledged, Yes, there was naivete in this, But it's also naive to think there is justice in the world. Israeli 'Consultants' Should Be More Careful --- BY Dan Raviv AND Yossi Melman 09/03/89 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: OUTLOOK TX ONE UNLIKELY VICTIM of the Colombia drug wars is the fraternity of Israeli security consultants. NBC News recently disclosed the role of an Israeli reserve officer named Yair Klein in training gunmen in the Colombian hills, allegedly for wealthy drug barons. But that's just one example of an Israeli network that today stretches around the globe. Israeli consultants -- most of them vet-erans of elite army commando units or former intelligence officers -- are active in at least a dozen countries around the world. They are selling expertise and Israeli weapons to governments, corporations and to other private groups with more dubious motives. Business has been good in Africa for over two decades, and in Latin America it only gets better -- a boom market apparently financed in part by drug profits. Back home in Israel, there is occasional criticism in the press. But until the recent uproar over the Colombian caper, there has never been a hint that the Israeli authorities wanted to stop the lucrative export of weapons and know-how. "It is not pleasant to hear that there are Israelis dealing in ugly things," says Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, but "the State of Israel cannot be responsible for them." Shamir, however, knows as well as anyone that military sales abroad are considered a vital national interest for Israel. They are a useful means of projecting influence overseas, with defense assistance the entrance ticket for Israeli diplomats and spies who would otherwise be unwelcome in many Third World nations. Senior officers -- in armies ranging from the Iranian to the Kenyan -- who once visited Israel on training courses have proved later to be useful contacts. Arms exports are also an obvious source of foreign currency, needed by Israel's faltering economy. But there is a more basic business logic. To have its own defense industry -- a requirement if Israel is to avoidtotal dependence on the kindness of other nations -- it must achieve economies of scale. The Israeli arms industry must manufacture far more guns, bullets, shells, uniforms, tanks and radios than Israel itself can use. And that means exports. Because these arms-export deals usually have to be secret, the Israeli intelligence community has an active hand in the transactions. The Mossad, the foreign espionage agency where Shamir himself was a senior operative from 1955 to 1965, often instructs its spies to act as salesmen and shipping agents for defense exports. Officers of Shin Bet, the domestic security agency, have also been sent abroad as counterterrorism advisers -- who spread the word about the excellence of Israeli weapons, eavesdropping devices and other electronic gear. The guns and other material become part of a package deal: Good advice from Israeli consultants goes hand-in-hand with battle-proved weapons. Burma and Ghana were the first countries to do this sort of defense-related business with Israel, way back in 1957. The process used to be much better controlled by government authorities than it is now. Early weapons exports were handled directly by a little known agency called Sibat, a Hebrew acronym for Siyua Bitchoni, or "Security Assistance." It was set up within the defense ministry in the early 1960s to coordinate arms sales after embarrassing reports that Uzi submachine guns had been sold to South Africa without clear authorization. As the list of Israel's customers expanded to include countries that would never wish to admit publicly that they did business with the Jewish state, Sibat begin to employ middlemen who earned commissions on what were truly government-to-government transactions. These sales agents, sometimes Israelis and sometimes not, were mainly used to cover-up the origin of the arms. This second phase of activity was still made up of fully authorized sales, and until the 1973 Yom Kippur War they totalled about $50 million a year. A third phase began after the 1973 war. Having been caught by surprise by Egypt and Syria, the Israelis vowed to be better armed and more prepared in every sense. An export drive would support an enlarged defense industry. More middlemen were employed, and they were told they could be more aggressive in knocking on foreign doors and opening them for Sibat and the growing military-industrial complex. Within 15 years, Israel's arms exports grew to almost $1.5 billion a year. These were the golden years for Yaakov Nimrodi, a veteran Mossad operative in Iran who returned there to sell arms and other Israeli products in what turned out to be the final years of the shah's rule. After the Islamic revolution in 1979, there were small and sporadic sales of military equipment to Iran, but Israel was anxious to find another big buyer for its products. The Israelis discovered China, thanks to an explorer named Shaul Eisenberg, who is reputed to be Israel's wealthiest businessman. He had lived in Japan and developed excellent contacts in Asia, and in the late 1970s he paved a pathway to Beijing for Israeli military exports. Eisenberg's most formidable tool was his private jet; he could ignore the official hostility between the two nations and fly high-level Israelis directly to China. He made dozens of trips, carrying Sibat officials, army advisers, financiers and military salesmen for what the Israelis described as their "toughest negotiations ever." The hard bargaining produced sales to China estimated at almost $3 billion during the 1980s. With rising exports, the Israeli arms industry reached its fourth phase. Israeli middlemen started not just knocking on doors, but actively pulling and dragging their government into doorways which they claimed to have opened. Many Israelis thought there had been a worrisome change; the middleman were now attempting to dictate Israeli foreign policy, based on their own quest for financial gain. The most obvious example is the push by Nimrodi for Israel (and later the United States) to sell missiles and other advanced weapons to Iran, which helped bring on the Iran-Contra mess in 1986. Some Israelis worry that personal profits and national interests have been blurred beyond recognition. There is an entire new class of army and intelligence veterans who spend their time persuading their own country to sell while convincing foreigners to buy. This class of "formers," while lamenting the passage of their good old days in active service, complain when they are pressed to retire in their 40s with no alternative job training and a pension check of barely $1,000 a month. "Israel turns us into valuable experts," says a Mossad veteran, "but then there is nothing for a man who's had responsibility or commanded a battalion to do but start a new career as assistant manager of a factory. The foreigners who want us offer as much as $100,000 a year plus bonuses and travel expenses. There are few Israelis who would say no." To reassert some control, the Israeli authorities have on occasion used "privateers" as surrogates in foreign projects. Just last year the chief administrator of the foreign ministry, General Avraham Tamir, was in tiny Papua New Guinea when the island nation's government asked for Israeli assistance in setting up a security service modeled on the Mossad. Tamir returned home and urged the genuine Mossad to accept the invitation, but agency chief Nahum Admoni felt the Pacific was too far to go for such a minute political gain. The Mossad suggested instead that some of its former operatives be sent to train the Papua New Guineans on a semi-official basis. The "formers" would be well paid; everyone would be happy. But after further bureaucratic wrangling in Tel Aviv, the deal fell through. Today, some 800 Israeli companies hold permits from the defense ministry to export military equipment and know-how. In the lucrative Latin American market, two former Mossad agents have been named in Israeli newspapers as especially active: Michael Harari and Rafi Eitan. Harari was leader of the Mossad "hit teams" which exacted revenge on Palestinian terrorists by killing over a dozen PLO operatives in Europe after the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Identified in various non-fiction thrillers only as "Mike," Harari was involved in the embarrassment of mistakenly shooting an innocent Arab in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1973, followed immediately by the arrest of half a dozen members of the Mossad team. Harari's anonymity ended when Panamanian, Israeli and American sources named him as security adviser and personal friend of General Manuel Noriega. Rafi Eitan, who spent even longer in the shadows of Israeli intelligence, came under the spotlight of scandal in late 1985, when he was identified as the "handler" of Jonathan Jay Pollard, the first American citizen prosecuted for spying on behalf of Israel. Eitan's old friend Ariel Sharon, a controversial general who is now minister for trade and industry, rescued Eitan by appointing him chairman of Israel Chemicals, the country's largest state-owned enterprise. But the Israeli press reported last week that the chemicals job is merely part-time employment, which has left Eitan enough free time to serve as "national security adviser to Colombia's president," Virgilio Barco Vargas. It has all been embarrassing for Israel, and politicians last month for the first time began urging stern measures to control the privateers who are giving the country a bad name. Sibat, the official export agency, claimed early this year that it was strengthening its oversight system to require anyone selling Israeli military equipment to first seek permission for every nut, bolt and bullet. A long application has to be filled out, followed by a personal interview in Tel Aviv. (Security consultants such as Klein say they thought they needed permission only to sell arms -- not expertise. Moreover, says Klein, he thought he was training farmers in Colombia, not drug lords.) But loopholes are sure to be found, because Israel's basic desire -- and economic need -- is to continue exporting arms. The challenge now is to control the process, while also riding herd on the "formers" and other privateers and mercenaries who apparently conclude that once their military careers are over in Israel they might as well seek action and a lucrative income abroad. "No matter where they live, they are part of us," a former Israeli diplomat says. "If they're involved with some ugly people, then we all look bad. NBC never would have showed a videotape of Englishmen training Colombians. It is more exciting when it is us Israelis. We are blamed for wrongdoing around the world, beyond honest proportion. Perhaps the best we can do is make it less likely that our boys get caught." Dan Raviv is a CBS News correspondent based in London. Yossi Melman, an Israeli journalist, is a Nieman Fellow this year at Harvard. Their book, "Behind the Uprising," will be published in November by Greenwood Press. LARA BONILLA, Rodrigo. Minister of Justice and opponent of traffickers. He was assassinated on April 30, 1984. DATE: TUESDAY May 1, 1984 THE WASHINGTON POST PAGE: A20 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: FIRST SECTION LENGTH: SHORT AROUND THE WORLD JUSTICE CHIEF ASSASSINATED IN COLOMBIA BOGOTA, Colombia-Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla was assassinated yesterday by two gunmen on a motorycle who opened fire on his car on a street in northern Bogota. A police patrol accompanying Lara Bonilla fired at the two men on the motorcycle, killing the assailant and wounding the other man, The Associated Press reported. Drug smugglers had repeatedly threatened Lara Bonilla,who had vigorously fought their activities. Lara Bonilla, 40, was also a senator for the New Liberalism, a splinter party. Police did not immediately identify the two assailants but said the wounded man was taken into custody. LEEN, Jeff. Co-author of Kings of Cocaine. LEHDER RIVAS, Carlos Enrigue. Arrested in the USA for marijuana trafficking in September 1973. Surfaced later as owner of Norman's Cay 60 miles south of Nassau, Bahamas. From the Cay, enormous quantities of HCL were shipped to the USA in the late 1970s. In December 1981 Florida District Court charged him with moving 3.8 tones of HCL from Key Norman to Astor Park, Florida between January 1979 and april 1980. He escaped from Bahamas and returned to Colombia in later 1979. In Armenia, he began buying up major estates and created a major hotel and park "La Posada". He formed his own political party, the National Latin Movement in 1986 and sought to have it recognized in 1987. Lehder founded his own newspaper, and Hernando SUAREZ BURGOS, Liberal Congressman, narino drug trafficker and part of an Ecuador connection, and owner of various factories, hotels, etc., was Lehder's man in Pasto and there Suarez founded the Diario del Sur. Lehder was a known drug user. Leader of the "Secuestables" (those who could be kidnapped, self defense group against guerrilla). He was once responsible for activities relating to the Medellin cartel's fleet of planes. Thru fugitive financier Robert VESCO struck a deal with Castro to permit drug planes to fly unmolested through Cuban airspace. As his luck turned sour, he was often used as an expert to oversee the "cooking" of HCL occurring in the Medellin cartel's main cocaine processing laboratories. (Especially at the Airapua Estate in the Llanos.) Helped finance terror attacks on the GOC. Among his lieutenants were Rodrigo VILLA, who was murdered by unknown gunmen, and John OSORIO. Within hours of the burial of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara in May 1984, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was later captured, but claimed that Jacoba ARENAS, a FARC ideologist, was the largest of Colombia's drug traffickers. Lehder was extradited to the USA. Tried and convicted in 1988, he is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole in the Federal Correctional Institute in Marion, Illinois. UPse 10/26 1553 Three found guilty in `Son of Lehder' case JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (UPI) -- A federal court jury returned guilty verdicts Thursday against three of the five American defendants in the so-called "Son of Lehder" cocaine-distribution case. Found guilty were Jack Carlton Reed, 59, of Jacksonville; Barry Kane, 52, a Hyannis, Mass., attorney; and Donald Kenneth Lady, 41, a Pomona, Calif., contractor. Two other defendants, Thomas H. Herington, 35, of Mill Valley, Calif., and Samuel T. Stewart, 53, an Anaheim, Calif., air charter operator, were found not guilty. The five were accused of conspiring with convicted Colombian drug lord Carlos Lehder Rivas to distribute cocaine and with operating a continuing criminal enterprise. Reed was found guilty on both counts, while Kane and Lady were found guilty only on the continuing criminal enterprise charge. Sentencing for Reed, Kane and Lady was set for Jan. 12. Reed is already serving a 15-year sentence after being convicted along with Lehder last year on cocaine-distribution charges. Lehder, 40, is reputed to be one of the founders of Colombia's cocaine-smuggling Medellin cartel, which authorities say produces most of the illicit cocaine that reaches the United States. He is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors argued during the trial before U.S. District Judge John H. Moore II that all five defendants were part of Lehder's organization and that the conspiracy to distribute cocaine dates back to 1974, when Lehder first proposed it while serving time in a U.S. prison. Attorneys for the five defendants sought to prove in testimony that their clients had withdrawn from the drug business or that their involvement took place outside the statute of limitations. The case is a direct outgrowth of last year's Lehder trial. A total of 31 people were indicted in the subsequent case, and another 140 were named as alleged co-conspirators. Only 15 of the individuals have been arrested, however, and ten of them earlier pleaded guilty. Government officials have said they believe those who have avoided arrest are probably in Colombia. One of the fugitives is Jorge Mario de la Cuestra Marquez, 37, who has been arrested in Colombia. Drug Enforcement Administration officials said Wednesday they have initiated legal proceedings to have him extradited to Jacksonville to stand trial. Colombian police have identified de la Cuesta as a pilot for reputed Medellin cartel leader, Pablo Escobar, who is also wanted in connection with the Lehder case. Federal authorities in Jacksonville said de la Cuesta was also a top pilot for Lehder and often flew cocaine from Colombia to the Bahamas. LEHDER, Federico Guillermo. Carlos LEHDER's brother, and lesser light, although he apparently took part in trafficking. LEMOS SIMMONDS, Carlos. Minister of Communications under President Barco; assumed responsibilities of Minister of Justice after the resignation of Monica de Greiff. Assumed position of Minister of the Interior after the resignation of Orlando Vasquez. APn 12/03 1726 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By STAN YARBRO Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- The government Sunday rejected a truce declared by drug traffickers in their bombing campaign and said accepting it would leave the country in the hands of the traffickers. "We will continue battling them because if we don't, we will cease to govern," Interior Minister Carlos Lemos Simmonds said. The Medellin cocaine cartel has announced that beginning Monday, it will observe a "cease-fire" in its terrorist campaign with the aim of persuading Congress to approve a national vote on the government's extradition policy. The government has extradited Colombian drug suspects to the United States as part of a crackdown on cocaine cartels that began Aug. 18 after a leading presidential candidate and anti-drug crusader was assassinated. The administration of President Virgilio Barco so far has extradited nine suspects. The traffickers have responded with 200 bombings that have killed 29 people and injured 238. Barco departed Sunday for a four-day visit to Japan and after a farewell ceremony at the airport, Lemos Simmonds reiterated the administration's opposition to a national vote on its extradition policy. "If the government accepted this proposal, the country would be left to be governed by the desires of drug traffickers," he told reporters. A congressional committee on Friday attached the referendum proposal to legislation that would reform Colombia's constitution. Lemos Simmonds accused members of the committee of being "accomplices of drug trafficking." He said the traffickers would stage a violent campaign of intimidation if there were a national vote on extradition. Barco indicated Saturday that the government would prefer to kill the constitutional reform legislation rather than let it pass with the referendum bill attached. Abandoning reforms would endanger peace negotiations with the April M19 Movement, the only one of Colombia's five main guerrilla groups that has accepted an official peace plan. The legislation contains provisions for the guerrilla group to run candidates for Congress. Its leader, Carlos Pizarro, has said the guerrillas would lay down their arms on Dec. 19, provided that the government passes the reform legislation. APn 12/06 2051 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A truck bomb containing a half-ton of dynamite exploded outside secret police headquarters during the morning rush hour Wednesday, killing at least 35 people and wounding hundreds. The bomb, presumably the work of drug gangs, was the most powerful to strike the capital since Colombia's cocaine traffickers began a wave of terror after the government declared war on them 16 weeks ago. Wednesday afternoon, police deactivated a car bomb a block from the offices of dozens of judges, the national police said. A spokesman for President Virgilio Barco said the bombing might be the start of a new campaign of mass killings by the drug traffickers, but that the government would fight on. The blast, which tore open a crater 20 feet deep and destroyed or heavily damaged a score of buildings, occurred less than 24 hours after government investigators said a bomb caused the crash of a Colombian jetliner last month that killed 107 people. No one claimed responsibility directly for Wednesday's explosion, but Gen. Faruk Yanine, Bogota police chief, said it was undoubtedly the work of drug traffickers. A statement from the so-called Extraditables delivered to newspapers and radio stations in Medellin, base of the most powerful drug cartel, said: "We will stop the war only when the Senate understands the people must be our judge." The reference was to a bill that would permit a national referendum on extraditing drug trafficking suspects wanted in the United States. The House of Representatives approved it Tuesday night. Barco's government opposes the measure, contending the drug barons would step up terrorism before a referendum to frighten voters into rejecting extradition. In their statement, the Extraditables said: "The president should not fear what the congress decides, because the congress is the voice of the people, and the voice of the people is the voice of God." Minister of Government Carlos Lemos Simmonds told reporters after the bombing: "The slaughter that we warned of when the House approved extradition in the plebiscite has started." He is acting president while President Virgilio Barco is on a state visit to Japan. The bomb went off at 7:30 a.m. in an area crowded with people bound for work on foot and in cars. So powerful was the explosion that it broke windows in a building across the street from the U.S. Embassy seven miles away. The broadcast network Caracol quoted sources with explosives experts at the scene as saying the truck was packed with 1,100 pounds of dynamite. Reports on the number of dead and wounded varied, and rescuers were pulling bodies from the rubble of buildings hours after the blast. Health Minister Eduardo Diaz said in an interview with Caracol that at least 35 people were killed, 250 seriously wounded and 750 treated for cuts, abrasions, shock and shock. Unconfirmed reports gave higher death tolls. However, the television news program "24 Hours" reported the death toll rose to 40 late Wednesday. Police said they were unable to confirm that report. The explosion blew the facade off the secret police headquarters and destroyed virtually all its walls and windows. Also heavily damaged were an office building for federal judges across the street and the national transit police headquarters a block away. Half a dozen stores across the street from secret police headquarters were reduced to smoking rubble and about 60 cars were destroyed. Visa renewal is one function of the secret police, or Department of Administrative Security. Many foreigners usually are there on any given weekday, but it was not known whether foreigners were among the dead and wounded. This is a busy season because many foreigners go home for Christmas, and cannot do so without reports of clean police records. Minutes after the explosion, detectives at secret police headquarters scrambled up ladders and, from the remains of cells, pulled two stunned prisoners awaiting extradition to the United States. The prisoners were taken away in an armored vehicle. Lemos said on Caracol the bombing illustrated the futility of trying to negotiate with the drug gangs. He said the government would not lessen its resolve to crush them. In their statement about the second bomb, the national police said the device was hidden in a subcompact Renault parked in front of a government building where dozens of judges have their offices. The police did not say how much dynamite was in the car. Barco began the war on traffickers hours after they assassinated a leading presidential candidate, Sen. Luis Carlos Galan, on Aug. 16 during a campaign speech in Bogota. He also reinstated extradition of suspects to the United States, which was suspended by Supreme Court rulings in 1987 and 1988. Nine have been sent to the United States in the past three months. An Avianca Airlines passenger jet exploded in the air Nov. 27 and all 107 people aboard were killed. On Tuesday, the government said a bomb had caused the explosion. The government has not said who bombed the airplane, but police and government officials say privately there is no doubt the drug gangs were responsible. Not counting the plane crash victims or the victims of Wednesday's truck bomb, 29 people have been killed and 238 wounded by 201 bombs since Galan's assassination. APn 12/15 1201 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- The Senate has effectively killed a proposed referendum that would have allowed Colombians to decide whether the government should continue extraditing drug traffickers to the United States. "The issue has been eliminated," Interior Minister Carlos Lemos said after the Senate failed to reach a quorum late Thursday to vote on legislation that would have allowed the national vote on extradition. The outcome was seen as a victory for President Virgilio Barco who began battling the nation's cocaine cartels after they started a fierce bombing and assassination campaign in a bid to stop the extraditions. Barco believed the traffickers would have intimidated the people in order to win the vote. The Senate vote was necessary to give the House time to approve the measure before the congressional session ends Saturday. The Senate's failure to act also will probably doom constitutional reforms sought by the Barco government. The House, in defiance of the administration, attached the referendum proposal to the reform legislation on Dec. 5. Among the proposed reforms is a plan that would allow candidates backed by leftist guerrillas of the April M19 Movement to run for congress and win seats with fewer votes than normally required. In exchange, the guerrillas would lay down their arms. M19 said it will cancel its political campaign in light of the legislative developments. The group said in a communique that the government should postpone congressional elections scheduled for March 11 and presidential elections set for May 27. "Normal elections in a country that has become unhinged would carry us toward greater levels of violence," the communique said. The M19 Movement is the only one of Colombia's five leftist guerrilla groups to hold peace talks with the government. The Barco administration has viewed fulfilling its agreement with M19 as essential to persuade other groups to negotiate. But administration officials still appeared pleased by the Senate's failure to vote. While constitutional reform may be lost this session, Interior Minister Lemos told reporters that the sacrifice was worth it because it prevented "the interference of drug traffickers in congressional decisions." The traffickers had sought a national vote on the extraditions. Lemos has said the drug lords would intimidate voters into rejecting the policy if balloting on the issue were allowed. The government's latest anti-drug offensive began after traffickers assassinated Sen. Luis Carlos Galan on Aug. 18. He was a leading presidential candidate and an anti-drug crusader. The Barco administration revived its extradition policy with the United States as part of the crackdown and so far has sent nine people to the United States to face drug charges. Colombia's cocaine barons responded with a bombing campaign. So far there have been 203 attacks that have killed 188 people and wounded 1,238. Government officials have blamed traffickers for the bombing of a Colombian airliner on Nov. 27 that exploded shortly after takeoff from Bogota, killing 107 people on board. Officials also blame the drug lords for the Dec. 4 bombing of Colombia's secret police headquarters that killed 63 people. A few hours after that blast news media in Medellin received a communique that said traffickers would continue the attacks until congress approved a national referendum on the extradition policy. Letter to GOC (1986). In 1986, 65 "extraditables" sent an letter sent to the GOC, offering repayment of the national debt in return for amnesty. LINARES, Luis. Luis, who worked with Medellin traffickers and with Escobar, was seized in Cartagena during a 500 kg bust in 1984. LISBOA MELGAR, Juan Carlos. Bolivian trafficker. APn 11/29 1927 Bolivia-Drugs Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- The government Wednesday announced the arrest of a man reputed to be one of Bolivia's two major cocaine traffickers. Juan Carlos Lisboa Melgar, 35, was arrested Tuesday during a raid on a home in Santa Cruz, a drug-trafficking center 335 miles southeast of La Paz, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gonzalo Torrico said. He said police found some high-powered weapons at Lisboa's hideout, but that Lisboa did not resist arrest. Torrico did not give details on the weapons. He said Lisboa owns the biggest cocaine-processing laboratory ever uncovered in Bolivia. He said it can produce up to 8,800 pounds a week. Bolivia is a major source of coca, the leaf processed into cocaine. According to Torrico, Lisboa had established links with Colombian and Peruvian traffickers to smuggle the drug to the United States and other markets. There was no immediate word on charges. Police had been hunting Lisboa for a year, and the Supreme Court had begun a trial in abstentia. The country's most-wanted drug-trafficking suspect, Jorge Roca Suarez, is still at large. UPn 12/09 1642 Bolivian `fat fish' cocaine trafficker freed LA PAZ, Bolivia (UPI) -- The Bolivian Supreme Court has freed top cocaine trafficking suspect Juan Carlos Lisboa Melgar, the government said Saturday. Bolivia is the second-largest grower after Peru of the coca leaf, from which cocaine is produced. The leaf is made into a paste and most of it is shipped to Colombia for processing, according to U.S. and Bolivian officials. A government statement said the Supreme Court upheld a "finding of innocence" reached by a lower court in the city of Trinidad in favor of Lisboa Melgar, who was arrested Nov. 26. Government Vice Minister Gonzalo Torrico said in the statement that some judges and prosecutors were demonstrating "too much weakness in confronting crime" and suggested reforms of the judicial system. Lisboa Melgar was detained in an anti-drug operation in the city of Santa Cruz, 355 miles southeast of La Paz, along with another alleged trafficker, Herman Coimbra Saldana. At the time of his arrest, the government said Lisboa Melgar was one of the "most important `fat fish' operating in the country." Bolivian cocaine production rose in 1989 to 78 metric tons from 72 metric tons the year before, with authorities confiscating only 7.8 tons this year, according to the newspaper Catholic Presencia, which cited official sources. Bolivian authorities recently admitted that they will not meet their goal for the reduction of the amount of land dedicated to growing the coca leaf. LONDONO MORALES, Guillermo. Drug trafficker, brother-in-law of the OCHOA VASQUEZ. Owns a fighting bull ranch in Colombia. Perhaps related to Bernardo LONDONO QUINTERO, an important trafficker who has worked with all major cartels, and is a notorious money launderer. LONDONO QUINTERO, Bernardo. An important trafficker who has worked with all major cartels, and is a notorious money launderer. Possibly related to Guillermo Londono Morales. LONG, William R. Los Angeles Times staff writer. LOPERA VALLEJO family. Traffickers operating out of Antioquia. Carlos LEHDER RIVAS was captured on their estate in February 1987. One of their most important lieutenants is Hector CARDENAS EUSSE. LOPEZ MENDOZA, Ediberto. Considered a major league Bogota trafficker until arrested in January 1985. M-19 (Movimiento de Abril 19; Movement of April 19). Colombian terrorist movement, with connections to various trafficking persons and organizations. During the 1989 drug war, President Virgilio Barco negotiated a settlement but them, but refused to deal with the traffickers. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Copyright Times Mirror Company 1989 DATE: SATURDAY March 18, 1989 EDITION: Home Edition LENGTH: SHORT PART-NAME: ONE PAGE: 9 PART-NUMBER: 1 COLUMN: 5 TYPE-OF-MATERIAL: Wire DATELINE: BOGOTA, Colombia DESK: Foreign SOURCE: From Associated Press COLOMBIA, REBEL GROUP AGREE TO OPEN PEACE TALKS APRIL 1 The government and the country's main guerrilla group signed an accord Friday to begin talks April 1 toward permanently ending a 16-year-old insurgency. President Virgilio Barco Vargas, in a nationwide television address Friday night, called on the country's other leftist guerrilla groups to follow suit. The accord was signed in the mountain town of Santo Domingo, 180 miles south of Bogota, by Minister of Interior Raul Orejuela Bueno and Carlos Pizarro, commander of M-19, or the April 19 Movement. A joint declaration said four meetings that led to the accord were held in Colombia and Mexico after the leftist guerrillas declared a unilateral cease- fire eight months ago. The declaration said both sides agreed on talks beginning April 1 that would ''lead to full democracy'' and reintegrate the insurgents into society. The talks are to finish before legislative elections set for March, 1990, in which M-19 probably will participate as a legal political party, officials said. The agreement did not say when the guerrillas would have to give up their arms. An estimated 10,000 leftist guerrillas operate in Colombia. They are blamed for more than 2,000 deaths and nearly 500 kidnapings in 1988 alone. M-19's bloodiest operation was seizing the Supreme Court building in Bogota in 1985. The army retook the building, but 11 Supreme Court justices and 85 other people were killed. KEYWORDS: COLOMBIA -- REVOLTS GUERRILLAS -- COLOMBIA BARCO VARGAS, VIRGILIO PEACE MOVEMENTS THE WASHINGTON POST DATE: WEDNESDAY September 27, 1989 PAGE: A46 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: FIRST SECTION LENGTH: SHORT SOURCE: From News Services and Staff Reports DATE-LINE: BOGOTA, Colombia MEMO: STORY-TYPE: NEWS FOREIGN COLUMN-NAME: AROUND THE WORLD BOGOTA, GUERRILLAS REACH AGREEMENT The M-19 leftist guerrilla group signed a peace acord with the government yesterday in which it made a conditional pledge to disarm over the next year. The accord was signed by M-19 leader Carlos Pizarro and presidential adviser Jaime Pardo Rueda at the group's mountain headquarters in Santo Domingo in southwest Colombia. The M-19 grabbed international attention with its 1985 takeover of Bogota's Palace of Justice in which about 100 people were killed. The agreement hinges on a government pledge to offer amnesty for jailed M-19 activists before the end of October. It must be approved by the ruling Liberal Party and the Conservative opposition. In an ad published in the newspaper El Tiempo, M-19 urged the government to pardon drug traffickers and stop extraditing them to the United States. El Tiempo also reported that in Medellin, a judge dropped charges against Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, alleged leaders of the Medellin-based drug operation that supplies most of the cocaine in the United States. A prosecutor told the newspaper he would appeal the decision. KEYWORDS: NAME: carlos pizarro ORGANIZATION: m-19 SUBJECT: Special warfare (eg, guerilla warfare); Colombia; Peace APn 12/12 2003 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Soldiers destroyed airstrips used by drug runners Tuesday and the traffickers appeared to be losing a campaign to get a national referendum on extradition to the United States, news reports said. A peace treaty with a Colombian guerrilla group also probably will be lost, because it is part of a bill to which the referendum proposal is attached. Security forces blew up 18 clandestine airstrips Tuesday in northern Colombia, the televised "Midday News" program reported, quoting military sources. The government has said it would continue its crackdown on the drug trade despite three months of violence by traffickers. Officials blame the drug barons for the bombing if a Colombian jetliner Nov. 27 that killed all 107 people aboard, and a bomb last Monday that killed 63 and wounded more than 1,000 in Bogota. Earlier this month, a proposed referendum on extradition was attached to legislation that would amend the constitution and includes provisions for election of former guerrillas to Congress. That measure, part of a treaty negotiated last year by the government of President Virgilio Barco and the April 19 Movement, known as M-19, would allow pardons for guerrillas and permit former rebels to form a political party. A Senate committee had the legislation Tuesday, but was reluctant to take it to the entire Senate. The 20 committee members were not talking about the bill, and no one suggested it should even come to a vote, the Bogota dailies El Tiempo and El Espectador reported. If the legislation is not approved by the Senate by the time congress adjourns Friday, it could die. Changes contained in the bill would assure former guerrillas six seats in the 119-member House and six in the 104 member Senate. Members now are elected from a specific district and need about 20,000 votes to win. Former guerrillas would need a minimum of 4,000 votes, which could come from throughout the country. Under other constitutional changes, prosecutors and not magistrates would investigate criminal cases and the country would have a vice president. Someone now is designated to take over if the president dies, but he has no regular role in government. The bill sets a national referendum on the constitutional changes for Jan. 21. It was approved by the House of Representatives, with the extradition rider, by a vote of 109-4, causing accusations in the press of bribes and bullying by the cocaine lords. A statement from the traffickers, who call themselves the Extraditables, said would not relent in their campaign of bombing and assassination until a referendum on extradition was held. MARQUEZ PEREZ, Lizardo. The Colombian link in the Venezuelan drug trail. Worked with Fabio OCHOA RESTREPO (who sold horses in both Colombia and Venezuela). Seemingly involved with Pablo ESCOBAR GAVIRIA in the management of his hotel properties in Venezuela. In turn, his contact for ongoing shipments of Medellin cartel cocaine was Francisco OCANDO PAZ, a Venezuelan. MARTINEZ ROMERO, Eduardo. Apprehended in August 1989; believed to be a key figure in Medellin cartel money laundering. On September 7, 1989, he was extradited to the United States on the order of Minister of Justice Monica de Greiff. The Washington Times, Wednesday, August 23, 1989; U.S. moves to extradite drug financier by Warren Strobel, The Washington Times: The Bush administration yesterday moved to extradite one of Medellin cartel's top money men and said it planned similar actions against an estimated 80 other Colombian drug traffickers wanted in the United States. The administration action came after Colombia said it was ready to turn over Eduardo Martinez Romero, a cartel financier whose arrest was announced Monday in a continuing sweep of suspected drug traffickers. The effort to bring Mr. Martinez here to stand trial on money- laundering charges is expected to provide the first test of the state of siege extradition procedures announced by Colombian President Virgilio Barco in response to a wave of killings aimed at intimidating opponents of the drug cartels. Under the procedures, suspected narcotics traffickers can be extradited to the United States with only a cursory review by the Colombian judiciary, whose members have been harassed, bribed and killed by the powerful cartels. We are taking steps to provide the necessary documentation to secure his [Mr. Martinez'] extradition to the United States, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh said at a press conference yesterday. Despite an indictment against Mr. Martinez in Atlanta in March, the United States has not previously requested his extradition from Colombian. Mr. Thornburgh, meanwhile, released a list of the 12 Colombian drug kingpins most wanted by the United States and said the names would be shared with the Colombian government and Interpol, the international police organization. This list of a dozen priority offenders is only the first phase of our extradition efforts, Mr. Thornburgh said. Our review of those whom we seek for trial is ongoing and the list is likely to be supplemented in the near future. The attorney general said the administration plans to take full advantage of Colombia's recent anti-drug efforts. Washington will ask other nations for help should the 12 flee Colombia, he added. On the list are many cartel leaders already under indictment in the United States, including Pablo Escobar Gaviria, known as the Medellin group's godfather. Also on the list are Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, the two other leading members of the cartel. The Medellin cartel and a smaller one based in Cali are responsible for an estimated 80 percent of the cocaine imported to the United States. Bogota's roundup of as many as 14,000 suspects-Êmany of whom have since been released-has yet to snare any of the organization's top echelon. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States is pleased with the capture of Mr. Martinez. But he acknowledged that Mr. Martinez is involved in money laundering, not a major figure who sets cartel policy. The idea that somehow or another the drug lords are going to be rolled up in a week is not realistic, said an administration official, saying it would take both time and continued political will from the Colombians. Another U.S. official said the administration is reviewing the names of those taken into custody by Colombian authorities, with the intent of forming a short list of those that we've definitely got the goods on. That list would then be transmitted to the government in Bogota. An estimated 80 Colombians have been indicted in the United States on drug charges. The Colombian Supreme Court in 1987 declared unconstitutional an extradition treaty with the United States, making it virtually impossible to bring suspected drug traffickers to justice. While it could not be learned yesterday how many U.S. extradition requests have been pending in Bogota, officials said it is likely the Bush administration will renew the requests by sending new legal documents to the Colombians. Certainly if there are people who are still wanted in the United States, we will continue to try and get them-now that there is a possibility that we can get them, said an administration legal expert. The United States is unwilling to divulge details about extradition proceedings against cartel members, including Mr. Martinez, because it fears that law enforcement agents-such as the U.S. marshals who might bring them back here-would then become targets for the traffickers. Mr. Martinez, 35, was indicted March 29 as part of Operation Polar Cap, a U.S. investigation into a ring that laundered an estimated $1.2 billion in drug profits over two years. The investigation resulted in charges against 127 persons and two Latin American banks. A 75-page indictment filed in Atlanta charges that Mr. Martinez acted as a broker in negotiating with money-laundering groups on the cost of laundering the Medellin cartel's drug proceeds. It could take anywhere from several weeks to much longer for the suspect to be extradited to United States, depending on how fast Colombia puts the new procedures in place and how much judicial review they receive, the U.S. legal expert said. I'm not sure who the wheels of justice move in this area,Ê Mr. Boucher said. But it's certain that we want him in the United States. We want to prosecute him here, and we're discussing with them how to get him back here. In light of last week's assassinations in Colombia, the administration said yesterday it was speeding up a Justice Department program, funded at $2.5 million annually this fiscal year and next, to train Colombian judges, other government officials and journalists to defend themselves against reprisals from the drug traffickers. Colombian drug cartels have murdered more than 50 judges in recent years and have terrorized other civil and military authorities as well. Any further increase in the roughly $10 million that United States spends annually to help Colombia to fight drugs is not expected to be announced until the Bush administration unveils a comprehensive anti-drug strategy early next month. On a related topic, Mr. Boucher said the State Department was looking into reports Israeli and South African mercenaries are helping to train hit squads for the Colombian drug cartels. Behind the Colombia Bust A DEA Scam Hooks a Drug-Cartel Money Man --- BY Peter Ross Range DD 08/27/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: OUTLOOK TX IN THEIR Atlanta headquarters, John Featherly and Cesar Diaz were on to something big. For months, they had been laundering millions of illegal drug dollars for Colombia's notorious Medellin drug cartel. Now, they had made contact with a man at the top fo the heap in the cartel's financial operations. The Atlanta pair had ample reason to celebrate. For one thing, there was a 4-percent commission on all the cash they could shuffle through several U.S. bank accounts and into a Colombian-controlled bank in Panama. For another, Featherly and Diaz were not crooks at all. They were undercover agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration. And the man they had now conned was Eduardo Martinez Romero -- the biggest initial arrest in last week's massive crackdown on Colombia's drug lords. In comparison to the cartel bosses being sought in the national dragnet triggered by multiple murders of Colombian officials, Martinez is described as only a "medium fish." But to federal drug agents and prosecutors in Atlanta and Washington who ran the multi-million laundering sting, he's a splendid catch. And it will be particularly rewarding if * Martinez is successfully extradited, because he had eluded U.S. agents by minutes in an arrest attempt a few months ago in Panama. How U.S. narcotics cops tracked and suckered Martinez into a DEA-sponsored money-laundering scam is emblematic of the methods and success, and extraordinarily high labor costs, of anti-trafficking efforts today. Featherly and Diaz were only a one part of an operation that involved more than two years' work by undercover agents, DEA supervisors and technical experts as well as the drug task force of the U.S. attorney's office in Atlanta. The operation also reveals a new reality in the drug business: The trade is so successful that its biggest problem is not the threat of arrest or seizures of drugs, but how to move vast amounts of money. Annual sales revenues are estimated at $100 billion, and almost all of it begins as cash. Managing that volume is extremely difficult, since federal law requires reporting of cash transactions or bank deposits in excess of $10,000. Some of the currency is used to purchase cars or small businesses, airplanes and real estate. But most of it must be converted into another form for return to the drug lords. Laundering money is the process of transforming tainted currency into some other asset that is untraceable to its ill-gotten origins: property, investments, overseas bank accounts. Untraceable funds are "clean." Once, the money enters a bank account, it can be moved instanteously anywhere in the world by computerized electronic transfer with no special reporting requirements. This is the favored device of overseas drug traffickers who use the international banking system the same way that, say, General Motors does: to repatriate revenues and pay production costs. When tainted narcodollars are co-mingled with clean money in the worldwide wire transfer system; they become almost impossible to trace. "Once it's transferred overseas, the money trail is cut," says a Miami-based Internal Revenue Service investigator. Cash laundering is the lifeblood of the narcotics trade, the essential service without which the drug cartels cannot operate. Because of the staggering sums generated daily by street sales in the United States, the normally nationalistic Colombian traffickers are willing to step outside the Hispanic community to find professionals, who can launder their money quickly and efficiently. They want service from U.S. residents with expertise in accounting and a high comfort level around a big bucks -- "respectable type people from the suburbs," as one DEA agent puts it. That's where Featherly and Diaz came in. In their elaborate ruse to receive Martinez and his minions in the cartel's laundering pipeline, Featherly and Diaz assumed roles that came naturally to them, Featherly is an affable New York Irishman with a certain world-weariness who passed himself off as "Jimmy Brown," a shadowy New York Businessman and accountant accustomed to handling large-financial transactions. He portrayed Brown as a high roller with some former connections to Mafia money, "a high guy who talks to high guys," says agent Featherly in a language the crooks apparently understood. His sidekick, Diaz, a Cuban native raised in Miami, played "Alex Carrera," a Cuban-born, Miami-raised smoothie trying to make his way in the world of major crooks. Together, this improbable Crockett-and-Tubbs team led the penetration into the laundering operations of Eduardo Martinez. The story -- according to federal affidavits and interviews with U.S. law-enforcement officials -- began in 1986, when the Atlanta-based DEA agents launched a scheme to lure Colombian drug traffickers into a smuggling deal. That effort, in turn, led to the $17-million money-laundering scam that turned into an unexpected law-enforcement bonanza. The DEA already had experience in smuggling operations. Its undercover operatives had once before baited Colombian traffickers into their net with offers of secure airstrips in Georgia and North Carolina. That sting, known as the Caraballo case, led to three dozen arrests and the seizure of 700 kilos of cocaine. But it also produced a special bonus: A turncoat trafficker who agreed to become a DEA informant operating inside the trafficking rings. In 1968, the DEA sent that informant to Colombia to meet with his cartel contacts. In Medellin, he found the traffickers more concerned about getting their prodiguous daily profits out of the United States and into Latin American banks than about making arrangements for smuggling. In the drug business, networking is done the same way as on Wall Street or K Street, except that credentials aren't found on resumes. What's important is who vouches for you. Cartel bosses were looking for new laundering routes for their embarrassment of drug riches. The confidential informant said that he just happened to know a money-mover named "Jimmy Brown" and gave him an automatic vouch." In January 1987, Featherly and Diaz -- in their roles as Jimmy Brown and Alex Carrera -- began meeting in Atlanta with two Colombian launders named Jaime Parra and Francisco Serrano. The DEA agents started laundering drug cash collected in the United States, passing it through Atlanta's Citizens & Southern National Bank and New York's Chase Manhattan and Republic banks. Then the funds were wired to accounts in Latin America, including the Banco de Occidente in Panama. Later in 1987; the DEA's confidential informant was driven to meet another, bigger cartel launder in Medelin -- Eduardo Martinez. Martinez had heard of the Atlanta operation, and was looking for another channel for his money. He bragged to the informant that he handled big accounts, and opened a ledger that listed $12 million in laundered funds during one month Featherly and Diaz soon got a chunk of that business. Though Martinez refused to come to the United States, the agents often met the other Colombians for meals in the quiet luxury of Atlanta's Ritz Carlton Hotel on Peachtree Street. In contrast to the jewelry-draped ostentation of many U.S. drug dealers, the Colombian traffickers prefer a style of understated wealth, says Featherly. Throughout the negotiations, he found Parra and Serrano -- and later Martinez -- to be sophisticated in matters of money. The trick to the play-acting, says Featherly, was convincing the crooks that he was a serious, rich businessman. Elegant suits, posh hotels and expensive meals were the everyday accoutrementrs of the launders' operations -- as was a certain personal decorum. When the Colombians first decided to trust "Jimmy Brown" with an initial sum to launder, a courier arrived in a hotel bar with $94,000. Featherly angrily told the runner he didn't do business in bars and that he should take the shoeboxes full of cash upstairs to "Alex's" hotel room. "I never touched cash," says Featherly. "I made it seem that was for my workers to do." Once the $94,000 ("peanuts," says Featherly) was successfully laundered, the Colombians began moving millions Featherly's way. The DEA laundering scam delibertely operated slowly to accumulate maximum evidence. It photographed every single dollar bill of the $17 million that passed through it's hands during the 18-month operation. This foot-dragging had the desired effect: Eduardo Martinez demanded a meeting with the Atlanta launderers. But he refused to come to Atlanta, choosing Panama instead. In early 1988, Featherly sent Diaz to meet Martinez in Panama, knowing the move might anger Martinez. "It was like a general sending a sergeant to meet another general," laughs Featherly. For Diaz, the meeting on January 18, was a kind of fiery baptism in an unfamiliar form of undercover work. The DEA agent expected to meet Martinez in a hotel room somewhere. Instead, he was summoned to a conference room at Banco de Occidente de Panama, the Colombian-owned bank that was being used as a laundering conduit. Diaz, who was unarmed and wore no microphone, felt uneasy: "You always try to keep things in a neutral spot. You don't want to get on the bad guy's turf." Too late, Diaz found himself in the very belly of the beast, seated across from Martinez and his co-launderers, later joined by two now-indicted bank officers who assisted in the laundering. When Martinez walked in, remembers the agent, "they treated him like the president of the bank." (Banco de Occidente last week pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to laundering charges.) At that time, the DEA had an estimated $5 million in Martinez's drug money tied up in its launderling pipeline. Martinez began pressing Diaz on the reasons for delays. Trying not to appear nervous, Diaz smiled a lot and claimed not to know any answers. Whenever possible, he passed the buck to the conveniently absent "Jimmy Brown." For Diaz, operating solo and surrounded by dangerous men, the situation tested his improvisational skills to the utmost. "I was just wingin' it, making it up as I went along," he laughs today. Under pressure, Diaz offered to call the U.S. banks to find out why certain cash deposits had not yet been transferred. "Then I remembered, 'It's January 18, Martin Luther King's Birthday. The banks are closed.' That got me off that hook." Undercover work can make substantial demands on creativity. Finally, two months later, in March 1988, Martinez went for the big bait. He wanted to meet with Featherly. "We tried to get him to the U.S., but he was too smart, he wouldn't come," says one DEA agent. But Martinez did agree to a meeting on the Caribbean island of Aruba, only 80 miles off the Colombian coast and a favorite vacation retreat of wealthy Colombians who may travel there without a visa. For the meeting, Featherly took a $550-a night suite in a beachside hotel. Diaz came as sidekick and Spanish-speaking interpreter. DEA agent Albert Latson and a DEA engineer acted as backup agents in case of trouble -- and also installed a hidden video camera in Featherly's hotel suite. They recorded hours of conversations with Martinez, who, among other things, revealed details of a competing money-washing service called La Mina. (This tip would lead to a massive cross-country investigation called Operation Polar Cap that smashed La Mina's $12.2 billion Los Angeles-based laundering ring in February of this year.) In Aruba, the hours of good drinks, good meals and long conversation in the salubrious tropicaL setting had made pals of Featherly and Martinez -- "a warm relationship between crooks," as one DEA agent put it. Indeed, the ruse was so convincing that when the La Mina laundering operation was shut down in February, Featherly's phone in Atlanta began ringing off the hook as the cartel's laundering business shifted to him. Within five weeks, Featherly's team was ready to close down operations and arrest Martinex. Cesar Diaz was scheduled on March 29 to have another meeting with Martinez at a bank in Panama. DEA agents and the Panamanian Defense Forces staked out the bank. But Martinez, possibly tipped by supporters of Gen. Manuel Noriega, somehow got out of the bank even as Attorney General Dick Thornburgh was mistakenly announcing his arrest at a Washington press conference. Then, the money fish slipped the net. Last week he was back in. Peter Ross Range is a national correspondent for U.S. News & World Report. ART:ill dan sweetman for TWP UPse 10/27 1008 Colombian's lawyers say drug charges hyped ATLANTA (UPI) -- Attorneys for accused Medellin drug cartel financiar Eduardo Martinez Romero accused federal prosecutors of hyping charges against the Colombian for political reasons. In motions filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, Martinez' lawyers claim the indictment against him is largely fiction, reflecting a "high-flown conspiracy theory" aimed at linking him to Panamian dictator Antonio Manuel Noriega, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and the "obscure Medellin cartel." "The government seeks to sweep every narcotics trafficker, money launderer and politician worldwide into one monolithic conspiracy charge," the lawyers wrote. Martinez was extradited to Atlanta last month by the Colombian government and is being held in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. He was the first reputed major figure in the Medellin cartel extradited to the United States in the government's war on the illegal narcotics trade. A two-count indictment issued in March accused Martinez, 36, of aiding and abetting the distribution of cocaine by laundering or conspiring to launder more than $1.2 billion in drug profits. Prosecutors have called Martinez the finance minister of the powerful Medellin cartel, which is engaged in a violent conflict with the Colombian government. The motions also revealed another player in the case was being held at the Atlanta prison. Listed on the motions is G. Richard Strafer of Coral Gables, Fla., a law partner of Jose Quinon, who was co-counsel in last year's 7 1/2-month trial of Medellin cartel kingpin Carolis Lehder Rivas. Lehder was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The indictment resulted from a widespread undercover investigation in which agents posed as money launderers and drug traffickers. It also names two banks in Colombia and Panama and nine other individuals, including reputed cartel kingpins Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jorge Ochoa Vasquez and Gustavo de Jesus Gaviria Rivera. Sixteen other indictments and investigations of those reputed kingpins, and dozens of other people, are mentioned in the consipracy charges against Martinez. His attorneys say that is unfair "because the line between the separate conspiracies is hard to draw." The motions also privided the first hints of how the attorneys will try to explain Martinez' involvement with millions of dollars in chas that the government alleges he knew were drug proceeds. MARTINEZ VALDEZ, Jorge. Captain in Cuban military; involved with Pablo Escobar in transshipment of cocaine through Cuba; sentenced to death. MARULANDA, Diego. Cali cartel. Involved in setting up the Cali Miami-New York nexus in later 1970s. Fernando MARULANDA, perhaps a relative, is linked to the Pereira group of traffickers. Armando MARULANDA JARAMILLO, perhaps a relative, was reportedly extradited to the US on drug charges in 1987. MATTA BALLESTEROS, Juan Ramon (aka El Negro). Honduran trafficker with many contacts in Colombia. Began as pistolero, and developed contacts with Mexican and Medellin capos. Believed responsible for the murder of a DEA agent in 1985. Matta bribed 18 prison guards and walked out of a Bogota prison in March 1986. Returned to his home in Honduras where he was captured in 1988 and deported to the USA. Los Angeles Times, Thursday, September 6, 1989; Major Drug Ring Leader is Convicted by Henry Weinstein, Times Staff Writer: A wealthy Honduran businessman, considered by federal prosecutors to be most significant international drug trafficker ever tried in the western United States, was convicted by a federal court jury in Los Angeles on Wednesday of running a major cocaine syndicate and faces a possible life sentence. U.S. Atty. Gary A. Feess said Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros is on the level of the top 10 Colombian drug traffickers. The conviction of Matta stemmed from a Sept. 24, 1981, raid in which U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized 114 pounds of cocaine and $1.9 million at a Van Nuys apartment complex-at the time the largest cocaine seizure in Los Angeles history. Assistant U.S. Atty. Manuel Medrano said , This prosecution is a complete vindication of a federal law that provides severe penalties for those who run major narcotics organizations. The continuing criminal enterprise statute, Medrano said, also enable the government to convict Matta even though he never set foot in Los Angeles. He oversaw, managed and supervised the operation from his headquarters in Cali, Colombia, Medrano said. Assistant U.S. Atty. Jimmy Gurule, the lead prosecutor, said the case had been difficult because the government had to rely largely on ledgers and telephone records to link Matta to the Van Nuys operation. Someone as big as Matta, you won't find him in L.A., just like won't find Lee Iacocca selling cars in L.A., Gurule said in describing the Honduran as the chief executive officer of the drug ring. Martin Stolar, Matta's lawyer, said his client was an innocent victim of the war on drugs and vowed to appeal the conviction. This trial could not have been held at a better time for the prosecutors, with all the stories about Colombian drug dealers in the papers and on television the last three weeks, including President Bush's speech lat night [Tuesday], Stolar said. Stolar sent Bush a telegram Tuesday asking him to hold off on his major drug speech until after the jury had concluded its deliberations in the case here. Stolar said Wednesday that he received no response. Matta, 46, who has significant cattle and tobacco enterprises in Honduras, faces additional federal narcotics charges in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego. He is scheduled to go on trial there in November on charges stemming from a 1985 indictment. A jury of seven men and five women deliberated for slightly more than four days, interrupted by the Labor Day weekend, before returning guilty verdicts on all seven counts. Matta was convicted on one count of conspiracy, four counts of drug possession with intent to distribute and one count of running a continual criminal enterprise. The latter charge carries a potential life sentence without possibility of parole. The other counts carry sentences of up to 20 years each. Matta remained calm as the seven guilty verdicts were announced by a court clerk, after jury foreman Oliver Willman informed Federal Judge Pamela A. Rymer that deliberations were concluded. Later Stolar said his client was very upset, particularly about the fact that he would be separated from his wife, Nancy Vasquez, and his five children, three of whom had attended the trial with her. Felix Cerna Salgado, Matta's personal physician, who also is a Honduran senator, also attended the trial for many days. He told reporters that he had no knowledge of Matta being involved with drugs and said that his patient gave money to the poor. Stolar said that he will ask Rymer to overturn the verdict and, if that plea is rejected, he said he would appeal. Rymer set Oct. 5 as the date for Matta's sentencing. The government will ask for a life sentence without possibility of parole because that's what he deserves, Medrano said. Matta will be held in the federal penitentiary in Lompoc until sentencing, then returned there to await his November trial. One of the jurors said his colleagues had decided as a group not to talk about their deliberations. However, their verdict made it clear that they had given credence to the prosecution's key witness, Hector Barona Beccerra, who identified himself as a former coacine trafficker. Now in the federal witness protection program, Barona pointed at Matta in the courtroom and said he had flown narcotics for him since 1981, although he had been told at the time that the man who hired him was named Jose Campos. Barona said that he had met Matta in Cali and agreed to fly several loads of cocaine for him to Miami via the Bahamas. Stolar cross-examined Barona for 3 1/2 days and spent half of his closing argument attempting to undermine his credibility. Barona served only seven months of in prison after a drug trafficking conviction, and Stolar attempted to convince jurors that the witness had obtained his freedom by agreeing to tell tall tales about Matta. In his closing argument, Assistant U.S. Atty. Gurule countered by referring to documentary evidence that the government had presented during the four-week trial. The government introduced voluminous ledgers seized in Van Nuys in 1981 that detailed the drug ring's operations. The ledgers indicated that the enterprise had generated more than $73 million in proceeds in just nine months. The documents seized in Van Nuys referred to the money going to El Negro, the head of the operation. Prosecturs said said Matta was El Negro, while Stolar attempted to convince jurors that he nickname was a common one in Central America. Tuesday morning, he entered into the record a Times story that referred to a the arrest of a drug trafficker with the same nickname. The prosecutors also introduced telephone records, including records of calls from the Van Nuys complex to the office of a business owned by Matta's wife in Cali. Another key witness for the prosecution was veteran Drug Enforcement Agency agent Larry Lyons, who explained the ledgers in detail and said the Van Nuys ring operated along the lines of a classic Colombian cocaine cartel. We've never seen such detailed, voluminous, sophisticated ledgers, in Spanish, in code, said Medrano, who, like his co-counsel, Gurule, speaks fluent Spanish. Government sources have estimated that Matta, who was once a chemist, is worth about $2 billion. They have also said that he planed an instrumental role in persuading Colombian cocaine traffickers to shift many of their operations to Los Angeles in the early 1980s after intensified state and federal efforts curbed some of their operations in Miami. Feess called the conviction a major victory in the government's anti-drug campaign. He said Matta ranked with Carlos Lehder, and international narcotics trafficker serving a life sentence without possibility of parole in the Federal Correctional Institute in Marion, Ill. The particular case sends the message to Colombian we want to send- if you extradite drug traffickers, we'll aggressively prosecute them, and they will face stiff penalties here, Gurule said. The prosecutors declined to predict, however, whether the conviction would have any impact on the flow of drugs into Los Angeles. Matta has been out of operation for some months, Feess said, referring to the fact that he had been in custody since April, 1988, after a controversial arrest. Matta was seized by Honduran police and U.S. officials at his ranch outside Tegucigalpa. Honduras has no extradition treaty, and widespread anti-U.S. riots ensued. The annex to the U.S. Embassy was burned. Matta apparently has generated considerable good will in Honduras by employing as many as 5,000 people at his cattle, cigar and milk production facilities. The 1981 Van Nuys raid stemmed from a tip by DEA agents in Colombia. Seven people were arrested at the time. Five pleaded guilty, and one was convicted in a trial. They are all serving lengthy sentences. The seventh defendant fled and remains a fugitive. Matta was indicted in this case in 1984. MAYA RESTREPO, Juan Fernando. Close to Pablo ESCOBAR, and regarded as his "political secretary". MEDELLIN CARTEL. Based in Medell’n, Colombia; one of the major narcotics trafficking organizations. The Medell’n cartel was founded in 1982 in response to the kidnapping of Martha Nieves OCHOA VASQUEZ by the M-19. Key founders of the Cartel were Pablo Emilio ESCOBAR GAVIRIA, JosŽ Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ GACHA and Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ. Medellin Cartel Leaders Offered U.S. a Deal Officials Rebuffed Plan That Sought Amnesty for Ending Drug Trade, Providing Data on Leftists --- BY Michael Isikoff Washington Post Staff Writer 07/20/88 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 04: A SECTION TX In the fall of 1986, the leaders of the world's largest cocaine cartel offered U.S. officials a deal in which they would abandon the drug trade and provide sensitive intelligence about leftist guerrillas in Colombia in return for amnesty from prosecution, according to law enforcement sources and documents. In proposals presented to a Miami lawyer, the three top leaders of the Medellin cartel offered to "work for American intelligence" and inform on their guerrilla allies by supplying information about alleged Libyan arms shipments and Cuban personnel operating inside Colombia, according to internal Drug Enforcement Administration reports recounting the offer and other law enforcement sources. The cartel's proposed deal was reported by the lawyer to DEA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Miami, which passed it along to senior Reagan administration officials in Washington. But it was never pursued or taken seriously, according to U.S. law enforcement sources. "We don't do business with international outlaws," said Ann B. Wrobleski, assistant secretary of the state for international narcotics, who said she was aware of the offer. "These people are the scum of the earth." Nevertheless, the DEA documents recounting the cartel's efforts "to open negotations with the U.S. government" provide a rare glimpse into the leadership of a secretive criminal organization that has become the principal target of U.S. law enforcement efforts abroad. The documents were recently obtained by a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee that has been conducting a broad investigation of international narcotics trafficking. During three days of hearings last week, the panel heard new testimony about the cartel's expanding activities throughout Latin America, including buying protection from Panamanian officials, taking over businesses in Haiti, and, in one 1984 incident, attempting to buy surface-to-air missiles and a Bell helicopter on the international arms market. "The picture one gets from all this is that of an emerging new government," said Jack Blum, chief investigator for the panel chaired by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). The subcommittee also is examining whether the DEA's refusal to pursue further talks was a missed opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of the cartel and its relations with foreign governments. During some of the meetings, the Miami lawyer -- whose name has been deleted from the documents -- told DEA that cartel leaders claimed to be financing "both Sandinista and anti-Sandinista forces in Nicaragua" as well as maintaining close ties to Panamanian officials. Over the past 10 years, the cartel -- a loose collection of drug traffickers centered in the industrial city of Medellin, Colombia -- has created a highly efficient and vertically integrated conglomerate that has been estimated to gross more than $2 billion a year. From financing the growing of coca in Peru and Bolivia to the building of chemical laboratories in the Amazon jungle to the operation of smuggling flights into the United States, the Medellin cartel has been the major source of the cocaine that began appearing on U.S. streets in the mid-1980s, according to U.S. law enforcement officials. The cartel leaders also have introduced a new level of violence into the drug trade, establishing an uneasy alliance with the April 19 Movement, or M-19, one of at least four leftist guerrilla armies seeking to overthrow the Colombian government. In exchange for money and weapons, M-19 guerrillas have guarded the cartel's jungle airstrips and carried out occasional contract killings and political assassinations, including the November 1985 murder of 11 Colombian Supreme Court justices in Bogota. Yet the DEA documents suggest that, for all their apparent impregnability, the cartel leaders appeared to fear the threat of U.S. prosecution -- at least until June 1987, when the Colombian Supreme Court, in the face of threats and intimidation, struck down that country's extradition treaty with the United States. In late October 1986, the Miami lawyer, who sources said was referred to cartel leaders by their lawyers in Colombia, was invited to two meetings in Colombia with cartel leaders Jorge Ochoa, Pablo Escobar and Carlos Lehder, who was subsequently captured, tried and convicted in Jacksonville, Fla. He is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. The meetings took place at two locations -- a luxurious 3,000-acre hacienda owned by Ochoa and a smaller ranch equipped with a private zoo in the mountains outside Medellin, according to the documents that describe the lawyer's account of the meetings. According to the account, Ochoa, a cattle rancher and horse breeder who has been indicted by three grand juries in the United States, vented his frustration about his legal troubles, claiming he was employing more than 100 lawyers in the United States, Britain and Spain. Ochoa "screamed" about the "millions of dollars" he was paying his lawyers and was "quite angry" that he had to pay another $6 million in bribes to judges to get released from prison that summer. Ochoa had been arrested in Spain on drug-trafficking charges in November 1984. But in a development that outraged U.S. officials, Spanish authorities had extradited Ochoa to Colombia in August 1986 to face lesser charges of illegally importing bulls into the country. After posting an $11,500 bond, Ochoa was released by a Colombian magistrate who U.S. officials have long suspected was paid huge bribes to let him go. In addition, the documents reveal the cartel's willingness to turn against leftist guerrilla groups. The flamboyant Lehder, appearing in jungle fatigues with a rifle slung over his shoulder, told the lawyer that he and the other cartel leaders "hate the communists," according to the documents and closed session testimony by the lawyer before the subcommittee. Citing contacts inside Nicaragua and elsewhere, Lehder contended that he and other cartel leaders could supply the United States with specific information about the time and location of clandestine arms shipments to Colombian guerrillas and "background on Cuban personnel involved in Colombia." He also claimed knowledge of a large Libyan-supplied "radical force" operating in the Colombian mountains that consisted of "Palestinians, Libyans, Peruvians, Argentinians, Ecuadoreans and Cubans." "Lehder appeared to be under the impression that he, Escobar and Ochoa can work for American intelligence by supplying information about guerrilla activities, thereby incurring amnesty for their efforts," according to the DEA account. "They then can return to their families and call an end to their trafficking activities." U.S. officials noted that similar offers had been floated by cartel leaders in the past. In 1984, cartel leaders offered to pay off the Colombian national debt -- then estimated at more than $9 billion -- if the government would drop charges against them and scrap the country's extradition treaty with the United States. Wrobleski noted that at the time U.S. officials strongly urged the Colombian government of Belisario Betancur to reject the offer -- one reason she said was that it would have been politically impossible for the United States to even consider the offer. Other U.S. officials, speaking on the condition they not be identified, said the information Lehder was offering about leftist guerrilla groups appeared exaggerated and would have been of little use. Nevertheless, the idea continues to be suggested by some of the cartel's representatives. "If we were really serious about solving the drug problem, why not offer them amnesty?" Edward R. Shohat, Lehder's lawyer, said in a recent interview, though he said he wasn't making a formal proposal. Three months after the meeting with the lawyer, Lehder was captured in a jungle shoot-out after a tip that U.S. officials think came from inside the cartel, probably with the consent of Ochoa and Escobar. Chief federal prosecutor Robert Merkle said after Lehder's trial that his conviction had disrupted the cartel and predicted that its "days are numbered." But U.S. officials say that, while the cartel has suffered some temporary setbacks, they see little evidence that its operations are in trouble. Ochoa and Escobar have remained at large inside Colombia and, according to all accounts, are continuing to supervise a thriving business whose greatest threat is not from U.S. prosecutors, but increasing competition from a rival trafficking group called the Cali cartel. "We know where they are, we get intelligence reports on them daily, " said Richard Gregorie, chief assistant U.S. attorney in Miami, about the Medellin cartel leaders last week. "We just can't get our hands on them." UPn 10/20 1821 Cartels request talks as bomb explodes at hotel By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- Presidential candidate Bernardo Jaramillo, who has received numerous death threats from Colombia's drug cartels, said Friday he had been approached by the drug traffickers and they now want to talk. Jaramillo, head of the Patriotic Union formed in 1984 by the country's leftist guerrillas, said in an interview broadcast by Caracol radio that he had received a letter from the notorious Medellin cartel asking for a "dialogue," but said he would not agree to talks unless the cartels halted a wave of terrorism sweeping the South American country. On Friday afternoon a car bomb apparently planted as part of the drug war exploded in front of the Royal Hotel in the coastal city of Barranquilla and wounded six people, including a child, police reported. Authorities said enraged witnesses chased down and captured two men who parked the car -- filled with some 80 pounds of dynamite -- in front of the hotel and then fled moments before it exploded. Since a cartel-linked hit squad declared "total war" on the nation Aug. 24, more than 150 bombs have exploded in Colombia, killing at least 10 people. Jaramillo said such acts of terrorism should stop before the government consents to hold peace talks with the drug traffickers. "We received a communication from the city of Medellin ... to see what we thought about a possible dialogue -- not with the Patriotic Union but between the government and the so-called extraditables," said Jaramillo, referring to traffickers who are wanted in the United States on drug charges. "The conditions don't exist for a dialague with the extraditables as long as terrorist acts continue," said Jaramillo, who had called for government talks with drug traffickers in the past. An estimated 1,000 members of Jaramillo's Patriotic Union have been killed by so-called drug cartel hit squads in recent years. The party has condemned drug trafficking and much of Colombia's cocaine crop is grown in regions traditionally controlled by the leftist guerrilla forces. On Thursday, ex-president Alfonso Lopez Michelsen also said the time was not right for establishing a dialogue with the warring drug lords. "Right now a dialogue with the narcotics traffickers is not timely, and I don't know if it should ever take place," Lopez told reporters in the coastal resort of Cartagena after the opening of a Chamber of Commerce meeting. Colombia was also grappling Friday with warring bands of smugglers in the country's profitable emerald trade. Police and military reinforcements were searching Friday for 10 bandits who are believed to have gunned down seven emerald miners Thursday in Los Mangos, about 55 miles north of Bogota, Boyaca governor Cesar Garcia Nino said. The bandits made away with some $50,000 in cash and precious stones. Police announced Thursday they had arrested a pilot and alleged drug cartel member wanted on cocaine-trafficking charges by a federal court in Florida. Jose Ricardo de la Cuesta Marquez, an alleged member of the Medellin cartel, was captured late Wednesday in an exclusive residential section of northern Bogota, police said. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said the pilot was indicted last February in Jacksonville, Fla. on charges of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the state. In other developments, authorities said two police chiefs have been sacked for alleged involvement with the cocaine cartels. UPn 10/23 1525 Cartel offers truce; 18 die in Colombia violence BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- The leaders of the powerful Medellin cocaine cartel pledged Monday they would suspend their violent drug war against the Colombian government if the government would suspend extraditions of drug suspects to the United States. The offer came in a letter to Sen. Luis Giraldo, president of the congress, after a weekend of violence that claimed the lives of 18 people, including seven teenagers gunned down on a Medellin street corner. The letter was signed "The Extraditables," Giraldo told the press. He said he would turn it over to the government of President Virgilio Barco. The Medellin cartel, the largest of Colombia's cocaine producers and traffickers, declared "war" on the government after Barco instituted extradition to the United States in August following the assassination of leading presidential candidate Luis Galvan. Since them, bombings have become almost a daily occurrence and many people have died. Pablo Escobar, supposed head of the cartel, had previously offered to suspend operations of the cartel in exchange for imunity from prosecution and extradition for cartel members. It was not known whether any of the weekend killings were drug related. The worst incident was the massacre Sunday night of seven teenagers in Medellin. The youths, all under 18, were standing on a street corner shortly before midnight when armed men roared by on a motorcycle and opened fire, police said. Five of the victims died immediately and two others died later at a hospital. Police said no one claimed responsibility for the street corner shooting. The secret police have said that youth gangs have been recruited by cocaine cartel hit squads to kill political leaders and law enforcement officials. They said they were investigating to see if any of the youths killed Sunday night had police records. The assassination of two leftist union leaders as they drank beer in a bar in northwest Colombia Saturday night sparked a strike Monday by 22,000 banana plantation workers. "We have announced a halt to activities today to attend the funeral of our companions," said Antonio Espitia, secretary general of Sintrainagro, the banana workers' union. Sintrainagro called the work stoppage to protest the killing Saturday night of leftist union activists Alberto Jose Lopez Ramos and Henoc Campo Nunez who were shot down as they drank beer in a tavern. Uraba has suffered years of violent struggles among leftist guerrillas, the army, militant banana workers and rightist paramilitary groups. Two former air force officers, Edmundo Caviedes and Roberto Quintero, were killed by leftist rebels in Hacari municipality in North Santander state northeast of Bogota. A Defense Ministry source in Bogota said members of the guerrilla National Liberation Army attacked the pilots as they landed in a helicopter in Hacari. After killing the pilots, the rebels fled with almost $50,000 the men were transporting to a bank in Hacari. In Mutata, in the northern part of Antioquia state, three prisoners were killed Saturday by members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in an attack on the municipal jail, police said. Although there was no apparent connection between the prisoners and the guerrilla group, police said the rebels entered the area at 10 p.m. Saturday and went directly to the jail, where they killed the convicts. Police in Medellin also said they found the bodies of two couples in separate neighborhoods. UPwe 11/01 0120 Anderson warns against powerful Medellin drug cartel LAS VEGAS (UPI) -- Americans should not fret over a possible war with the Soviets, but about the threat posed by the powerful Medellin drug cartel, syndicated columnist Jack Anderson warned Tuesday. Anderson said the Columbian-based cartel, which does $18 billion worth of business every year in the United States, is a greater menace to America than the Soviet Union. The columnist spoke to about 2,500 people attending a luncheon session of the Medical Group Management Association at the Las Vegas Hilton. Anderson warned doctors and medical administrators not to take lightly the threat posed by the drug group. "They (cartel members) really would take on the powerful U.S. since there is so much money involved," Anderson said adding that written warnings have been sent to government officials threatening to blow up nuclear reactors in the United States. "George Bush's life in in danger," Anderson said, explaining that the president, because of his war on drugs program, has been targeted for assassination by cartel members. He told of the arrests of one group of assassins in New England and said federal law enforcement agencies have under surveillance teams training elsewhere in the country. "It's not the ones we know about that are the worry, it's how many others are there that we don't know about," he said. UPne 01/04 1814 Report: Colombian terrorists planning city attacks NEW YORK (UPI) -- The police department is investigating a report that Colombian drug dealers were planning a series of bomb attacks against federal buildings in the city, a broadcast report said Thursday. Anthony M. Voelker, chief of the department's organized crime control bureau, said in a memo sent to top police officials that operatives from the Medellin cocaine cartel were planning to attack local offices of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration or other federal buildings, WNBC-TV reported. "There are persons already in place in New York with the necessary equipment for this purpose," the report quoted the memo as saying. Voelker identified the source of his information as a confidential federal informant, and said the informant heard of the plan from a "sub" source. Voelker refused to confirm or deny the existence of the report. "That doesn't ring a bell that kind of information I get and pass along," Voelker said. "But it's kind of hard to answer like that because there are lots of things like that that." "That doesn't mean it didn't happen," he said. "There's lots of information concerning threats that cross this desk and it's routinely passed on. I don't have an independent recollection (of the memo)." Police Commissioner Richard Condon, one of the two people the report said received the memo, said he had no knowledge of any recent warnings concerning Colombian terrorist attacks. NBC said the memo was also sent to Chief of Department Robert Johnson, who could not be reached for comment. MEJIA PELAEZ, Luis Fernando. Alleged Medellin money launderer operating in Mexico; captured in San Diego, CA on November 1, 1989. UPn 11/01 1403 Alleged Colombian launderer captured By HILMER ANDERSON SAN DIEGO (UPI) -- A Colombian who allegedly headed a network that laundered as much as $50 million a month for the Medellin cocaine cartel has been captured in San Diego, authorities said Wednesday. The suspect, Luis Fernando Mejia Pelaez, was arrested by U.S. authorities at the same time as his alleged operation in Tijuana, Mexico, was broken up by Mexican police. Thirteen others were arrested in Mexico for allegedly laundering money on behalf of the Medellin cartel. Mejia was arrested last Thursday night at a San Diego motel by U.S. Customs agents acting on a 207-count indictment charging him with laundering $36 million in drug money through three banks and a currency exchange house at the U.S.-Mexican border. Assistant U.S. Attorney L.J. O'Neale said a bail hearing for Mejia, who was indicted in 1986 along with eight others, was set for Wednesday before a federal magistrate. O'Neale said Mejia had a Colombian passport and a Mexican driver's license that listed a Tijuana address. Authorities refused to say how U.S. authorities were led to the motel where Mejia was arrested or why he was in the United States. Mexican Federal Judicial Police said in a statement that the Tijuana ring allegedly used two peso exchanges, three auto dealerships and banks in Tampa, Miami, New York and Panama to launder as much as $50 million monthly back to the drug barons in Colombia. Police said 42 cars and $100,000 in cash were seized and 13 suspects arrested in Mexico. The suspects included three Colombians and 10 Mexicans, mostly low-level members of the ring. MELMAN, Yossi. Washington Post journalist.MENDEZ, Rodney. Launderer in Bogota, associate of Pablo ESCOBAR and formerly VP of Avianca. Owner of noted restaurant in Bogota. He may be a relative of Medellin trafficker Benito MENDEZ in front of whose residence a carbomb was exploded in 1986. MERA MOSQUERA, Eduardo. Cali trafficker; associate of Severo ESCOBAR, Jose SANTACRUZ LONDONO and Jose CABRERA SARMIENTO. Active in Miami, New York and Indiana; captured in New York, but released by mistake. APn 10/15 1507 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By STAN YARBRO Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Authorities captured a man convicted five years ago of drug trafficking charges in New York and seized an alleged accountant for one of Colombia's powerful drug lords, news reports said Sunday. Police arrested Victor Eduardo Mera Mosquera, 36, at his apartment Friday in the southern city of Cali, according to reports in Bogota's two largest papers, El Tiempo and El Espectador. He was convicted in New York in February 1984 and charged with taking part in a drug ring operating in New York, Florida, Texas, California and Arizona, El Tiempo reported. El Espectador said he was freed from a Manhattan jail because of a "bureaucratic error." It did not elaborate. The paper reported that he was arrested again in Bogota in 1986 but was released months later by a judge who ruled authorities had not completed the paperwork for his extradition to the United States in the time alloted by the law. Spokesmen for the national and local police in Cali said they could not confirm Mera Mosquera's arrest or details about him. The U.S. Embassy in Bogota says it cannot comment on specific extradition cases. In a raid Saturday on a Bogota apartment, police captured Tulia Consuelo Rincon Barrera, 35, whom they said was an accountant for Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, one of the three leaders of the Medellin cocaine cartel, El Espectador reported. The young accountant maintains she never met the Medellin cartel leader and only filled out income tax forms for one of his reputed underlings, Leonardo Vargas Vargas, who was arrested last week, El Espectador said. The two arrests reported Sunday were the fourth and fifth in a week. Among those arrested last week were Jose Rafael Abello Silva, 34, who is wanted by a federal court in Oklahoma on charges of conspiracy and distribution of cocaine. Julian Palma Molina, 46, also was arrested last week and is wanted by federal authorities in Miami on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. El Espectador reported Sunday that he has been notified of his extradition and has five days to appeal. On Saturday, three other drug suspects were extradited to the United States -- Ana Helena Rodriguez de Tamayo, Bernardo Pelaez Roldan and Roberto Victor Carlini. The extraditions bring to four the number of people sent to the United States from Colombia since Aug 18, but none is on the U.S. government's list of the 12 most wanted drug suspects. In the first extradition, Eduardo Martinez Romero was sent to Atlanta Sept. 6 to face money laundering charges. Rodriguez de Tamayo is wanted on a 1983 federal indictment in Miami on conspiracy and drug trafficking charges. Pelaez Roldan faces a 15-year-sentence after being convicted on drug trafficking charges five years ago in Detroit. Carlini is wanted by federal authorities in Miami. President Virgilio Barco announced his war on drugs after the assassination Aug. 18 of Sen. Luis Carlos Galan, the leading presidential candidate and an anti-drug crusader. Barco said he would seize the property of drug traffickers and extradite reputed narcotics figures to the United States. After the extraditions, gunmen Saturday killed an off-duty police officer in Medellin, and a bomb exploded in the drug-infested city, injuring another officer. UPn 10/19 1545 Feds seek extradition of Colombian in estimated $3.... Feds seek extradition of Colombian in estimated $3.5 billion coke ring By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM NEW YORK (UPI) -- Federal authorities sought the extradition Thursday of a convicted cocaine smuggler who used a bureaucratic mixup to escape custody and flee to Colombia in 1984, officials said. Victor Eduardo Mera Mosquera, 36, convicted in absentia of smuggling tons of cocaine into the United States, was arrested Saturday in Cali, Columbia, and Justice Department officials said they were resubmitting to the Colombian government documents to support an extradition request. "We are resubmitting ... all the documents in the case to have him returned to the United States," said Joe Krovisky, a Justrice Department spokesman in Washington. "We just want him back." Mera Mosqeura, a former judge in Colombia, and an associate, Severo Escobar, directed the U.S. operations of an estimated $3.5 billion cocaine distribution ring linked to the Cali Cartel. The cartel reportedly smuggled more than 5 tons of cocaine from Central America through Miami, New York and Indiana in 1982 and 1983, officials said. Escobar and Mera Mosqeura, described by investigators as a womanizer who favored flashy jewelry, worked for Jose Antonio Cabrera-Sarmiento -- known as Pepe Cabrera -- and were linked to Cali Cartel boss Jose Santa Cruz Londono, said Bobby Johnson, a retired police detective with the New York Drug Enforcement Task force. Mera Mosquera and 16 others were indicted in 1984 on conspiracy and cocaine distribution charges. He and Escobar were also charged with operating a continuing criminal enterprise under the so-called drug kingpin statute and ordered held on $1 million bail, Johnson said. During pretrial hearings in the case, Mera Mosquera and Escobar walked out of the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan when a U.S. marshal misread a sheet listing the disposition of the various defendants, some of whom were to be released on their own recognizance. The two fled to Colombia, but Escobar and Cabrera-Sarmiento were arrested and extradited to the United States, where they were tried and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Since his escape from New York, Mera Mosquera has been arrested twice in Colombia -- once in 1986 with the assistance of U.S. marshals -- but managed to escape each time, said an investigator for the Marshals Service who was familiar with the case. Prosecutors said Mera Mosquera was responsible for coordinating cocaine distribution for the ring in New York City, which he claimed amounted to 1,000 kilograms a month, and collecting the proceeds, which he once said totaled $4.5 million. On Saturday, the Colombian government Saturday extradited three accused drug traffickers, including a key figure in the notorious Medellin gang, to the United States, defying long-standing threats of violent retaliation by the nation's powerful cocaine cartels. "Courage," a 1986 made-for-television movie starring Sophia Loren and Billy Dee Williams, who played detective Johnson, was based on the New York City woman who worked as an undercover informant for Johnson and the task force in the 24-kilo case that led to the arrests of Mera Mosquera, Cabrera-Sarmiento and Escobar. UPne 12/24 0746 Colombia extradites reputed drug ring leader NEW YORK (UPI) -- A convicted Colombian cocaine trafficker released by mistake before his 1984 federal trial was extradited to the United States Sunday for sentencing, U.S. marshals said. Victor Eduardo Mera-Mosquera, 36, was handed over to marshals by the Colombian government on Saturday and flown from Bogota to New York. Mera-Mosquera, a Colombian native, arrived early Sunday and was held at an undisclosed location, said William Dempsy, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service. A sentencing date has not been set, he said. Mera-Mosquera is the 11th suspected or convicted drug trafficker extradited from Colombia to the United States under an anti-drug program initiated by Colombian President Virgilio Barco last August. The extraditions have led to a campaign of bombings and other terrorism by the drug cartels against Colombian government, judicial and commercial targets. A logistical mixup allowed Mera-Mosquera to flee from custody prior to his February 1984 trial in New York on charges of drug trafficking and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, Dempsy said. He was convicted in absentia. Authorities apprehended Mera-Mosquera last October in Cali, Colombia, and the Justice Department sought his extradition. Dempsy said Mera-Mosquera, who is allegedly linked to the Cali cocaine cartel, was convicted as one of two particpants in a ring that possessed and distributed "massive quantities of cocaine." Prosecutors said Mera-Mosquera was linked to the Cali Cartel and was responsible for coordinating a cocaine distribution operation in New York, which he allegedly claimed amounted to 1,000 kilograms a month and brought in $4.5 million. The government said the conspiracy operated for about a year, beginning in November 1982. Mera-Mosquera was one of the drug figures portrayed in a 1986 television movie, "Courage," based on the story of the undercover informant who provided the information that led narcotics investigators to his arrest. UPn 12/24 0736 Colombia extradites reputed drug ring leader NEW YORK (UPI) -- A convicted Colombian cocaine trafficker released by mistake before his 1984 federal trial was extradited to the United States Sunday for sentencing, U.S. marshals said. Victor Eduardo Mera-Mosquera, 36, was handed over to marshals by the Colombian government on Saturday and flown from Bogota to New York. Mera-Mosquera, a Colombian native, arrived early Sunday and was held at an undisclosed location, said William Dempsy, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service. A sentencing date has not been set, he said. Mera-Mosquera is the 11th suspected or convicted drug trafficker extradited from Colombia to the United States under an anti-drug program initiated by Colombian President Virgilio Barco last August. The extraditions have led to a campaign of bombings and other terrorism by the drug cartels against Colombian government, judicial and commercial targets. A logistical mixup allowed Mera-Mosquera to flee from custody prior to his February 1984 trial in New York on charges of drug trafficking and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, Dempsy said. He was convicted in absentia. Authorities apprehended Mera-Mosquera last October in Cali, Colombia, and the Justice Department sought his extradition. Dempsy said Mera-Mosquera, who is allegedly linked to the Cali cocaine cartel, was convicted as one of two particpants in a ring that possessed and distributed "massive quantities of cocaine." Prosecutors said Mera-Mosquera was linked to the Cali Cartel and was responsible for coordinating a cocaine distribution operation in New York, which he allegedly claimed amounted to 1,000 kilograms a month and brought in $4.5 million. The government said the conspiracy operated for about a year, beginning in November 1982. Mera-Mosquera was one of the drug figures portrayed in a 1986 television movie, "Courage," based on the story of the undercover informant who provided the information that led narcotics investigators to his arrest. APn 12/28 0845 Cocaine-Extradition Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. NEW YORK (AP) -- The 11th person extradited from Colombia to the United States since its current crackdown against drug traffickers began in August has pleaded innocent to drug charges. Victor Eduardo Mera-Mosquera, 36, a convicted cocaine smuggler, was turned over to U.S. marshals by Colombian authorities on Sunday. Mera-Mosquera was mistakenly released from federal detention in New York and fled to Colombia before his trial in 1984. He was convicted in absentia of drug conspiracy and distribution, for which he faces up to 30 years in prison. He also faces trial on a subsequent charge of running a continuing drug enterprise, with a maximum penalty of life in prison. He denied the charge Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Morris Lasker, who ordered him held without bail. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Lee Warren said the government would drop the new charge if Mera-Mosquera receives the 30-year sentence he faces on his 1984 conviction. Colombia's extradition treaty with the United States has a 30-year maximum on the terms fugitives may face here. Mera-Mosquera was convicted of co-directing U.S. operations of a ring that smuggled more than 2,200 pounds of cocaine, starting in 1982, according to his indictment. The new charge stems from the same activities. Lasker did not set a sentencing date. MERMELSTEIN, Max. Medellin cartel fixer, chemist and money manager. He was involved in the establishment of a narcotics factory in the Llanos region and the establishment of a cartel airstrip at Nuevo Laredo, Texas. He is an associate of the OCHOA organization, and worked with Fabio OCHOA in planning the assassination of Barry SEAL. MESA VELASQUEZ, Luis Eduardo. Represents traffickers Joaquin BUILES GOMEZ, and Carlos Mario TORO VELASQUEZ. Present at a January 1988 meeting of Medellin capos. MESA, Hector. Employee of Banco Cafetero. Suspected of money laundering. Part owner of Deportivo Independiente of Medellin, and numerous commercial ventures. In financial difficulties, he sold the club to the PIEDRAHITA brothers and to Pablo CORREA ARROYAVE, and Pablo CORREA RAMOS who was later murdered. MILIAN RODRIGUEZ, Ramon. Cartel accountant and money launderer; associated with both Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ and Pablo ESCOBAR. As a part of his testimony in exchange for immunity from prosecution, he laimed to have shipped vast quantities of money to Manuel NORIEGA and that the Medellin Cartel funded Sandanista revolutionaries in Nicaragua. MILLON PALACIOS, Juan Bautista and Fernando. Capos in the Gulf of Uraba and Acandi region. Co-owners of two coastal airlines. Works with Gilberto GALVEZ, a trafficker, and with Luis Carlos QUINTERO, Hernando BUITRAGO, Mario SALAZAR and Ernesto MEJIA MAYA. May also work with the PARIAS CARBO brothers, Francisco and Julio, the latter picked up in Florida in November 1980 while trying to sell 310 kilos of HCL. MILLS, James. Author of The Underground Empire. Stalking International Drug Traffickers THE UNDERGROUND EMPIRE Where Crime and Governments EmbraceBy James Mills Doubleday. 1,165 pp. $22.95 By Robert Sherrill DD 06/01/86 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 04: BOOK WORLD TX JAMES MILLS FIGURES illegal drug dealers around the world earn a half-trillion dollars a year, and he adds, for those who need imagery to grasp that figure, "A half-trillion dollars would weigh more than the entire population of Washington, D.C." Industrialists on that scale, needless to say, have lots of well-placed friends. "Over a period of six years," he writes, "I became convinced of the participation in the drug traffic of high officials in at least 33 countries." He includes the United States, of course, but -- except for the CIA, whose "still-fresh footprints" he claims to have seen in a number of major narcotics camps -- he is unfortunately vague about who or how. Efforts to stop drugs at the border are phony; it can only be done at the source. Using this standard, he finds all presidents guilty by reason of apathy, except Nixon, who was "the only president ever to make the battle a serious foreign policy issue." Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs, which Mills considers "a joke," can be measured by the $50.2 million the United States spent to control drugs around the world in 1984 -- "less than the value of a single load of cocaine." If our leaders weren't less concerned with cocaine overdoses and "marijuana-fogged seventh graders" than they are with maintaining diplomatic relations with criminal governments, says Mills, they would twist the arms off Peru, whose coca amounts to half of all the cocaine consumed in the United States, and Panama, "the world's cocaine banker," and Mexico and Colombia, whose profits from drugs "probably amount to 75 percent of their total export earnings." Instead, the United States goes along with the charade of Latin American cooperation. "A Colombia Navy patrol boat, provided at a cost of $2 million by the United States, operating in the most smuggler-infested waters in the world, had in two years searched only fifteen vessels. It seized one kilo of cocaine, some marijuana residue, and a small amount of American currency. Of two hundred arrests made by a Colombian Customs boat (also a gift of the United States), only four defendants had been convicted and all of them subsequently 'escaped.' " If President Reagan is still in the mood to retaliate against terrorists, he might want to consider bombing Bogota. Mills lists two full pages of anti-American terrorists attacks by Colombian drug dealers seeking revenge for our lack of hospitality. But let's not get too serious. Only a minor part of The Underground Empire is addressed to the author's outrage. Most of it is about spirited narcs-and-dealers chases. ONE NIGHT in 1979 at a Washington party Mills heard some guests talking about "Centac," and when he asked what it was, the answers were "politely evaded or ignored." And yet the next day he was taken, "without warning or explanation," to a hideaway suite "in one of Washington's most notorious wino-junkie neighborhoods," to meet Dennis Dayle, head of Centac, an elite corps of 50 agents in the Drug Enforcement Agency, who spent the next four hours answering every question Mills could think to ask. Hey! What remarkable luck! Why was he chosen for that flood of candor when, he says, up to that time "no more than a handful of men in the world understood completely what Centac was and what it did"? We don't get an answer. Nor do we learn why, a few weeks later, the DEA decided to let him have access to some of its secret files and tag along, tape recorder humming, on some of Centac's operations. My guess is that DEA wanted some classy publicity to use at budget time and it knew Mills could handle both nonfiction (The Prosecutor) and fiction (Report to the Commissioner), and had a good sense of humor and a sometimes Saturday-matinee style that would go nicely with the DEA's usual blend of fact and fiction. If that was the motive, Mills produced too late. Centac was killed when the Reagan Administration reshuffled the drug enforcement bureaucracy. The Underground Empire can serve as Centac's eulogy and sarcophagus. It is sometimes floridly windy enough for the one ("Like a solitary flower pushing vulnerably from a crack in parched earth, Centac's chances of survival in the tradition-bound bureaucracy were uncertain indeed"), big enough for the other. Mills describes his adventure with Centac as "a five-year odyssey through a labyrinthine underground world I believe no journalist ever before traveled end-to-end, a meticulously filligreed web of passages within which hums and clatters a multibillion market of drugs, assassins, weapons, and spies. It was a world of diplomats, statesmen, global politics, and crime, where everything could be bought for cash -- lives, armies, the governments of nations." Wow! But let's go on. "Centac became at once a lens through which to view that Empire, and a vehicle to take me to its center, face to face with its leaders, their wives and lovers, into their mansions and yachts, their banks and counting rooms, to a secret wonderland of wealth so vast it threatened the economic stability of the world." I don't remember accompanying Mills to all those places, but he did do an awful lot of leg work and interviewing. My only quibble is that most of those he got his information from were, necessarily, drug agents and drug dealers (turned stool) who were doubtless eager to impress this writer with what romantic chaps they were -- "free spirit people," as one dealer put it to Mills. The book revolves around Centac's efforts to build conspiracy cases against three organizations -- "one led by a wealthy, homicidal power-obsessed Cuban homosexual named Alberto Sicilia-Falcon, another by a young American entrepreneur named Donald Steinberg (a man with criminal operations on four continents and a daily income greater than U.S. Steel's), and a third masterminded by a rumpled, retiring -- and murderously ruthless -- Chinese named Lu Hsu-shui . . . whose global power included ties to a three-thousand man drug army and the intelligence services of at least three nations." YOU'RE GOING to have to get used to superlatives. Mills is apparently a product of the Sax Rohmer school of writing --"the largest, most sweeping criminal investigation in history," "the most menacing criminal groups in the world." There are no ordinary cops and criminals here. One drug soldier is "a stone cold diabolical psychotic killer" who moves "with the stealth and skill of a jungle cat." A stoolie named the Fatman "has the mind of a fox, the ethics of an alley cat, and the quick-kill instincts of a rattlesnake." Dealer Lu Hsu-shui is "wary as a cobra" and moves "with speed and cunning in the twisted passageways of . . ." Mills looks into the eyes of a Colombian dealer and sees "quietly revealed a mind educated to cunning, eager to locate deceit, ready in an instant to murder." Sometimes, I have to admit, I get the feeling Mills is exaggerating, as when he says that a Centac agent, as remarkable as Mr. Memory in The 39 Steps, "had been digging away at the Steinberg empire for more than a year, had committed all the investigation's files to memory. Names, dates, addresses, phone numbers, license plate numbers, bank account numbers, aircraft registrations, ship names, corporate histories -- he carried it all in his head." I won't give away the conclusions of the three investigations except to say that Director Dennis Dayle's boast, "We can do anything," turned out to be wrong. Still, along the way the Centac chases provide Mills with many good anecdotes, some glossy profiles, some stuff that, as he admits, is kind of hard to believe. But when the topic is drugs, who insists on credibility? You will like the tunnelling escape from prison in Mexico, and the Jimmy Valentine opening of a safe in South Florida. If your taste is People magazine, you will go for the rumors that place a female federal magistrate in bed with the attorney for drug merchants. (Is that why she kills cases on technicalities?) And you will enjoy the slapstick evidence that a drug king's life is not all Maserati cars and Dom Perignon champagne. The bad news is the poundage. It reminds me of that recent New Yorker cartoon: a publishing house executive, referring to the mound of manuscript on his desk, says to the author, "I'm sorry we can't be more encouraging, but allow me to add that you've got a hell of a lot of book here." A good writer/good reporter has been seduced and betrayed by his own diligence. Mills collected "hundreds of pages of classified documents, 183 two-hour tape cassettes (these eventually produced more than 7,000 pages of transcription), and 22 notebooks" -- and he fell fatally in love with too much of it. After trimming and discarding tons of stuff, he just didn't have the heart to cut the remaining ton by 50 percent, which would have left it a first-class book instead of a chore to get through. Robert Sherrill, author of "The Oil Follies of 1970-80: How the Petroleum Industry Stole the Show and Much More Besides," is at work on a book about Jimmy Carter. MOLINA YEPES, Luis Carlos. Medellin cartel treasurer, renowned dollar launderer and associate of Pablo Escobar Gaviria, who is wanted by the GOC for issuing checks that paid for the murder of Guillermo CANO ISAZA, former editor of El Espectador newspaper, Bogota. MOLINA, Alberto (aka Gilberto MOLINA). Trafficker who in January operated an airplane maintenance facility at Subachoque, near Bogota, where helicopters (including Panamanian registered) were serviced secretly. His La Fortuna ranch nearby had sophisticated warning devices and was a drug distribution center. Works with RODRIGUEZ GACHA. In Jan 88 was arrested on a murder charge. He was then called the owner of a 200 hectare coca plantation in Boyaca. Charges on narcotics had been previously dropped. He is an important emerald mine owner and believed to be the winner along with Juan BEETAR, and Victor CARRANZA in the recent struggle to control emerald operations in Colombia. Samin BEETAR, called the "King of the Mob" in Cartagena, was killed in a shootout with police in February 1987. MOLINA, Federico. Board member of Banco Ganadero; worked with Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ; also involved in numerous Colombian business syndicates (Fadegan, the Antioquia livestock federation, and the state-owned company Vecol). MONCADA, Geraldo. Money launderer for the Escobar and Ochoa organizations. Under indictment in Miami. MUNERA, Jaime. Involved with SANTACRUZ LONDONO and RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA in setting up Miami-NY operation in late 1970. MURILLO brothers. Medellin money launderers. NARES, Peter Writer for the Wall Street Journal.NASSER, Julio. Nasser, along with the VALDEBLANQUEZ family, are north coast vessel owners who shipped narcotics to the USA. NAVARRO KOURANY, Marlene. Another "Queen of Cocaine", who was responsible for muling $1 million from Miami to Colombia in 1980. Believed to be a member of a Barranquilla family of traffickers. After the death of Lara Bonilla a warrant was issued for her arrest and for apparent trafficking associates, Carlos ALVAREZ, Alvaro BARCENAS CARDENAS (the US requested his extradition in 1985), Mario OCHOA, Jairo RAMIREZ, Armando TEJADA, Antonio Jose URIBE, and another "cocaine queen" Carmenza VALENZUELA. NORIEGA MORENO, Manuel Antonio. Former Panamanian leader; currently awaiting trial in the United States on various trafficking related charges. The New York Times, Friday, September 1, 1989; U.S. Details Noriega's Drug Ties In New Effort to Force His Ouster; General Is Said to Aid in Medellin Cartel Shipments by Robert Pear, The New York Times: Washington, Aug. 31-In a new effort to turn world opinion against Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, the United States asserted today that the Panamanian strongman continued to play a major role in the laundering of drug money and the shipment of narcotics through his country. The Bush administration also said the general had built a personal fortune of $200 million to $300 million, mainly through drug trafficking and other criminal activities. But General Noriega once again defied the United States, arranging for the selection of a new figurehead president, Francisco Rodriguez. The selection insures that General Noriega, the Commander in Chief in the Panama Defense Forces since 1983, will retain power as the de facto leader of Panama. Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, addressing a special session of the Organization of American States, presented a catalogue of evidence to support accusations that General Noriega had turned Panama into a haven for drug traffickers. The United States appeared to be taking advantage of the new concern about drug trafficking caused by the assassinations of three prominent Colombians who had defied drug traffickers associated with the Medellin cartel. While denying any plans for military action to oust General Noriega, American officials said it would be justified if he continued to give refuge to drug smugglers. General Noriega protected cocaine shipments flown from Medellin, Colombia, through Panama to the Unites States, Mr. Eagleburger said. Further, he arranged for the transshipment and sale of ether and acetone to the Medellin cartel. He provided refuge for and a base for continued operations to the members of the Medellin cartel after the assassination of the Colombian Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, in 1984. He agreed to protect a cocaine laboratory being constructed in Darien province, Panama. And he assured the safe passage of millions of dollars of narcotics proceeds into Panamanian banks. In return for these services, Noriega received in excess of $4.6 million. The United States requested the meeting of the organization so it could respond to a challenge from Panama to present evidence supporting the accusations against General Noriega. Some of the evidence was familiar, having been cited in the indictments of General Noriega by two Federal grand juries last year. But the estimate of General Noriega's wealth, said by Mr. Eagleburger to total $200 million to $300 million, and the details of his links to the Medellin cartel were new. As part of his presentation, Mr. Eagleburger disclosed a letter from General Noriega to a London bank ordering the transfer of $14,936,426 to a bank in Luxembourg. The letter was dated Feb. 8, 1988., three days after the United States indictments were made public. Outside the organization's chamber, a diplomat from a Central American country said there was no smoking gun in the evidence offered today. But he said the cumulative effect of such evidence tended to strengthen the United States' case against General Noriega. President Bush, on vacation in Kennebunkport, Me., acknowledged today that he was frustrated with the failures of United States efforts to drive Noriega from power. But he said he would not abandon hemispheric diplomacy as a means to achieve that goal. There's a high frustration level, Mr. Bush said. I'm ready to concede that. But we are not going to give up on this. We are not going to permit the will of the people of Panama to be thwarted by this dictator, especially at a time when the whole hemisphere is moving down democracy's path. Mr. Bush also said, I am not going to give up on multilateral diplomacy. And he asserted that efforts to isolate General Noriega were succeeding. He said he saw a consensus among major nations that Noriega ought to get out. The Panamanian radio announced today that Mr. Rodriguez, an economist who has been the Comptroller General of Panama for seven years, would take office as President on Friday. Elections to choose a new president were held in May, but General Noriega annulled the elections after independent observers concluded that he had lost by a margin of about 3 to 1. A leader of the Panamanian opposition, Ricardo Arias Calderon, said the new government would be a continuation of the military dictatorship behind a new facade. Mr. Rodriguez attended high school with General Noriega and is a longtime friend. Panama's representative at today's O.A.S session, Jose Maria Cabrera, said evidence offered by Mr. Eagleburger was nothing but lies, fabrications and half-truths. He said the United States was using the 31-nation organization as a platform for a propaganda campaign against Panama. Mr. Rodriguez was selected by Panama's Council of State, which is made up of Cabinet ministers and senior officials from Government agencies and the armed forces. American officials said the council was controlled by General Noriega. The council said that Mr. Rodriguez would be the head of a provisional government and that the timing of new elections would depend, in part, on actions by the United States. Whoever is president of Panama, his term ends Friday under the Panamanian Constitution. It is not clear who, if anyone, will be recognized as the lawful ruler of Panama. UPsw 12/06 1232 Drug witness testifies he gave $300,000 ``gift'' to... Drug witness testifies he gave $300,000 "gift" to Noriega LAFAYETTE, La. (UPI) -- A government witness in the drug trial of 23 defendants has testified he gave a $300,000 "gift" to Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega in 1983 to allegedly start a money-laundering operation. Steven Michael Kalish, a convicted drug smuggler, told the jury in federal court Tuesday he met Noriega as part of a plan to launder the profits from the importation of hundreds of thousands of tons of marijuana. Kalish testified he took $2 million in cash to Panama in 1983 "to feel out the situation" with officials of that country. He said he met with Cesar Rodriguez and Enrique Pretel, partners with Noriega in the Servicios Touristicos company, to discuss the laundering plan. At his first meeting with Rodriguez and Pretel, Kalish said an unidentified military officer told him his private jet was being watched by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which had contacted Panamanian officials. "I had no idea who this military guy was," Kalish said. He told Rodriguez and Pretel he expected to have $100 million to launder and wanted assurances the money would be protected. The Panamanians then arranged a meeting with Noriega at the strongman's home. The next day, Kalish testified, he was taken to Noriega's home where he gave the leader a $300,000 "gift." "I am rather impressed that I am in this man's home," he told the court. Noriega agreed to assist the smugglers and an additional $2.5 million was sent to the Bank of Commerce Credit International in Panama, with Rodriguez, Pretel and a third man splitting a 5 percent commission, Kalish said. The importation ring was broken later in 1983 when drug enforcement officials seized a 200-foot barge near the Louisiana coast laden with 1 million pounds of marijuana. Kalish, 37, was the 70th witness to testify in the trial of the 23 defendants. He testified for the 1 million pound load, $25,000 was pto each member of a group of truckers who also were given $100,000 for their efforts in helping the Irish Republican Army. In another smuggling effort, Kalish said a boat was seized by the Colombian navy on it way to that country, but was freen members of the ring paid Colombian officials a bribe of $100,000. All of the defendants on trial are linked to the smuggling ring. APn 12/20 0238 US-Panama Statement Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Here is the text of the statement by White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater announced early Wednesday that President Bush had ordered American troops in Panama to seize dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega. The president has directed U.S. forces to execute at 1 a.m. this morning pre-planned missions in Panama to protect American lives, restore the democratic process, preserve the integrity of the Panama Canal treaties and apprehend Manuel Noriega The situation in Panama under Gen. Noriega has reached a crisis. Democratic elections have been thwarted; American lives have been endangered. The integrity of the Panama Canal treaties is at risk. Gen. Noriega is under indictment for drug-related charges and the president has made every effort peacefully to resolve the situation through negotiations under the auspices of the Organization of American States and Latin American leaders. Gen. Noriega has rejected all of these efforts. Last Friday, Noriega declared a state of war with the United States. The next day the PDF (Panamanian Defense Forces) shot to death an unarmed American serviceman, wounded another, seized and beat another serviceman and sexually threatened his wife. Under these circumstances, the president decided he must act to prevent further violence. Our troops will use only the force necessary to achieve the objectives and will be withdrawn as quickly as possible. At approximately midnight tonight, the democratically elected leaders of Panama, President Endara, and vice presidents Calderon and Ford, were sworn in and assumed their rightful positions. They welcome and support our actions and have stated their intention to institute a Democratic government immediately. The United States has recognized that government and will restore normal relations and will cooperate to rebuild a free and prosperous Panama. UPn 12/24 1814 Noriega seeks asylum at Vatican Embassy By DOUGLAS TWEEDALE PANAMA CITY, Panama (UPI) -- Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, the deposed Panamanian strongman wanted on U.S. drug charges, surrendered Sunday to the Vatican's diplomatic representative in Panama and asked for political asylum, church authorities told the U.S. Southern Command. Gen. Maxwell Thurman, head of the U.S. Southern Command and the top American military officer in Panama, announced the report of the surrender, but gave no further details. He said he would take no further action until he received "political instructions" from Washington. "A few minutes ago, we received a report that Mr. Noriega presented himself at the papal nunciature and turned himself in," Thurman said. "I am acting on the basis that it is true," the general said. The papal nuncio is the Pope John Paul II's ambassador to the Panamanian government. The Vatican Embassy in Punta Patilla, Panama City's banking district, enjoys the same protected diplomatic status as any foreign embassy. White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said he did not know if Noriega will be handed over to American authorities now policing Panama. Fitzwater, speaking for the president, said in a statement: "I am pleased that the general is now under the control of diplomatic authorities. His reign of terror is over. As we work to help restore law and order in Panama City, as the government of President (Guillermo) Endara begins its work, the decision of Gen. Noriega sends a strong signal that freedom and democracy in Panama are now on the rise." President Bush had said one of the principal goals of the invasion of Panama by nearly 26,000 U.S. troops was to capture Noriega and bring him to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking and racketeering. U.S. troops blocked off the area around the nunciature after the announcement and U.S. soldiers said there was small-arms fire in the neighborhood. "There is small-arms fire going off in the area," said a soldier holding back the public. "We are`trying to keep people safe by keeping them away." The soldier asked Spanish-speaking reporters to advise onlookers to stand back because they could be injured if Noriega's Dignity Battalions launched a mortar or grenade attack. Meanwhile, as the news spread in Panama City that Noriega had sought asylum, citizens poured into the streets, many honking the horns of their cars and cheering. "This is the best Christmas they could have given us," said Serafina de Gracia who was driving around the city with family. "We are very happy," Viovelda de Gracia said. It was not imemdiately known how the Vatican would answer Noriega's request for asylum. The news of the surrender broke less than an hour before Pope John Paul II's celebration in the Vatican of Christmas midnight mass and only 12 hours before his scheduled "Urbi et Orbi" message to Rome and the world on Christmas, the holy day second only to Easter in significance to most Christians. Calls to the Vatican went unanswered late Sunday. Vatican offices were closed for Christmas and not expected to reopen before Wednesday. Moreover, Vatican diplomats, not known for taking unnecessary risks on routine matters, were unlikely to comment on the general's unprecedented request at such a sensitive religious moment. The announcement that Noriega had turned himself in came shortly !fter U.S.-installed President Guillermo Endara, winner of an election last spring annulled by Noriega, said at a news conference that he would not extradite the fugitive leader if he "falls into our power." But Endara, speaking at his first news conference since being sworn in Wednesday, said a newly formed police force was "not looking for Noriega" and hinted that if U.S. forces captured the indicted strongman first, he might look the other way. "If Noriega falls into our power, we will respect the constitution and laws," Endara said, adding that the constitution forbids the extradition of any Panamanian citizens. "I am bound by the constitution and will respect it. "But if he comes into someone else's power, that would be something else. That would not be extradition." In Washington, Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney, speaking on ABC-TV's "This Week with David Brinkley" shortly before leaving for Panama himself, said that if Noriega was captured, his fate would have to be neogiated with the new Pana-anian government. "If he were to be captured in Panama and arrested, I suppose we would have to sit down and discuss" with the new Panamanian government whether he would be tried in the United States or Panama, Cheney said. A U.S. military official said before Noriega's appearance at the Vatican embassy was announced that pro-Noriega forces continued to offer scattered resistance. He said five Noriega loyalists were killed and 10 U.S. soldiers wounded in a firefight Saturday night. The official said 25 Americans had been killed and 281 wounded in fighting since U.S. forces attacked Panamanian military bases across the country in the largest U.S. military operation since the Vietnam war. The official said 154 "enemy forces" were killed, 113 wounded and 2,969 captured or detained after surrendering. Cheney said the situation was "steadily improving." "Last night, it was quieter than any night so far. We still have some incidents of shooting. We still have some Dignity Battalions running in the streets. ... The looting is dying out. "We've made significant progress in recruiting former members of the PDF to be part of the new security force ... more than a thousand now. The situation does appear to be improving, but it's not all over yet. There's still a lot of work to do." Endara said his government had no figures on how many Panamanian civilians died as a result of the U.S. attack, but estimated the toll "in the low hundreds." Vice President Ricardo Arias Calderon said members of the Public Forces of Panama -- created by Endara to replace Noriega's Panamanian Defense Forces -- would begin joint patrols with U.S. military police Sunday afternoon to try to restore order to the capital. Armed clashes and looting subsided greatly Sunday and were replaced by a festive mood in many parts of the capital. After Endara's news conference was broadcast on local radio station, residents in several neighborhoods spontaneously began banging pots and pans, honking car horns and shouting, "At last we are free." Endara held his news conference in provisional offices he had set up at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Panama City, surrounded by dozens of heavily armed U.S. troops. U.S. snipers were posted on rooftops around the Foreign Ministry and both American and Panamanian security officers frisked anyone entering the area, cordened off by concertina wire. Endara said his government had opened the international airport for the first time since Wednesday to allow flights carrying food and medicine for thousands of Panamanians left homeless and hungry by the U.S. invasion and the massive looting which followed and left most shelves in foo$ stores bare. Mercedes Morris, a spokeswoman for the Southern Command, said two C-130 transport planes carrying food was scheduled to arrive in Panama Sunday afternoon. Endara said Argentina and Costa Rica also planned humanitarian aid. About 2,000 Panamanians whose homes were destroyed in a U.S. bombing raid on Noriega's military headquarters Wednesday spent Christmas Eve in a refugee camp run by the U.S. military. An estimated 9,000 Panamanians whose homes were destroyed were put in a makeshift refugee center at Balboa High School, living in tents and using portable sanitary facilities. UPn 01/03 2140 Noriega handed over to United States By DOUGLAS TWEEDALE PANAMA CITY, Panama (UPI) -- Ousted Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega voluntarily turned himself over to U.S. authorities, a priest in the Vatican Embassy told United Press International. "At 8:50 p.m. General Noriega left the nunciature and a few minutes before 9 p.m. got aboard a helicopter that will take him to Fort Clayton and then to Miami," said Xavier Villanueva, a Roman Catholic priest at the Vatican mission. "He gave himself up," Villanueva said. Asked whether Noreiga's departure was a product of negotations, Villanueva said, "Of course." "The church expects that he will be treated humanely and that there will be no capital punishment for him," Villanueva said. Two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters took off about 9 p.m. from a field adjacent to the Vatican Embassy and headed out across Panama Bay, presumably with Noriega aboard. Sources said Noriega would be taken Wednesday night to Homestead Air Force Base, some 30 miles south of Miami. UPn 01/03 2220 Text of Bush's statement on Noriega WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Following is a text of President Bush's statement regarding the surrender of Panama Gen. Manuel Noriega. On Wednesday, Dec. 20 I ordered troops to Panama to meet four objectives, to safeguard the lives of American citizens, to help restore democracy, to protect the integrity of the Panama Canal treaty, and to bring Gen. Manuel Norgiega to justice. All of these objectives have now been achieved. At about 8:50 this evening, Gen. Noriega turned himself into U.S. authorities in Panama, with the full knowledge of the Panamanian government. He was taken to Howard Air Force Base in Panama, where he was arrested by the DEA. A U.S. Air Force C-130 is now transporting Gen. Noriega to Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. He will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Miami for charges stemming from his previous indictment for drug trafficking. I want to thank the Vatican, and the papal nuncio in Panama for their even-handed, statesmanlike assistance in recent days. The United States is committed to providing Gen. Noriega a fair trial. Nevertheless, his apprehension and return to the United States should send a clear signal that the United States is serious in its determination that those charged with promoting the distribution of drugs, cannot escape the scrutiny of justice. The return of Gen. Noriega marks a significant milestone in Operation Just Cause. The U.S. used its resources in a manner consistent with political, diplomatic and moral principles. The first U.S. combat troops have already been withdrawn from Panama. Others will follow as quickly as the local situation will permit. We are now engaged in the final stages of a process that includes the economic and political revitalization of this important friend and neighbor, Panama. An economic team under the direction of deputy secretary of state (Lawrence) Eagleburger and (the) deputy secretary of treasury ... is just returning from Panama. A team of experts has remained on hand there to assess the full range of needs. We will continue to extend to the Panamanian people our support and assistance in the days ahead. Panamanians and Americans both have sacrificed much to restore democracy in Panama. The armed forces of the United States have performed their mission courageously and effectively and I again want to express my gratitude and appreciation to all of them. And I want to express the special thanks of our nation to those servicemen who were wounded and to the families of those who gave their lives. Their sacrifice has been a noble cause and will never be forgotten. A free and prosperous Panama will be an enduring tribute. Thank you all very much. OCAMPO ORANGO, Hector Fabio. Money launderer associated with the Banco del Occidente in Cali. OCAMPO, Jose, AKA "Pelusa", or "Caliche". Medellin trafficker arrested in the USA. He had myriad commercial holdings in Medellin. Fellow racecar driver along with Pablo ESCOBAR and Gustavo GAVIRIA. However, is claimed to be an employee of the RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA brothers, leading Fabio Castillo to write that the combination of individuals seems to "demonstrate that the Colombian Mafia is a single, interacting organization." OCANDO PAZ, Francisco. Worked with Lizardo MARQUEZ PEREZ for ongoing shipments of the Medellin cartel. OCHOA RESTREPO, Fabio. Jorge Luis' father. Daughters include Cristina Maria, Angela Maria and Martha Nieves Ochoa Vasquez. Following the assassination of Lara Bonilla in 1985, Ochoa, along with R.DTORRES ARDILLA, Jorge PEREZ ZAPATA, Luis Alberto URIBE CORREA, Alonso MOLINO CANOLA, and pilot Leovigildo Cleto CORTES were all arrested in Medellin. Still active in Medellin cartel operations in early 1988. Arrested by the Army on May 28, 1988 and released two days later for "lack of evidence." OCHOA SANCHEZ, Arnaldo. General in Cuban military; involved with Pablo Escobar in transshipment of cocaine through Cuba; sentenced to death. HL Castro Retains Strong Grip Despite Military Shake-Up --- BY Julia Preston Washington Post Foreign Service DD 07/11/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 19: A SECTION TX MIAMI -- After a cataclysmic drug scandal in which four high-ranking military officers were sentenced to death by firing squads, Cuban President Fidel Castro appears to have tightened his grip on the armed forces and reinforced the loyalty of his senior generals. Much remains mysterious about the effect of the crisis on Cuba's normally hermetic military. The government so far has not allowed American reporters into Cuba to cover the court-martial of a fallen army hero, Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez, and 13 other officers implicated in running six tons of cocaine to Florida since 1987. A group of American journalists who happened to arrive in Havana shortly after Ochoa's June 12 arrest were ordered to leave after a few days. But televised testimony from a military honor tribunal that Ochoa faced in late June and from last week's separate court-martial and observers' accounts from Havana suggest that Castro's 30-year rule emerged quite solid from the trauma. The most serious aftereffect Castro may face from the worst shake-up in the history of his revolution is the political loneliness of a leader betrayed by one of his most trusted and rewarded military chiefs. On Sunday, Cuba's top government council, led by Castro, turned down Ochoa's appeal and affirmed his death sentence by firing squad, the Associated Press reported yesterday. {The 29-member Council of State unanimously upheld the death sentences against Ochoa and three other officers. There was no word on when the death sentences would be carried out or whether Castro could or would consider executive clemency.} Castro himself has stayed carefully out of view, leaving the initial judgment of the accused to 51 admirals and generals. Most observers believe the outcome of the trials was set as soon as Gen. Raul Castro, the defense minister and brother of Fidel, accused Ochoa of high treason before the tribunal June 26 and demanded "exemplary punishment." Nevertheless, before Cuban TV cameras, in a stylized ritual that spread the burden of the verdict among the 47 commanders on the military tribunal, each one stood up to recite his own reasons for recommending Ochoa's death. "We regarded Ochoa as an excellent man, a comrade and a charismatic, decisive officer. We are sad and ashamed that he deceived and betrayed us," said Gen. Gustavo Chui. "We can tell our people that there may be one general who is a traitor, but the armed forces' generals will never betray our country and our commander-in-chief," intoned Gen. Manuel Lastre Pacheco, referring to Fidel Castro. "We are all Fidel's sons," added Gen. Jesus Bermudez Cutino. Three other generals sat on the court-martial that finally handed down the death sentence Friday and another, Justice Minister Juan Escalona, was the prosecutor. Ochoa, in his strangely distant, tired statement to the tribunal, confessed to all charges against him for trading illicitly in diamonds, ivory, hardwoods and dollars in Africa and for seeking contacts with Colombian drug boss Pablo Escobar Gaviria. Ochoa exonerated the Castro brothers from any knowledge of his deals and called for his own execution. "I promise you my last thoughts will be with Fidel," he pledged. Many hours of these show trials were broadcast on Cuban television, and in a nation where the press usually carries little lively information, the coverage reportedly kept Cubans riveted to their screens. The scandal opened the way for Castro to oversee a purge at the Interior Ministry, the vast security and intelligence agency where one of the convicted men, former colonel Antonio de la Guardia Font, centered his cocaine-running. The Interior Ministry over the years had developed a somewhat autonomous staff and mystique as Raul Castro concentrated on running the army. Gen. Abelardo Colome Ibarra was named to replace fired minister Gen. Jose Abrahantes Fernandez. Colome is a Politburo member and one of only five officers to have been named, like Ochoa, a Hero of the Republic. Colome, who joined the Castros in 1957 when they were still guerrillas, is now believed to be Cuba's third-highest ranking power figure. Generals close to the Castros also replaced fired officials at the Civil Aeronautics Institute and the Transportation Ministry. The high-level government changes seem to have strengthened Castro's hand, allowing him to come down hard on government corruption. He has said he will pursue his brand of austere, collectivist communism, rejecting reforms toward a more liberal economy. The signs are that Washington can from now on expect firm, even draconian Cuban action against drug traffickers. Ironically, one of the main charges on which Ochoa was convicted was "hostile acts against a foreign nation," for helping send drugs to Florida. A July 3 editorial in the Communist Party newspaper Granma berated the United States for not informing Havana earlier about the drug smuggling. "They could have avoided shipments of several tons of drugs to the United States," the editorial said. @CAPTION: Former General Ochoa is seen on television after he was sentenced to death for drug trafficking. ART:ph afp OCHOA VASQUEZ, Fabio. Cocaine production organizer. Lived for a time in Miami in the 1970s. Youngest of the Ochoas. Involved in the murder of informant Barry Seal during Jorge Luis' incarceration in Spain. OCHOA VASQUEZ, Jorge Luis (aka MoisŽs Moreno Miranda in Spain; aka El Gordo [the fat man]). Took over what was basically a family operation in 1976 after the fall of Fabio RESTREPO OCHOA. Fabio was interested in horses only and a sister, Angela Maria OCHOA VASQUEZ, was arrested for muling in Miami in October 1977. Starting at least in 1978 his Miami contact was Rafael CARDONA SALAZAR. Shortly thereafter he began to work with Pablo ESCOBAR GAVIRIA, although the two organizations were formed separately. Threatened with extradition after April 30, 1984 he fostered the assassination of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla. He then fled to Panama where he and Pablo ESCOBAR met with former Colombian President Alfonso Lopes Michelson at which time they offered to trade their fortunes for amnesty from extradition to the USA. President Belisario Betancur refused. Ochoa was wanted in the US for conspire to import HCL through Nicaragua, along with Sandanista, Federico VAUGHAN, aide to Sandanista Minister of Interior Tomas Borge, and he was indicted in the US in November 1986 (he is under indictment in Miami and Atlanta). Ochoa was the Medellin cartel coordinator for sales in the US and Western Europe. He claimed he shipped out an average of 6 MT HCL/mo. from the early 80s until his arrest in Spain in 1984. Left Colombia following the assassination of Lara Bonilla, and at first thought to be hiding out in Mexico. His sister, Martha Nieves OCHOA VASQUEZ was kidnapped by a M-19 group that had previously kidnapped a son of Severo ESCOBAR ORTEGA; however, after being threatened with reprisals, the revolutionaries gave her up. The kidnapping led to the formation of the "secuestrables", and the 1982 attacks on the M-19 effected in essence the creation of a stronger association if not a cartel united the major Medellin capos. Ochoa had a major property at Repelon, Atlantico and Acandi in Uruba, Choco, from where drugs were shipped to the USA. He was also part owner of the ill-fated Banco Ganadero where he was represented on the board by Federico MOLINA. Molina was also his surrogate on the board of Fadegan, the Antioquia livestock federation, and the state-owned company Vecol. Jorge Luis has been called one of worlds 20 richest people with estimated worth of 2-3 billion according to Forbes Magazine article in 1987. In early 1988 an unknown entity calling itself the Anti-Mafia Command of Carlos Mauro Hoyos, claimed that is was going after the ranking Medellin cartel members headed by the OCHOAs. Included in the list were RODRIGUEZ GACHA, Jairo MEJIA, Elkin CANO, Mara OSPINA, Gustavo GAVIRIA, and the CARDENAS brothers. Jorge Luis and two brothers have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami. By News Services Spain Extradites Cocaine Suspect 07/14/86 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 18: A SECTION TX MADRID -- Jorge Ochoa Vasquez, wanted by the United States on drug trafficking charges, was extradited by Spain to his native Colombia yesterday, police sources at Madrid's airport said. Ochoa Vasquez, 36, was arrested in Madrid in 1984 at U.S. request. The Colombian request was made a year later, The Associated Press reported. Both countries sought his extradition on charges he was a member of an international cocaine-trafficking ring. A Spanish court ruled that he should be extradited to Colombia because it was his native country. The government wanted to extradite him to the United States. A Miami grand jury accused Ochoa Vasquez of involvement in a cocaine smuggling scheme in which a man identified as an aide to Nicaragua's interior minister allegedly took part. U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie said in Miami that he was pleased by the extradition and "the United States will immediately move to have him extradited from Colombia to Miami." Meanwhile, Spanish news agencies said two Lebanese Shiite Moslems convicted of shooting a Libyan diplomat in Spain have been pardoned by the government and will be returned to Beirut. Their freedom was demanded by Shiites who kidnaped three Spanish officials in Beirut Jan. 17 and held them for a month. Colombian Dealer Freed 08/17/86 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 23: A SECTION TX BOGOTA, Colombia -- Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, reputed kingpin of one of the world's largest cocaine cartels, was freed from jail last week despite American attempts to bring him to the United States for trial, officials in Colombia said. Justice authorities said Ochoa Vasquez dropped out of sight Wednesday after receiving a suspended sentence on charges of falsifying documents for the import of fighting bulls from Spain. There were contradictory reports of the court decision in his case. It is believed he received a suspended sentence of either 20 or 24 months and was ordered to pay a fine. Ochoa Vasquez, 36, is wanted by the United States on charges in connection with the smuggling of 1,452 pounds of cocaine to Florida via Nicaragua. He also is an unindicted coconspirator in the Feb. 19 murder of Barry Seal of Baton Rouge, La., a pilot who was reportedly ready to testify against the Ochoa Vasquez gang. Colombian Judge in Drug Case Fired From News Services and Staff Reports 01/20/88 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 19: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Colombia -- A federal court said it had fired the judge who issued an order last month freeing an alleged cocaine baron the United States has been trying to extradite. A federal superior court in Bogota announced that it had removed Andres Montanez, a criminal court judge who signed the order Dec. 31 releasing Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez from La Picota prison, where he was serving a 20-month sentence. UPn 11/25 1549 Drug czars were prepared for flight By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- Top drug chieftains Pablo Escobar and Jorge Luis Ochoa had apparently planned an escape before police raided their ranch hideout last week, with trails cut through the dense jungle and clothing and radios stashed at nearby cabins. The drug lords, both wanted for extradition to the United States, escaped in their underwear Thursday morning when army and police forces raided Escobar's ranch in the Magdalena valley, 90 miles north of the capital. But the two were able to pick up sweatsuits and two-way radios stashed at nearby cabins, and disappeared into the jungle following a series of pathways. "They are walking fearfully on foot," an unidentified general told reporters Friday at the ranch. "They are nervous, and that's why they previously planned their escape." Troops aided by trained attack dogs searched the extensive footpaths in the area, reportedly cut to facilitate the fugitives' escape. Brigades set up checkpoints along the Magdalena, Oro and Corcorna rivers, and helicopters combed the region from the air, Bogota newspaper El Tiempo reported. The police brought about 50 journalists Friday to the seized ranch, where two of the drug czars' bodyguards were killed and 55 ranch workers were captured in Thursday's assault. In Escobar's ranch house, authorities found plans for attacks against the government and petroleum industry as well as documents offering $2.5 million for the assassination of two police commanders, El Tiempo reported. Police did not identify the two threatened commanders. Authorities also found signs around the ranch house that said, "Extradition is Violence," and "No Extradition is Peace." The Colombian cocaine cartels began a massive bombing spree in August to halt planned extraditions of wanted traffickers to the United States. The more than 250 bombings have left at least 35 people dead and some $18 million in damage. Police also found a wanted poster offering $1.25 million for Cali cartel boss Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, leading them to believe the powerful Medellin cartel, led by Escobar, Jose Rodriguez Gacha, and the three Ochoa brothers may be at war with the rival cartel, Bogota newspaper El Espectador reported. The Medellin and Cali cartels allegedly supply 80 percent of the cocaine consumed in the United States. The latest raid is the closest police have come to nabbing a leading drug trafficker since the government launched an all-out offensive on the cocaine cartels in August following a string of drug-related assassinations. Escobar is wanted on drug trafficking charges in Louisiana, Florida and Colorado, and Jorge Luis Ochoa is accused of drug smuggling by Florida and Georgia courts. Eight Colombians have been sent to the United States to face drug charges since President Virgilio Barco re-established extradition on Aug. 18. In the past three months forces have arrested thousands of suspects, seized tons of cocaine and raided hundreds of narcotics laboratories and kingpin properties, but so far the top leaders have eluded capture. OCHOA VASQUEZ, Juan David. Administers property and is in charge of personnel used by the OCHOA FAMILY including: ARANGO JARAMILLO, a journalist with links to M-19 and in the government. BARRERA DOMINGUEZ, Dr. Humberto, a University Professor. CAICEDO PERDOMO, a lawyer who defends narcoguerrillas and has good contacts in Communist Party. MEZA VALESQUEZ, Luis E. of the Fiscalia General MONTANES, Dr Andres, a very important contact PEREZ, Luis C., who maintains contacts in the Colombian police and DAS, and in the Colombian Attny Gens office. RUIZ, Dr. Servio Tulio, who has contacts in the Armed Forces command. OCHOA VASQUEZ, Martha Nieves. Daughter of Fabio OCHOA RESTREPO and sister of Jorge Luis, Juan David and Fabio OCHOA VASQUEZ; was kidnapped by a M-19 group that had previously kidnapped a son of Severo ESCOBAR ORTEGA; however, after being threatened with reprisals, the revolutionaries gave her up. The kidnapping led to the formation of the "secuestrables", and the 1982 attacks on the M-19 effected in essence the creation of a stronger association if not a cartel united the major Medellin capos. OREJUELA CABALLERO, Jaime Raul. Indicted in New York in 1985 for drug trafficking. ORTEGA RAMIREZ, Jairo. Congressman from Antioquio. His alternate in the Liberal Renewal Movement is Pablo ESCOBAR. OSPINA BARAYA, Javier, Rodolfo, Mariano. Apparently the first Antioquia family to ship HCL in cut flower boxes. Mariano was arrested in Miami in September 1984 for money laundering. Rodolfo was sentenced to 33 months for smuggling in 1985. The family was involved in a famous feud with trafficker Jose Ramon MATTA BALLESTEROS. A June 1987 meeting with the Honduran and the two brothers present along with matriarch Bertha Hernandez de OSPINA PEREZ was a classic confronting. The warring parties did not resolve issues which arose over the Ospina efforts to grab Matta property while the Honduran was in jail in Colombia. Thus, the OSPINA BARAYA decided to make themselves scarce. Other members of the family involved in trafficking apparently include Fernando OSPINA HERNANDEZ and Bertha OSPINA DUQUE, Colombian Consul in Boston. PABON JETTER, Said Alberto and Nayib Ricardo. Convicted in the USA for narcotics trafficking. Worked with the Severo ESCOBAR ORTEGA organization. Wanted by the GOC following the death of Justice Minister Lara Bonilla. Captured in May 1984. PALMA MOLINA, Manuel. Suspected money launderer. APn 10/11 2001 US-Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department said Wednesday that two Colombians wanted on federal drug charges were under arrest in Colombia where they were being held pending U.S. extradition requests. Earlier Wednesday, Colombian police arrested Jose Rafael Abello Silva, 35, a member of the Medellin cartel wanted on U.S. charges of conspiring to ship 500 kilograms of cocaine into this country, said Justice Department spokeswoman Harri J. Kramer. A federal grand jury in Tulsa, Okla., indicted Abello in 1987 on charges of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine. The State Department was serving the Colombian authorities with a request that Abello and another suspect arrested Wednesday, Manuel Palma, to be held under the provisional-detention section of President Virgilio Barcos' extradition regulations, Kramer said. Palma is wanted by federal authorities in Miami on charges of interstate travel in aid of racketeering in connection with an operation to launder drug money, Kramer said. APn 11/18 0925 Colombian Extraditions Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. MIAMI (AP) -- Two drug suspects facing federal indictments in the United States were extradited from Colombia today as part of a continuing crackdown on drug trafficking in the South American nation, authorities said. The U.S. Marshals Service took the pair into custody in Bogota, Colombia, late Friday and transported them by jet to Miami early today. Manuel Palma, 49, a Colombian native, was named in a Miami indictment issued April 17, 1987, charging him with drug trafficking and money laundering, said a news release from the Marshals Service in Washington. Robert James Sokol, 29, was flown on to Greensboro, N.C., to face a narcotics conspiracy indictment issued Nov. 26, 1984, the release said. The indictments are part of a campaign started in August by the Colombian government to attack the powerful drug cartels operating the world's cocaine trade. The cartels responded with a campaign of violence that has led to widespread bombings and attacks on government officials and journalists. So far, none of the people extradited to the United States has been among the dozen major traffickers sought by federal officials. PATINO ZAMBRANO, Jose. A Cali cartel member. Once considered one of the biggest cocaine dealers in New York, and in 1979 he was held in New York City on $1 million bail and charged with being head of a major cocaine smuggling ring. Other Patino from Cali are also involved in trafficking. PEAR, Robert. Reporter for the New York Times.Pelaez Roldan, Bernardo. Medellin trafficker and money launderer. Extradited to the US on October 14, 1989. UPn 10/14 1700 Colombia deports three suspected drug dealers BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- The Colombian government extradicted three accused drug traffickers, including a key figure in the notorious Medellin gang, to the United States Saturday, defying long-standing threats of violent retaliation by the nation's powerful cocaine cartels. Police said the three were placed on a special aircraft provided by the U.S. government and were secretly flown out of Colombia before dawn Saturday. They arrived in Miami a few hours later and were taken into custody by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents. The three accused traffickers, Ana Elena Rodriguez Tamayo, Bernardo Pelaez Roldan, and Roberto Peter Carlini, are all wanted for smuggling cocaine from Colombia to the United States and for drug money laundering. In Washington, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh issued a statement praising the Colombian government for assisting in the extraditions. "I commend (Colombian) President Virgilio Barco and the government of Colombia for their continued diligence in the war against narco-terrorists," Thornburgh said. "The Colombian people are setting an example for the world as they continue to extradict international drug traffickers in the face of continued threats andacts of intimidation," he said. Pelaez, described by a U.S. government attorney as "one of the most significant players in the Medellin cartel," is wanted in Detroit and was transported to Michigan upon arrival in the United States. Pelaez, who was captured in September in Bogota, was convicted by a federal judge in absentia five years ago for his part in a drug ring that conspired to possess more than 600 pounds of cocaine. Rodriguez, also a member of the Medellin cartel, was arrested Aug. 23 in the resort town of Cartegena. Carlini, the son of Italian immigrants, was captured in the same town a week later. Carlini was later taken to Orlando, Fla., where state prosecutor Pete Antonacci praised the Colombian government's action. "I am very pleased the Colombian government has done this. It is a very good first step," he said, adding that his office has given Colombian authorities a list of 20 others sought for trial in Florida. Carlini faces a total of 115 years in prison on state charges involving more than a ton of cocaine. Colombia has extradited one other alleged drug figure to face trial in the United States since it launched its war on the drug lords Aug. 18. Eduardo Martinez Romero was flown Sept. 6 to Atlanta, where he faces drug trafficking and money laundering charges. The Colombian government Friday deported a Canadian citizen who was wanted in his homeland on cocaine trafficking charges. Richard Houle, a Canadian captured Wednesday in Cartagena, was put aboard an aircraft to Montreal. The country's powerful cocaine cartels have repeatedly warned the government that it would retaliate with violence, including murders and bombings, if an extradition treaty with the United States is enforced. The most specific threats have been directed toward judges and other members of the legal commuity. Two weeks ago, the Colombian high court declared extradition legal under the Colombian constitution. Extradition and confiscation of wealth accumulated by the drug barons form the backbone of Colombia's campaign against the cartels. Colombia extradited 14 of its citizens to the United States between 1980 and 1987 before the high court threw out the extradition treaty on a technicality. Police said they scored another modest success in the drug war by confiscating 300 pounds of cocaine paste and arresting seven people in a raid on a clandestine laboratory south of Bogota. According to authorities, the laboratory produced about 200 pounds of cocaine each week. Also Friday, well-known Colombian political journalist William Bendeck Olivella was gunned down in front of his home in Monteria, 300 miles north of Bogota, police said. Bendeck Olivella was chief editor of the radio commentary program Avanzada. Police said it was unclear if his murder was drug related and no suspects have been captured. UPce 10/15 1413 Colombian drug lord extradited to Detroit DETROIT (UPI) -- Authorities lauded the Colombian government Sunday for extraditing a key figure in the notorious Medellin drug cartel back to Detroit for sentencing on a federal drug conviction. Benardo Pelaez Roldan, 44, was one of three accused drug traffickers extradited Saturday to the United States. He was joined by Ana Elena Rodriguez Tamayo and Roberto Peter Carlini who were both returned to Florida. "This is a major victory in bringing a leading participant in the Colombian drug cartels to justice," said Stephen Markman -- U.S. Atoorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Pelaez was one of 28 people indicted in November 1983 on charges they belonged to a drug-peddling ring. During the first week of his trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit, he vanished while free on $200,000 bond. The trial continued and Pelaez was convicted in absentia in March 1984. Police said that from 1975-83, he sold more than 600 pounds of cocaine, receiving about $6 million. Pelaez was captured last month in Bogota but his extradition was delayed until Colombia's Supreme Court upheld extraditions to the United States two weeks ago. Federal authorities delivered Pelaez to Detroit late Saturday. He was rushed to the federal prison in Milan under heavy guard by U.S. Marshals. It was not clear when Pelaez would be sentenced. In Washington Saturday, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh issued a statement praising the Colombian government for assisting in the extraditions. "I commend (Colombian) President Virgilio Barco and the government of Colombia for their continued diligence in the war against narco-terrorists," Thornburgh said. "The Colombian people are setting an example for the world as they continue to extradict international drug traffickers in the face of continued threats and acts of intimidation," he said. UPn 11/07 1312 Extradited Colombian gets 15 years on 1984 conviction By JAMES R. CAMPBELL DETROIT (UPI) -- A recently extradited Colombian drug figure was sentenced to 15 years in prison Tuesday for a 1984 drug conviction linked to the notorious Medellin cartel. U.S. District Judge Ralph M. Freeman imposed the sentence on Bernardo Palaez, 44, who fled to Colombia during his trial. He took under under advisment a motion to free Palaez on grounds his extradition was illegal and denied another motion to give him credit for time served since his original arrest in Miami in 1983. Palaez, one of 28 people named in a November 1983 indictment in the international drug conspiracy, was free on $200,000 bond when he disappeared during the first week of his 18-day trial before Freeman. The judge convicted him in absentia of one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Attorney Richard Lustig, calling Paleaz "a pawn" of two governments, said he would appeal. He said the Colombian Supreme Court ruled in September 1987 the treaty under which his client's extradition was requested did not apply. "They kidnapped him," Lustig told reporters. Security was tight for the sentencing. A city police car blocked a key street in downtown Detroit as eight state police vehicles, including an armored car, escorted Pelaez into the basement of the federal courthouse. The bearded, slight Palaez winked at his wife, Elisa, as he entered the courtroom wearing tan slacks, a brown checkered sport coat and running shoes. Palaez' wife said she was surprised at the severity of the sentence, including a $25,000 fine, and said she would return soon to Colombia where the couple's son, Andres, is a high school student. "I'm going to go back," she said. "My son is there. He is only 16." The indictment said Palaez belonged to a drug ring said to have conspired to possess more than 300 kilograms of cocaine, which was sold for more than $6 million in 1981 and 1982. U.S. Attorney Stephen Markman, who described Palaez as "one of the most significant players in the Medellin cartel," recommended the maximum sentence. He also urged the judge not to delay sentencing because "the defendant has had over five years to prepare for this day." Lustig, however, said Palaez has been selling cars since he left the United States. He said if Palaez had been a cartel member he would not have spent 21 months in jail in Colombia before that country's Supreme Court threw out the U.S.-Colombian extradition treaty in 1987. Freeman gave the government until Nov. 22 to respond to Lustig's motion to free Palaez and gave the defense until Nov. 30 to reply to that. He said he wanted the decision by the Colombian Supreme Court translated into English. Lustig said Palaez, who according to testimony was a minor figure who picked up money in the original case, was given to the United States as appeasement by the Colombian government. "I think without a doubt that he has been used as a pawn by both governments," Lustig said. He called the heavy security part of a government attempt to "hysterically show" that Palaez is more dangerous than he actually is. Palaez was the third accused drug trafficker sent to the United States since Colombian President Virgilio revived extraditions in launching a war on drug lords Aug. 18. He was being held at the federal penitentiary in Milan, Mich. IEDRAHITA TABARES, Carlos Octavio, also uses surname Martin Elias, and brothers Octavio, Orlando, Mario and Javier Alonso. Carlos Octavio is associated with the Medellin cartel; he began as a forger and embezzler and moved to narcotics trafficking in Pereira. He is now owner of various sports groups including the bullring in Medellin, and the Atletico Nacional and Deportivo Pereira sports clubs. In 1982, the were involved in a shipment of 1 ton of HCL to Tampa which apparently was to be received by Colombian trafficker mario Espinoza, son of Conrado ESPINOZA. It is said that the Piedrahita are often at war with others in Medellin, and Carlos was wounded apparently in 1986 in gang warfare. Mario & Javier have been killed. In 1987 Carlos was kidnapped and held for a few days apparently as a warning for him to cease his wild ways. In 1984 Piedrahita was involved with Isaac KATTAN KASSIN (who was also involved with Pablo ESCOBAR) in a USA drug laundering scam. Kassin was responsible for moving drug money from New York City to Miami in the 1970s and was then the so-called Chancellor of the Exchequer for traffickers. He was sentenced to 30 years in jail in the USA in 1982. Other Piedrahita who are involved in trafficking include Juan Francisco PEREZ PIEDRAHITA, who was a member of the ESCOBAR GAVIRIA group. PINEDO BARROS, Miguel. North coast trafficker whose son Miguel PINEDO VIDAL (or vice versa?) is a congressman from Magdalena who was involved in trafficking and smuggling in the mid-1970s. PINEDO VIDAL, Miguel. Son of trafficker Miguel PINEDO BARROS. Congressman from La Guajira and protector of traffickers; arranged the release of Jose Rafael ABELLO SILVA after his capture in Barranquilla in January 1987. PIZARRO, Carlos. Key figure in the M-19 terrorist organization. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Copyright Times Mirror Company 1989 DATE: SUNDAY October 8, 1989 EDITION: Southland Edition LENGTH: SHORT PART-NAME: ONE PAGE: 2 PART-NUMBER: 1 COLUMN: 1 TYPE-OF-MATERIAL: Brief DESK: Foreign THE WORLD Carlos Pizarro, leader of Colombia's leftist M-19 guerrillas and once its most-wanted criminal, is to be the group's presidential candidate in next year's elections. Pizarro, 38, was nominated to represent the group in the May presidential vote, M-19 said in a statement from its mountain headquarters of Santo Domingo, an Andean village in southwestern Colombia. M-19 has agreed to lay down its arms and form a political party, two of the steps suggested in a peace accord signed with the government. The group has operated underground following its failed takeover of Bogota's Palace of Justice in November, 1985, in which 95 people, including 11 Supreme Court justices, were killed. PORRAS ARDILA, Evaristo. Considered to be a major trafficker. He was captured in 1982 while trying to move a large cocaine shipment from Colombia to Peru. He escaped from Carrion Hospital in Callao and made his way to Colombia. In Colombia he was a key trafficker in the movement of Peruvian base/paste to Colombia through his base at Leticia. Following the death of the El Espectador editor, he was arrested in January 1987 on San Andres Island where he had purchased in 1985 the Hotel Bahia Marina on San Andres. In February 1987 the Supreme Court of Justice of Peru requested his extradition. He was, however, released by a military tribunal in March 1987 in spite of an outstanding extradition request from Peru. Although usually tied to the Medellin cartel, also worked with US citizen Mike TSALICKIS of the Cali cartel in the movement of major shipments of cocaine from Leticia, Colombia to Florida. He apparently suffered business reverses and had many debts in Leticia and elsewhere. He was selling off some of his properties and the Tsalickis shipment may have been of great importance. He is charged with the murder of El Espectador correspondent in Leticia, and as local politician in Leticia, he founded his own party, the Liberal House of Amazonas. He was also involved in laundering narcodollars through the Banco Ganadero of Leticia. Bogota Plans New Drug Extradition From News Services and Staff Reports 10/01/89 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 25: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Colombia -- Colombia's Justice Ministry informed drug trafficking suspect Ana Helena Rodriguez that she will be the second prisoner to be extradited to the United States, the Colombian aily El Tiempo reported yesterday. Meanwhile, Ecuadoran police said they had arrested a leading Colombian drug trafficker, Evaristo Porras Ardila, and would extradite him to Colombia after an investigation. Colombian police said five people were injured in seven bombings blamed on drug barons in the capital and the western city of Cali. La Opinion, Sunday, October 1, 1989: Capturan en Ecuador a un cabecilla del narcotr‡fico; Associated Press: BOGOTA, 30 de septiembre (AP).-Evaristo Porras Ardila, uno de los cabecillas del narcotr‡fico en Colombia, fue capturado en Ecuador, mientras en Colombia el Gobierno orden— la segunda extradici—n, esta vez de una mujer vinculada al Cartel de Medell’n, y las brigadas terroristas hicieron explotar ocho bombas, segœn informes oficiales. Porras Ardila, solicitado en extradici—n por Perœ in en donde est‡ acusado de fuga de una prisi—n y por delitos relacionados con el narcotr‡fico, fue capturado el jueves pasado en Tulc‡n, ciudad ecuatoriana de la frontera con Colombia, dijeron fuentes del Gobierno ecuatoriano en Quito. Porras Ardila, cuyo imperio se hab’a concentrado en la zona amaz—nica que cubre territorios de Colombia, Brasil y Perœ, fue capturado durante un allanamiento ejecutado a una residencia de Tulc‡n por la Polic’a ecuatoriana y su identidad fue confirmada por la Polic’a antinarc—ticos de Colombia. El presunto narcotraficante estuvo dos veces arrestado en Colombia acusado de porte illegal de armas, pero logr— su libertad de jueces cuya conducta fue posteriormente investigada y uno de los cuales fue destitudo. TambiŽn fue acusado de haber participado en la conspiraci—n para asesinar al director del diario El Espectador, Guillermo Cano. La Polic’a colombiana lo considera uno de los ocho principales cabecillas del narcotr‡fico y aliado clave del Cartel de la coca’na de Medell’n. Porras Ardila es hasta ahora el œnico narcotraficante importante capturado desde que el Gobierno colombiano lanz— una ofensiva total contra las bandas de narcotraficantes el 18 de agosto pasado. Sin embargo, el presidente Virgilio Barco anunci— esta semana que los cabecillas del Cartel de la coca’na de Medell’n, Pablo Escobar Gaviria y Gonzalo Rodr’guez Gacha est‡n cercados y su captura se considera muy probable. Entretanto, el ministero de Justicia aprob— la extradici—n a los Estados Unidos de Ana Elena Rodr’guez Zu–iga, quien est‡ acusada de tr‡fico de coca’na y lavado de dinero de la droga, segœn informa hoy el diario El Tiempo. Rodr’guez Zu–iga podr’a ser enviada la pr—xima semana a los Estados Unidos si el Gobierno rechaza la apelaci—n de la resoluci—n que le fue notificada ayer. El Gobierno colombiano restableci— la extradici—n el 18 de agosto pasado inmediamente despuŽs del asesinado del l’der liberal Luis Carlos Gal‡n, utilizado los poderes extraordinarios del estadio de sitio. Hasta ahora s—lo se ha extraditado a Eduardo Mart’nez Romero, quien esta acusado en los Estados Unidos del lavado de 1,000 milliones de dolares. El restablecimiento de la extradici—n y la exprobaci—n de las fortunas de los narcotraficantes desat— la guerra total de los carteles de droga que est‡n ejecutando diariamente atentados terroristas. Entre anoche y esta madrugada estallaron ocho bombas-seis en Bogot‡ y dos en Cali-que causaron heridas a cinco personas y extensos da–os materiales, inform— la Polic’a. En Bogot‡ los terroristas atacaron cuatro establimientos educativos, entre ellos una escuela de ni–as en donde dos peque–as estudiantes resultaron heridas, inform— la Polic’a. TambiŽn colocaron de un banco y otra en una oficina postal. En Cali, la principal ciudad del Occidente de Colombia, fueron atacados con bombas dos centros comerciales y se registraron dos heridos. Los da–os materiales fueron estimados en unos 100 milliones de pesos (247,000 d—lares), inform— la Polic’a local. Desde el 23 agosto hasta hoy se han registrado 126 atendados dinamiteros e incendiarios en los cuales murieron diez personas, 148 heridos y pŽrdidas materiales superiores a los seis milliones de d—lares. PORRAS ARDILA, Henry and Alvaro. Brothers of Evaristo Porras Ardilla; considered to be major traffickers.PRADO, Adriana. Along with Jorge OCHOA controlled stash houses in the Miami region in the early 1980s. PRESTON, Julia. Washington Post journalist. PRETEL, Enrique. Involved in Servicios Touristicos money laundering scheme with Cesar Rodriguez. QUINON, Jose. Jacksonville, Florida, lawyer for Luis Arce Gomez. QUINTERO CRUZ, Luis Carlos. Medellin triggerman currently serving a life sentence for the assassination of Barry SEAL. RALDA, Erick Alfredo. Guatemalan businessman linked to Medellin cartel; arrested in Guatemala city on October 14, 1989. UPn 10/14 0345 Executive linked to Medellin cocaine cartel is arre... Executive linked to Medellin cocaine cartel is arrested By RAUL VILLATORO GUATEMALA CITY (UPI) -- A Guatemalan business executive linked to Colombia's Medellin notorious cocaine cartel has been arrested, and police searched for three other suspects in what has become a transit point for cocaine smuggled from South America to the United States, authorities said Friday. Col. Giovanni Valerio Cardenas, director of Guatemala's National Police, identified the executive, arrested Thursday after a year's investigation, as Erick Alfredo Ralda, 33, administrative head of the country's Industrial Chamber. The suspect was apprehended on his way to deliver 273 grams of cocaine to his Colombian contact, an alleged member of the South American nation's infamous Medellin cocaine cartel, which has been responsible for most of the cocaine smuggled into the United States, police said. "It has been a hard blow to drug trafficking, especially the Medellin cartel," Valerio said of the arrest. Recent news reports have indicated several members of the Medellin cartel have shifted operations to Guatemala because of a recent crackdown on drug lords by the Colombian government. Valerio said Ralda dodged a security force at first, but was finally detained, while the Colombian contact managed to escape. Three other Guatemalan businessmen were at large. Their names were not revealed. "We are looking for at least three (more) important businessmen of our country who are implicated in drug trafficking," Valerio said. "These are three important members of an international network of drug traffickers and are people of Guatelmalan high society and include known businessmen who have been watched since a year ago." Valerio said that, on Thursday, police also arrested a Colombian citizen, identified as Oscar Abel Perez Alban, 34, allegedly while he was trying to sell 32 grams of cocaine in downtown Guatemala City. He said Perez Alban had apparently arrived in Guatemala only a few days earlier by plane and had been due to go on to the United States. RANGE, Peter Ross. Journalist with the Washington Post and U.S. News and World Report. RASHBAUM, William K. Journalist with UPI (United Press International).RAVIV, Dan. Washington Post and CBS journalist.RECKARD, E. Scott. AP journalist. RESTREPO OCHOA, Fabio. Early founder of Medellin cartel along with Alfredo GOMEZ LOPEZ and Jesus Emilio ESCOBAR HERNANDEZ. He was an important member of the OCHOA family, who was in fact "dethroned" by his relative Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ in 1976. Still seemingly involved in narcotics as are various Restrepo, including big time operator Fernando RESTREPO. RIVERA GONZALEZ, Camilo and Vicente Wilson. Leticia traffickers apparently related to Veronica Rivera de VARGAS, the "Cocaine Queen". Camilo convicted of trafficking in Brazil. Owner of La Primavera and Tuchchima ranching cocaine operations. Camilo arrested in Bogota in 1979 with several kilos of HCL. Camilo died in August 1986 in a plane crash in the Guainia River region. Vicente Wilson disappeared and surfaced in Panama in January 1987. He was found owing to surveillance of Hector Fabio OCAMPO ORANGO, who was moving money from the Banco del Occidente in Cali. The Riveras often used their sawmill and logs in which to ship cocaine--a signature of the Cali cartel. RIVERA LLORENTE, Alfonso. Major Peruvian trafficker living in Medellin. He has and apparently continues to work with the Colombian cartels, especially through his agent, Jose DIAS AZCA, who was caught in Uchiza, Peru in December 1986. Dias Azca is an assassin who in 1977 murdered a policeman who infiltrated the RIVERA LLORENTE group of traffickers in Peru. RIVERA, Domingo. Pereira trafficker, once called the "king of Quaaludes". In the early 1980s worked with Malkun TAFACHE, who was arrested in Barranquilla in 1980 with a shipment of quaaludes and who now lives in Panama where he serves as a link with traffickers. ROBINSON, Eugene. Washington Post journalist.ROCA SUAREZ, Jorge. In late June 1988 reported to be working in Medellin. Powerful Bolivian drug lord. His Coca loads are gathered and held in Bolivia (Beni & Cochabamba) and ships to the Medellin group, especially to ESCOBAR GAVIRIA. The shipments are supervised by Maria Teresa ROCA, a relative, and "Toto" ARTEAGA who owns property in the Beni. RODRIGUEZ DE TAMAYO, Ana Beatriz. AKA "La Faraona". Arrested in Cartagena in January 1987 and released for lack of evidence, although the US had asked for her extradition. Considered by some to be one of Colombia's most important drug traffickers. She was extradited to the USA on October 14, 1989. APn 10/14 1617 Colombians Extradited Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By CAROLYN SKORNECK Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. authorities flew three suspected drug traffickers to jails in Florida and Michigan early Saturday in the second extradition from Colombia since emergency measures were imposed there in August. One of them has already been convicted, in absentia, in Detroit. Florida prosecutors called one of the others a "big fish." U.S. marshals said the three were turned over to U.S. officials in Colombia about 3 a.m. and flown to Miami, where one was dropped off. The flight then continued to Orlando and Detroit to deliver the other two. Marshals said the three were being held in "secure" detention facilities in the three areas, but declined to be more specific. The extraditions bring to four the number of people brought to this country from Colombia since President Virgilio Barco imposed emergency measures against drug traffickers Aug. 18. "I commend President Barco and the government of Colombia for their continued diligence in the war against narcoterrorists," Attorney General Dick Thornburgh said in a statement. "The Colombian people are setting an example for the world as they continue to extradite international drug traffickers in the face of continued threats and acts of intimidation," Thornburgh said. Justice Department spokesman David Runkel identified the three defendants as Ana Rodriguez de Tamayo, Roberto Peter Carlini-Arrico and Bernardo Pelaez Roldan. The U.S. Marshals Service said de Tamayo, 50, faces charges in Miami of cocaine importation and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Carlini-Arrico, 38, faces federal charges of possession with intent to distribute 7,000 pounds of marijuana and importing 7,000 pounds of marijuana in the Middle District of Florida at Orlando, marshals said. Three other defendants in that federal case are in custody, and the trial is scheduled for November, Runkel said. Assistant State Attorney Andy Zelman said Carlini-Arrico is accused by state authorities of smuggling more than a ton of cocaine during the mid-1980s. State prosecutor Peter Antonacci said the 1986 state charges against Carlini-Arrico consist of one count each of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy to traffic the drug. Each state count carries a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. Carlini-Arrico, who had Florida addresses in Boca Raton and Gainesville, fled the country following the state indictments, said Antonacci. "He is a big fish," said Antonacci. "We are glad we'll get a chance to prosecute." Pelaez, 44, was convicted in absentia in Detroit in March 1984 of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Barco allowed extradition among other emergency measures that followed the assassination of a leading presidential candidate who was an outspoken foe of the drug trade. Colombia's supreme court has upheld the decision to resume extraditions to the United States. In 1987, it had blocked extraditions. The first reputed drug trafficker extradited since the emergency actions went into effect was Eduardo Martinez Romero, who was taken to the United States on Sept. 6 to face money laundering charges brought in March in Atlanta. Since Barco imposed the emergency measures, drug traffickers in Colombia have declared "total war" on the government. They have been held responsible for setting off more than 150 bombs that have killed more than 10 people and wounded at least 200. RODRIGUEZ GACHA, Jose Gonzalo (aka Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ GACHA; aka El Mexicano [the Mexican]). Considered one of the leaders, if not the leader of the Medellin cartel in July 1986 as Pablo ESCOBAR and Jorge Luis OCHOA appeared "semi-retired". Rodriguez supervises trafficking aspects through Panama and the West Coast (California) of the USA. It is claimed that he helped set up the Nicaraguan operation that used pilot Barry SEAL, and oversaw the purchase of planes and their maintenance. Born at Pacho, Cundinamarca in 1947, RG still operates out of that region. His links to drug trafficking go back at least to 1976. Rodriguez is now the owner of many ranches. He has many apartments in Bogota and uses his Aeroganaderas operation in Cundinamarca to transport narcotics. RG also invested along with Pablo ESCOBAR in properties in the Magdalena Medio, and founded the "Rancho Hermosillo" and other properties in the Puerto Boyaca region and in Rionegro province of Cundinamarca municipality, a trip of 2.5 hours from Bogota. He owns several properties in the Llanos. Present at his monster birthday party in 1986 were Pablo ESCOBAR, Fabio OCHOA, Francisco BARBOSA, Jairo CORREA, Flaminio ORTIZ, Gabriel MATIZ, and Gilberto MOLINA, all big timers. He runs his operation along with his brother JUSTO PASTOR RODRIGUEZ GACHA, and a cousin Ramon RODRIGUEZ MUNOZ. Rodriguez was indicted in US in November 1986. ..kidnapped Bogota majoral candidate Andres Pastrana was held at his farm until released in January 1988. RG's associate and drug dealer is Gilberto MOLINA, an emerald dealer who was released in February 1988 after being charged with drug trafficking. *** Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha was killed in a shootout with Colombian police on December 15, 1989. Drug Kingpin 'El Mexicano' Is Violent Empire-Builder 40-Year-Old a Symbol of Cocaine Wealth Special to The Washington Post 11/14/87 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 22: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Colombia -- Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, 40, the chief suspect named yesterday by the government in the recent assassination of Colombia's most prominent leftist politician, is a drug baron with a reputation for violence and a passion for Mexican mariachi bands. Although he is the least-known leader of the Medellin drug cartel, Rodriquez Gacha, known as "El Mexicano," serves as a symbol of the fabulously wealthy new social class created by Colombia's cocaine trade. Like most of his associates, he has risen rapidly from humble origins. Born in the small farming town of Pacho, on the Bogota savanna, Rodriguez Gacha migrated to the capital city and linked up with Veronica Rivera de Vargas, a pioneer drug trafficker who became the first queen of cocaine by murdering the family of her main rival. Moving on to Medellin, Rodriguez Gacha joined with Pablo Escobar Gaviria and other drug entrepreneurs in putting together the cocaine corporation cartel. Ever the country boy, Rodriquez Gacha has taken with him to the top a taste for the robust culture of Mexican ranch life. His seven farms have Mexican place names, and nightclubs he owns feature Mexican themes. When he was an owner of the Bogota soccer team The Millionaires, he hired a Mexican mariachi band to perform for the crowd. This is still remembered by Colombia's conservative social elite, who look down with distaste on the noisy mariachis as the vulgar music of the lower-middle classes. Although Rodriguez Gacha may not have the ancestry of Colombia's traditional families, he does not lack for power. He is considered an empire-builder who feels hemmed in by the guerrillas and the left. Authorities say Rodriguez Gacha, who manages the cartel's Bogota business, ordered Jaime Pardo Leal, leader of the leftist Patriotic Union, murdered last month in retaliation for recent guerrilla attacks on drug traffickers in the eastern plains area known as the "llanos orientales." Cocaine Leaders Elude Colombian Authorities Raids Turn Up Arsenal, Cartel's Records --- BY Eugene Robinson Washington Post Foreign Service DD 08/27/89 SO WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 21: A SECTION TX BOGOTA Aug. 26 -- When the army raided one of Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha's estates, near the town of Pacho, they found a working gallows in the back yard. At a bunker where his son Freddy was hiding out, authorities found an arsenal of machine guns and grenades, along with Rodriguez Gacha's personal weapon -- a gold-adorned 9 mm pistol with his initials etched on the bullets. The whole of Pacho is now under virtual military occupation. The raids there, in which a mother lode of financial and other documents was found, are being described as a severe blow against the man called "El Mexicano," whom a Bogota newsweekly recently called Colombia's "public enemy number one." Rodriguez Gacha is just one of a half-dozen key figures in the Colombian cocaine trade. For a variety of reasons, including intelligence reports that he has become unstable and is now himself a heavy cocaine user, a U.S. narcotics expert here last week called him "the most dangerous of all the heads of the cartels." But to understand the role Rodriguez Gacha is said to play in the international drug trade it is necessary to understand a bit of the history and shifting structure of the Colombian cocaine industry, a ruthless mafia with jet-set tastes and international reach. The Colombian cocaine trade, which law enforcement officials estimate supplies about 80 percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States market, centers on two major "cartels" or loose-knit organizations based in the cities of Medellin and Cali. The Medellin cartel is considered the larger and more bloodthirsty of the two, responsible for most of the terror killings and kidnappings the drug bosses have carried out during the past decade. From Medellin came Thursday's communique signed by the "Extraditables" -- the cartel's signature -- pledging all-out war against Colombian society, and it was in Medellin that this new war began with a series of bombings and arson fires. The Medellin cartel is believed to be a cooperative effort of three major factions: the Ochoa family, including brothers Jorge Luis, Fabio and Juan David Ochoa; a group headed by Pablo Escobar, often called the first-among-equals in the cartel and the world's single largest drug merchant, and the unit headed by Rodriguez Gacha. Although most of them have humble origins, they are a flashy, ostentatious group of men. Escobar, for example, has a ranch outside Medellin called Hacienda Napoles where he keeps a private zoo and what is said to be the plane used on the cartel's first aerial cocaine-smuggling run to the United States. He has built housing for the poor of Medellin and once was elected to congress. The Medellin cartel is said to have pioneered the export of cocaine to the United States. Carlos Lehder, while a leader of the cartel, designed a system of air routes through the Bahamas and other transit points that allowed the cartel to vastly expand its operations. Lehder was arrested and extradited to the United States in 1987 and is serving a federal prison term. The Cali cartel, on the other hand, is a more publicity-shy group. That organization is believed to be headed by Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orjuela and Jose Santacruz Londono -- all of whom, along with the Medellin cartel members, figure on the 12-most-wanted list of suspected drug kingpins that U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh sent to Colombian officials last Tuesday. "They are not less violent, but they're quieter," a U.S. drug expert said of the Cali cartel. The group keeps a low profile, is said to be heavily invested in legitimate enterprises and has enjoyed hegemony over the lucrative New York City cocaine market, according to officials here and in the United States. The two cartels fought a "war" last year that claimed scores of lives. Some analysts said the point of friction was the Medellin group's attempt to break into the New York market. Others said personal rivalries were to blame. In any event, whatever differences the cartels may have are overshadowed by the campaign of killings the drug bosses are believed to have ordered to intimidate officials who would prosecute them or send them to the United States for trial. The list of victims is long and includes: Guillermo Cano, editor of the Bogota daily El Espectador; Attorney General Carlos Mauro Hoyos; Col. Jaime Rodriguez, head of anti-narcotics operations; Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, the justice minister whose 1984 slaying triggered a government crackdown similar to the one that began two weeks ago after the assassination of senator and presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan. Most or all of those slayings are believed to have been ordered by Escobar. "Up to a year and a half ago, the most violent and visible member of the cartel was Pablo Escobar," said a U.S. narcotics expert. "He is probably still at the top. But we have seen an increasing amount of violence and a lot of arrogance on the part of Rodriguez Gacha." "El Mexicano," a dark complexioned, broad-faced man in his 40s, is portrayed by U.S. and Colombian sources as volcanic, violent and perhaps unstable. Not as well-known in the United States as Escobar or the Ochoa family, Rodriguez Gacha virtually controlled the town of Pacho -- one-third of the adult population was said to have been on his payroll before last week -- and also owns vast amounts of land in Colombia's north. He is thought to be worth at least a billion dollars. Rodriguez Gacha is believed to use several of his cattle ranches as training centers for the sicarios, or young machine-gun-toting assassins, who carry out the cocaine mafia's contract killings. He also is thought to have a private army of up to 1,000 men. "El Mexicano" got his start in the emerald industry, which is almost as violent as the cocaine world. As one of Colombia's bigger landowners, he is believed to have formed alliances with right-wing ranchers and to have used his sicarios in a series of rural massacres -- targeting leftist politicians and sympathizers -- in which hundreds of people have been killed in the past few years. Authorities describe their raids on Rodriguez Gacha's properties in the Pacho area last week as the most significant advances thus far in the government's stepped-up campaign against the drug traffickers. One major catch was Freddy Gonzalo Rodriguez, the son of "El Mexicano," who was arrested Thursday with seven other suspects after a brief gun battle at a Rodriguez Gacha bunker near Pacho. The retreat, named Buenos Aires, was in a nearly inaccessible mountain area and appeared to be one of the few sites raided in the recent capaign where the arrival of authorities had not been anticipated by those inside. Freddy Rodriguez, 17, was reportedly being held today at a National Police facility here in Bogota. Authorities confiscated automatic weapons, rifles, pistols, grenades and ammunition during the raid. But perhaps more important, they reported seizing a trove of records relating to the operations of Rodriguez Gacha's organization and the larger Medellin cartel. The documents, according to police sources, include accounting records dating back to 1982, bank statements and other financial documents, a list of properties owned by Rodriguez Gacha throughout the country, lists of attorneys and surrogate property managers, and income statements that lay out relationships with other cartel members. Authorities also have arrested Luis Fernando Galeano Berrio, described as a top financial aide to Rodriguez Gacha and a possible target for extradition to the United States. And they have dismantled a sophisticated communications center said to have been used to coordinate Rodriguez Gacha's operations. The whereabouts of "El Mexicano" himself, like those of the other suspected cartel chieftains, are unknown. @CAPTION: Colombian soldiers guard an arms cache discovered at the estate of reputed drug lord Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. ART:ph AP 10/13 [1989] BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- Colombia deported an alleged Canadian drug trafficker Friday wanted in Quebec for smuggling a half ton of cocaine into Canada, a police spokeswoman said. Richard Houle, who was captured in the resort town of Cartagena on Wednesday was put on an aircraft Friday morning to Montreal, with a stop-over in Miami, the spokeswoman said. The Bogota daily newspaper La Prensa said Houle had openly operated a drug ring out of the Caribbean port where he has lived for some four years. The Canadian was brought to Bogota Thursday and was turned over to Interpol, the international police force Friday, authorities said. The daily El Espectador newspaper, whose employees have been the target of repeated terrorist attacks by drug cartel-funded hit squads, continued its crusade against the drug barons Friday saying they had planned a major attack on government targets shortly before President Virgilio Barco launched his anti-drug offensive Aug. 18. More than half a ton of explosives was discovered earlier this week in a secret underground arsenal under a country house in Pascho north of Bogota owned by kingpin Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. Gacha, the number two man in the powerful Medellin cocaine cartel, is wanted on drug trafficking charges in Florida and New York. The government is offering a $125,000 reward for information leading to his capture. Authorities say the explosives and other arms had been stashed before the assassination of leading presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galen Aug. 18. It was Galen's murder that caused the government to begin its anti-drug campaign. Interior Minister Carlos Lemos Simmonds in a statement issued Thursday guaranteed the circulation of El Espectador, which the drug cartels are attempting to shut down. Following the killing of two employees of El Espectador's Medellin office by drug funded hit squads, a caller identifying himself as a member of "the Extraditables" said the rest of the Medellin staff would be killed unless the paper closed operations in the region by Friday. "The closing of El Espectador," Lemos said to reporters in the Presidential Palace, "would be no more and no less than declaring the closing of democracy in Colombia." The newspaper said Friday it had managed a partial distribution in Medellin thanks to extra police protection. Thursday night French President Francois Mitterrand on an unscheduled visit to Colombia offered his support to the paper, whose Bogota headquarters were destroyed by a 200 pound bomb Sept. 2. "I think those who attack the freedom of the press, and especially terrorists, are enemies of democracy," Mitterrand said before departing for Paris. Mitterrand, who was on a tour of Latin America which included scheduled stops in Venezuela and Ecuador made an unscheduled visit to Bogota, where he met with Barco to pledge his support for the war on drugs. APn 11/14 2149 Colombia-Drug Money Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Soldiers raided a ranch owned by an alleged leader of the Medellin drug cartel and found $5 million buried in barrels, the army reported Tuesday. A news release from 13th Brigade headquarters in Bogota said the ranch belonged to Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, described by U.S. authorities as one of the top members of the cartel, which sends billions of dollars worth of cocaine to the United States and other countries each year. It said the money, in U.S. currency, consisted of $50, $20 and $10 bills and was buried in three barrels on a ranch near Pacho called Cuernavaca. Pacho is about 50 miles north of Bogota. Cuernavaca is named for a city in Mexico and Rodriguez Gacha is known as "The Mexican" because of his admiration for that country. President Virgilio Barco declared war on drug traffickers Aug. 19 after their assassins killed a popular opposition presidential candidate, Sen. Luis Carlos Galan. Government security forces have raided ranches, mansions, office buildings and other properties known or thought to belong to the cocaine barons. The army seized the Cuernavaca ranch nearly three months ago. Soldiers found caches of weapons and communications equipment there last month. UPn 12/06 1428 Drug money seized in five nations By DAN CARMICHAEL WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Authorities have frozen bank accounts in five countries holding $61.8 million belonging to a key figure in the Medellin cocaine cartel in Colombia, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh said Wednesday. The money represents long-term high-yield investments belonging to Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez-Gacha, a "member of the triumvirate that heads the Medellin cocaine cartel," the Justice Department said. The seizure followed a raid on a home in Colombia in October that produced a treasure trove of financial records, said Jack Lawn, chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Rodriguez-Gacha remains at large, as does his financial expert, Mauricio Vives, in whose name the money was held in bank accounts in five countries -- England, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and the United States. Vives controlled about $81 million of Rodriguez-Gacha's drug money, Lawn said, but authorities were able to freeze only $61.8 million because about $20 million was suddenly transferred to Panama, where it is protected from U.S. authorities. "We have lost $20 million," Lawn told reporters. Rodriguez-Gacha is on the Justice Department's "dirty dozen" list of cocaine cartel leaders most wanted by the United States. "He was investing in high-yield stocks and investments," Lawn said, and the now-frozen assets consisted of stocks and cash. "This really is precedent-setting in size and scope," Thornburgh said. He said it represented part of the "stash" of the Rodriguez-Gacha organization but he gave no indication what percentage the $61.8 million might constitute. Although Rodriguez-Gacha remains free, Thornburgh said, "He has been shorn of substantial assets." Of the total amount seized, $2 million was in banks in the United States. Thornburgh refused to identify any of the banks involved in the case. The frozen money "will be handled in accordance with the laws of the countries where it was seized," the department said, and Thornburgh praised legal authorities overseas for speedy cooperation with the United States. In addition to the money in American banks, the department said, Luxembourg froze 10 accounts containing $39.4 million in assets, Switzerland froze accounts worth $10.3 million, Austria blocked $5.9 million and Britain froze $4.2 million. The bank accounts were under the control of Vives and money only could be moved on the basis of his signature, Lawn said. Lawn said the DEA is continuing a long-term investigation "where we are looking at the cartels." He said agents also are sifting through financial records of other Colombian drug lords. The Rodriguez-Gacha financial records were uncovered during a raid in October on a home belonging to Alfonso Rodriguez Munoz, "a nephew and long-time criminal associate of Rodriguez-Gacha," the Justice Department said. A department "biography" of Rodriguez-Gacha says his role "is to oversee the cocaine laboratories where the cocaine is produced and to oversee the transportation of the cocaine from the laboratory to various areas in Colombia." The cocaine is eventually shipped "by air through Mexico" to Los Angeles, the government said, and then distributed throughout the United States. Reut 12/15 1609 COLOMBIAN DRUG BOSS KILLED BY POLICE, RADIO SAYS BOGOTA, Dec 15, Reuter - Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, considered one of the top bosses of the Medellin cartel of drug traffickers, was killed on Friday by police, a Colombian radio station said. Quoting police reports, Radio Cadena Nacional (RCN) said Rodriguez Gacha, his son Freddy and 11 other members of the cartel were killed during a police anti-drug swoop in Covenas. REUTER MH 12/15 1650 REPUTED COLOMBIAN DRUG CARTEL LEADER REPORTEDLY ... REPUTED COLOMBIAN DRUG CARTEL LEADER REPORTEDLY KILLED BY POLICE McGRAW-HILL NEWS (Bogota, Colombia)--Reputed Medellin cocaine cartel leader Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha was killed in a gun battle with Colombian police, Radio RCN reported. The radio station quoted a police spokesman as saying that 11 other people were killed in the shootout. He was indicted in Colombia for organizing death squads and was wanted in the U.S. on cocaine-smuggling charges.--UPI Copyright 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc. UPn 12/15 1707 Police say cocaine cartel leader killed By FEDERICO FULLEDA BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- Medellin cocaine cartel leader Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, one of the United States' most-wanted drug traffickers, was killed in a gun battle with police Friday, authorities said. Colombian police said that about 15 others, including Rodriguez Gacha's son, Freddy Rodriguez Celades, and several bodyguards, died in the shootout with an elite police force in the town of Covenas, about 330 miles north of Bogota. Radio RCN said the confrontation lasted more than a half-hour. Police Deputy Director Gen. Carlos Casadiego said an intelligence operation had helped "locate ... where Rodriguez Gacha, his son and other people, appearing to be the bodyguards, were." Casadiego told reporters that the operation involved the cooperation of the entire police force and "the anti-narcotics (forces) fighting against drug-trafficking. Rodriguez Gacha, 42, was known as one of the world's biggest drug dealers. In 1987, he made the cover of Fortune Magazine as the newest billionaire cocaine trafficker. Identified by the U.S. Justice Department as a member of the "triumvirate that heads the Medellin cocaine cartel," Rodriguez Gacha was on the "dirty dozen" list of the 12 Colombian drug cartel suspects most wanted for extradition to the United States. Rodriguez Gacha was known as "The Mexican" because of his fondness for mariachi bands. The Justice Department said his role was "to oversee the cocaine laboratories where the cocaine is produced and to oversee the transportation of the cocaine from the laboratory to various areas in Colombia." Attorney General Dick Thornburgh announced Dec. 6 that authorities had frozen accounts in five countries holding $61.8 million belonging to Rodriguez-Gacha. Another $20 million was shipped to Panama, effectively putting it out of the reach of American authorities. Rodriguez Gacha has been indicted in Colombia for organizing a number of death sqauds and is wanted in several U.S. cities on cocaine smuggling charges. U.S. officials believe that, in the 1970s, Rodriguez Gacha pioneered cocaine distribution routes from Colombia through Mexico to Los Angeles and Houston. The news of Rodriguez Gacha's death came as Colombia extradited the 10th suspected drug trafficker to the United States since a crackdown began in August and as efforts to force a public referendum on a U.S.-Colombia extradition treaty appeared to falter. The Senate was left with less than the 58 members required for a vote on the referendum Friday when all but one senator from the opposition Social Conservative Party stormed out to protest a Liberal Party plan to erase the question of extradition from the ballot. With the congressional term ending Saturday, it is unlikely the Senate will have time to pass the legislation -- designed to let the public vote on the treaty -- and pass the bill back to the House of Representatives, where amendments would have to be ratified. President Virgilio Barco has been a tireless enemy of a public vote on extradition, which his government considers the backbone of its three-month offensive against rampaging drug cartels. Last week, the House of Representatives tagged extradition on a proposal for a referendum scheduled next month on constitutional reform and peace with a leftist rebel group. The Barco administration feels a fair referendum on extradition is impossible because of intimidation by the drug cartels, who have killed almost 200 people in a three-month bombing campaign. Cartel kingpins threatened to escalate the killing unless the Senate voted to put extradition on the ballot. If the Congress does not approve the laws by Saturday, the referendum will hang in limbo until the new legislature takes office on July 20 following elections in March. In addition, a decision to put off the public vote on extradition until September would pass the issue to the next administration, which takes over Aug. 7. Colombian law prevents Barco from running again in presidential elections scheduled for May 27. Barco re-established extradition on Aug. 18 to counter the powerful drug cartels, blamed for a string of assassinations of judges, politicians and law enforcement officials. The drug lords responded by declaring war, springing a bomb and assassination campaign to force the government to stop the extraditions. Ten Colombians have been sent to the United States to face drug trafficking charges since the beginning of September, and the government is planning to extradite seven more captured suspects held in a Bogota jail. Nelson Cuevas Ramirez, the 10th Colombian to be extradited to the United States since Barco began his anti-drug campaign, arrived in New York Friday and was to be arraigned. Despite the successes of the all-out offensive on the cocaine cartels, none of the top drug chiefs had been captured. APn 12/15 2110 Gacha Profile Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, the son of Colombian peasants, was a pig farmer who became one of the richest men in the world with profits from cocaine trafficking. He was believed to have more than a billion dollars stashed away at the time of his death Friday in a gunfight with police. Rodriguez Gacha, 42, was one of the leaders of the Medellin cartel, which along with the Cali cartel is responsible for 80 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States. Rodriguez Gacha had a grade school education and went from pig farming to bartending. In the 1970s he became a hired killer for a Colombian gangster trying to gain control of emerald mines. He became feared throughout the tropical areas of central Colombia, killing emerald buyers and stealing their wares. He also became wealthy and surrounded himself with bodyguards and beautiful women. About 10 years ago he became aware of the immense appetite for drugs in the United States and began using his emerald-war profits to buy cocaine base from Bolivia to be processed into pure cocaine. By 1984 he had so much money he was giving some away. When the southern city of Popayan was devastated by a 1984 earthquake, Rodriguez Gacha was seen walking through the ruined city giving money to stunned survivors. He and other major drug traffickers banded together to form the Medellin cartel, named after the northwestern city of Medellin where smugglers traditionally had their headquarters. Rodriguez Gacha had many ranches, but perhaps his favorite was at Pacho, 50 miles north of Bogota. After the government declared war against the drug dealers last August when a presidential candidate was assassinated the army occupied the Pacho ranch. Many peasants in the area told an Associated Press reporter at the time of the takeover that Rodriguez Gacha was generous. They said he gave away thousands of dollars, providing money for medical treatment and for seed and farm equipment when they could not get loans from the government's farm bank. Police acknowledged that Rodriguez Gacha's popularity with peasants had made it difficult to trap him. An American diplomat, speaking with the condition of anonymity, told journalists three months ago that Rodriguez Gacha and other traffickers had hundreds of people on their payrolls to help watch for police raids. A vendor in a town square would be paid $50 a month to watch for security forces heading toward Rodriguez Gacha's ranch, the diplomat said, and a police colonel might be paid $15,000 a month for information. But if Rodriguez Gacha was a saint to some Colombians he was a monster to others. Authorities said he was behind the Aug. 18 murder of Sen. Luis Carlos Galan, one of the country's leading presidential candidates who was shot down while addressing a campaign rally. Galan had called for more energetic action against drug traffickers. Rodriguez Gacha also was responsibile for the killing in 1988 of Jaime Pardo Leal, leader of the left-wing Patriotic Union Party, authorities said. More than 700 members of the Patriotic Union have been slain the past four years. Rodriguez Gacha was accused of paying right-wing death squads to kill peasants suspected of supporting leftist guerrillas. Officials said Rodriguez Gacha was enraged by the guerrillas' attempts to extort money from ranchers in areas where he owned property and vowed to exterminate them and any of their sympathizers. APn 12/15 2201 Colombia-Gacha Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By STAN YARBRO Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Police who had stalked him for months killed Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, one of the most powerful cocaine barons, in a shootout Friday near Covenas, a port on the Caribbean. Rodriguez Gacha, his 17-year-old son Fredy and five bodyguards were killed in the shootout 360 miles north of Bogota at a ranch owned by Pablo Escobar, another kingpin in Colombia's multibillion-dollar drug empire, national police chief Miguel Gomez Padilla said. No mention was made of police casualties. President Bush called President Virgilio Barco Friday night and congratulated him and the Colombian police on the death of the 42-year-old trafficker, Gen. Miguel Maza Marquez said in a television interview. The gunfight was at a ranch only 70 miles south of Cartagena, the city where Bush is to meet in February with the presidents of Latin America's three major drug-producing countries -- Barco, Alan Garcia of Peru and Jaime Paz Zamora of Bolivia. Maza, commander of the federal investigative police, said police had been pursuing Rodriguez Gacha, the No. 2 man in the Medellin cartel, for 70 hours in the Covenas coastal zone before catching up with him. Rodriguez Gacha was on the list of a dozen Colombian drug traffickers most wanted by the U.S. Justice Department. Maza said telephone switchboards at police stations and the presidential palace were flooded with congratulatory calls. "The country and the world have received this news with satisfaction," he said. "We know this because of the quantity of calls from citizens, from women crying with joy because the head of the most dangerous and forceful terrorist organization on earth has just died." But he said Rodriguez Gacha's death would not end terrorist violence in Colombia. "We cannot say that we have broken the back of organized crime, but since its head has lost its brain, what follows will be a little easier." he said. Police will know concentrate efforts to capture Escobar, Maza said. "We just need a little luck like we had today with Rodriguez Gacha." Escobar, a former pickpocket who leads the Medellin operation and remains at large, was believed to be in the area of the ranch at the time of the shootout, Interior Minister Carlos Lemos said in a televised interview. Lemos did not elaborate except to say sternly to the camera, "Individuals who are involved in crime will end up like Rodriguez Gacha ended up." Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha, nicknamed "El Mexicano" because of his fondness for anything Mexican, have been the objects of manhunts by U.S. and Colombian authorities since Barco ordered a crackdown on drug traffickers after a opposition presidential candidate was slain Aug. 18. Police earlier reported 11 bodyguards among the dead before downgrading that at a news conference to five. "The operation to locate Rodriguez Gacha was an intellegence operation of great care," Gen. Carlos Arturo Casadiego, assistant director of the national police, said in an interview with the Caracol radio network. In Washington, William Bennett, national drug control policy director, said Barco told him the news by telephone call. Bennett said the fugitives "resisted police efforts to arrest them, opening fire on Colombian authorities. Colombian police returned fire, killing Rodriguez Gacha, his son, and 10 or more cartel bodyguards." Authorities say Rodriguez Gacha and Escobar planned the Dec. 8 bombing of the federal investigative police headquarters in downtown Bogota. The blast, which left a huge crater, killed 63 people and injured an estimated 1,000 people. The bombing was the most brazen by the traffickers, who have mounted dozens of attacks to retaliate for the extradition of 10 drug suspects to the United States. A total of 209 people have been killed in bombings and assassinations. Among those killed in the bombings have been 50 judges, two newspaper publishers and the chief of the narcotics police. The two men also were accused in the Nov. 27 bombing of a Colombian domestic jetliner just outside Bogota that killed all 107 people aboard. In October, the government offered $581,000 for the capture of either man. Rodriguez Gacha, who died a billionaire, was a pig farmer before he got into the cocaine business. Among his victims, according to Colombian authorities, was the president of the leftist Patriotic Union party, Jaime Pardo Leal, assassinated Oct. 12, 1988. He also was accused of several massacres of peasants believed to sympathize with leftist guerrillas. He was said to be financing right-wing death squads that have killed hundreds of other leftists. In addition to wars with the government and peasants, Rodriguez Gacha also fought the rival cocaine cartel in Cali, a southern city, and was involved in a struggle with other gangsters for control of Colombia's emerald mines. Escobar started out in Medellin, Colombia's second most populous city and about 200 miles from Bogota, as a petty criminal and car thief. Now, Forbes magazine ranks him as being worth $2 billion to $3 billion. Rodriguez Gacha was indicted in July 1988 with six other reputed drug traffickers by a federal grand jury in Miami. He was charged with importing 1,350 pounds of cocaine into the United States. He also was indicted in Miami in 1986 on charges involving the Medellin Cartel and the importation of 58 tons of cocaine, and faced charges in New York. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh recently announced that $61.8 million worth of his assets had been frozen in several nations around the world as a result of a U.S. investigation. Another $20 million was spirited to banks in Panama before U.S. agents could get court orders blocking the accounts. In Washington, Justice Department spokeswoman Harri Kramer said Colombian national police called the Drug Enforcement Administration and said of Rodriguez Gacha: "He's gone. It was a firefight." Kramer said. Casadiego said the operation Friday was proof Colombian police have "the capacity to fight drug traffickers" and "there is sufficient political will" in the country to carry the battle forward. Until the shootout Friday, authorities had captured and extradited 10 middle-level drug trafficking suspects but had not caught any of the 12 suspected traffickers most wanted by the United States. The police said they had come close in the last two months to catching several members of the Medellin Cartel, including Escobar and Jorge Luis Ochoa, another of the top three leaders. A judge released Fredy Rodriguez three weeks ago from a Bogota jail, where he had been held for three months. The judge said he released him because it was illegal under Colombian law to lock up people under 18. APn 12/16 1019 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By STAN YARBRO Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Police who tracked down and killed a powerful leader of the Medellin drug cartel called the slaying a "splendid Christmas present," but warned that drug terrorism could rise as a result. Hours after Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, his 17-year-old son Fredy and five bodyguards were killed in a hail of gunfire Friday, authorities pledged to hunt down Pablo Escobar, Colombia's cocaine godfather and its most-wanted criminal. President Bush called President Virgilio Barco to congratulate him and the country's security forces for eliminating Rodriguez Gacha, who has been implicated in hundreds of murders of politicians, judges and peasants. Colombia's Medellin and Cali drug cartels are believed responsible for 80 percent of the cocaine that reaches the streets of the United States. The operation was by far the biggest success of Barco's 16-week-old war on drug traffickers. Authorities said Gacha Rodriguez in fact had ordered the Aug. 18 assassination of a leading presidential candidate, the slaying that led to the government's crackdown on traffickers. A Bogota daily, La Prensa, today quoted a journalist who was present at the raid as saying Rodriguez Gacha killed himself with a hand grenade after he was cornered by police. The journalist was identified as Silvio Cohen, a correspondent for Barranquilla's El Heraldo newspaper. La Prensa said Rodriguez Gacha's body was ripped to pieces by the grenade explosion. However, an official coroner's report released today said bullet wounds to the head and body had killed Rodriguez Gacha, apparently confirming the official version of his death. Just hours after the drug lord's death, gunmen fatally shot a police lieutenant in Medellin, the RCN radio network reported. RCN said it was not known if the slaying was related to the drug war. Security forces tracked Rodriguez Gacha to a farm owned by Escobar near the Caribbean port of Covenas, 360 miles north of Bogota. Rodriguez Gacha and the others were wiped out in the fierce battle that ensued, Gen. Miguel Gomez Padilla, the national police chief, told a news conference in Bogota. The New York Times reported in today's editions that police laid a trap for Rodriguez Gacha about 10 days ago. The newspaper, quoting senior police officials, said Gacha's son, who had been arrested earlier on a weapons charge, was freed so police could follow him to Rodriguez Gacha. About 1,000 police and troops, supported by seven helicopter gunships, participated in the operation, Colombia's leading newspaper El Tiempo reported today, citing police officials as its sources. Security forces began mobilizing for the raid late Thursday, El Tiempo said. A judge had released the trafficker's son from jail on Nov. 23 after holding him for three months. Police arrested the youth on Aug. 25 after raiding his hideout and discovering a weapons cache. El Tiempo quoted a police official as saying that authorities acted on information provided by farmers in the area. Gen. Carlos Arturo Casadiegos reportedly said the government would pay a $581,000 reward to the farmers. None of the various versions of the events could be confirmed with Bogota police today. Miguel Maza Marquez, head of Colombia's investgative police, said the trafficker's death was "a splendid Christmas present." Rodriguez Gacha was linked to many of the killings that have rocked Colombia and killed 199 people since Aug. 18. Maza accused Rodriguez Gacha of ordering the killing of presidential candidate Sen. Luis Carlos Galan, a staunch opponent of the nation's drug trade and the favorite to succeed Barco. Rodriguez Gacha also has been accused of the murders of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla in 1984, of newspaper publisher Guillermo Cano in 1986 and of the leader of the leftist Patriotic Union Party, Jaime Pardo Leal, in 1988. Maza also blamed Rodriguez Gacha for a Dec. 8 car bomb attack that killed 63 people outside the investigative police headquarters. His cartel also was suspected in the Nov. 27 bombing of a Avianca airlines jetliner near Bogota, which killed 107 people. Among the possible results of Rodriguez Gacha's death is an increase in violence within the cartel itself to fill the power vacumn. Maza said the next step was to hunt down Escobar. "We just need a little luck like we had today with Rodriguez Gacha," Maza said. A former pig farmer who became a billionaire cocaine trafficker, Rodriguez Gacha owned vast stretches of land in Colombia. He was fighting wars against the government as well as a rival cocaine cartel from the southern city of Cali. He was also battling other gangsters for control of the country's emerald mines. "This guy wants to be the Hitler of Colombia," a foreign diplomat said recently. Rodriguez Gacha also financed and directed several right-wing death squads. In recent years, the death squads have killed hundreds of peasants suspected of supporting left-wing guerrillas. Officials have assumed that the drug lords are using a bombing campaign to try to pressure the government into abandoning its extradition policy, decreed by the president as part of the latest crackdown. The government has sent 10 middle-level drug suspects to the United States in less than four months. UPn 12/16 1939 Colombia celebrates death of `King of Cocaine' By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- President Virgilio Barco praised authorities Saturday on the shooting death of the powerful Medellin drug cartel's No. 2 man, the biggest victory in the nation's war on cocaine traffickers. Cocaine baron Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, nicknamed "The Mexican" for his love of Mexican folk music and culture, died Friday in a shootout with elite police anti-drug forces at a ranch near Covenas, 345 miles north of Bogota. Also killed were his son Freddy, 17, and five bodyguards. Barco, speaking to reporters after giving a state of the union address at the end of the congressional term, credited the killing to "the capacity of our police and its intelligence to control those who don't comply with the law." The death of Rodriguez Gacha, 42, was a huge victory for Barco, who began an intense war on cocaine trafficking following the assassination Aug. 18 of Sen. Luis Galan, the front-running presidential candidate of Barco's Liberal Party. President Bush also praised the action Saturday and Barco's continuing battle against his country's drug barons after a meeting with French President Francois Mitterrand in Marigot, St. Martin. "I was delighted," Bush told a joint news conference, "when the Colombian government brought to bay the man who was ranked as the third most prominent narco-terrorist in Colombia." And hailing the move as "very courageous," Bush lauded the Barco government for "doing its level best" in the nation's war against drug traffickers. "I think we ought to salute him." While the police and army have confiscated hundreds of properties and arrested a number of cocaine figures, all of the kingpins of the highly lucrative trade had previously eluded capture. "It is the best Christmas present possible for the police and Colombians," said Gen. Miguel Gomez Padilla, head of the National Police, who traveled to the scene of the shootout. "We are satisfied to have helped Colombia and the world in this manner." Police said they located Rodriguez Gacha through intelligence operations. The government had posted a $230,000 reward for information on his whereabouts. Gomez said the reward money would be distributed secretly. While celebrating the victory, the nation braced for a continued crackdown on drug traffickers. "It is necessary to recognize that this blow represents a great triumph for the government of President Barco and the armed forces, and it provided the nation with long-awaited relief," said an editorial in the El Tiempo newspaper. "But careful," warned the editorial, "the battle was won, but not the war." Police Chief Gomez Padilla said, "We will not let down our guard. We will continue our mission to combat narcotics traffickers and terrorists without vacillation." The shootout came less than two weeks after a huge car bomb exploded outside the headquarters of the secret police in Bogota, killing 65 people. It also followed the Nov. 27 bombing of an Avianca Airlines flight in which 110 people died. Rodriguez Gacha was blamed for the bombings, along with the deaths of Galan and, over a number of years, those of a justice minister and an attorney general, as well as a leading newspaper publisher and other top police and government officials. He also formed deaths squads that killed scores of leftist political leaders and communist guerrillas, officials said. A U.S. narcotics expert said Rodriguez Gacha was believed to have become addicted to cocaine in recent years. Rodriguez Gacha was one of the top figures in the Medellin cartel, the world's biggest supplier of cocaine led by Pablo Escobar Gaviria. His picture once appeared on the cover of "Fortune" magazine and his wealth was estimated by various publications at $5 billion. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh announced Dec. 6 that authorities had frozen accounts in five countries holding $61.8 million belonging to Rodriguez Gacha. Another $20 million was shipped to Panama, effectively putting it out of the reach of U.S. authorities. Rodriguez Gacha began as an emerald merchant and was introduced to the cocaine trade by Pablo Escobar, who now appears to be the most powerful member of the Medellin cartel. A reward also has been posted for Escobar's capture. On Nov. 23, Gacha's son Freddy was released from Bogota's Modelo prison, where he had been held for three months on gun possession charges, and may have unwittingly led the authorities to his father. At 3 p.m. Friday, the elite force, backed up with helicopters armed with mounted machine guns, assaulted the ranch with grenade attacks and followed with a half-hour firefight. Gacha and his son were separated in confusion following the raid, with the kingpin and a bodyguard trying to escape in a Chevrolet truck parked near the ranchhouse. WP 12/17 Drug Lord's Death as Symbolic Victory;Specialists ... Drug Lord's Death as Symbolic Victory;Specialists See Minimal Impact on Cocaine Imports From Colombia By Michael Isikoff Washington Post Staff Writer While it was a major symbolic victory for the Bush administration's drug war, the killing of drug lord Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha by an elite, U.S.-equipped Colombian police unit Friday is unlikely to have any lasting impact on the volume of cocaine smuggled into this country, according to academic experts, anti-drug specialists and some administration officials. Although widely considered the most violent of the Medellin cartel barons, Rodriguez Gacha was only one player in a vast, multibillion-dollar cocaine industry that has demonstrated far greater diversity and durability than U.S. officials once thought, these experts said. Only a few years ago, U.S. officials routinely depicted the Medellin cartel as a ruthless monolith that "controlled" 80 percent of the U.S. cocaine market. Today, the Medellin group is viewed as a loose-knit and shifting coalition of drug traffickers - some of whom did not participate or even support the wave of bombings and assassinations associated with Rodriguez Gacha. The killing of Rodriguez Gacha "will make people feel better about the drug war in Washington and Bogota, but it will make little to no difference in the supply of cocaine to the United States," said Rensselaer Lee, adjunct professor of international affairs at George Washington University, who specializes in Colombia's cocaine industry. "We have to make a distinction between the Colombian war against these terrorist figures . . . and the war against drugs." Many U.S. law enforcement officials now think that a rival cartel, headquartered in the Colombian city of Cali, accounts for at least as much of the U.S. cocaine supply as all the Medellin traffickers combined. Yet the low-key Cali group - thought to have supplied convicted District drug kingpin Rayful Edmond III - has not been targeted by the Colombian government and may be able to make up for any short-term disruptions caused by Rodriguez Gacha's demise, said Peter Reuter, a Rand Corp. economist who has studied the drug economy. "My own view is that knocking off individual leaders does little to affect the cocaine distribution system," said Reuter, who noted that U.S. officials apprehended an equally major trafficker, Carlos Lehder, two years ago without cutting supplies. In many respects, Lee and others said, Rodriguez Gacha's death is most significant as a political boost for Colombian President Virgilio Barco, who launched a risky, all-out war against the top Medellin drug lords last August. In recent weeks, as terrorists linked to Rodriguez Gacha intensified their activity, public support for Barco's campaign dropped precipitously. Originally billed as a war against drug traffickers in general, Barco's efforts came to be viewed primarily as a hunt for the two figures who most directly challenged the authority of the state - Rodriguez Gacha and his onetime and equally notorious ally, Pablo Escobar. As a result, the assault on Rodriguez Gacha's coastal hideout provided an important "psychological" victory for Barco, administration officials said. "This narco-terrorism is simply outrageous and unacceptable, and when we see a president of an embattled country, and Colombia fits that description, doing its level best to bring them to justice, I think we ought to salute them," President Bush said yesterday at a news conference on St. Martin. Bush is scheduled to meet with Barco during a drug "summit" in Cartagena, Colombia, on Feb. 15. While acknowledging that Rodriguez Gacha's death will make little immediate impact, administration officials said it should be seen as part of a sustained effort that eventually will make a difference. "We've never said you can solve this overnight," said John Walters, chief of staff to William J. Bennett, national drug control policy director. "There's a lot more that needs to be done - we know that, the Colombians know that . . . . But every victory helps." U.S. officials said the victory belonged almost entirely to the Colombian government, although officials in Colombia reported that seven U.S.-supplied UH-1H Huey helicopters - part of the $62 million aid package Bush approved for Colombia last August - were used in the National Police assault on Rodriguez Gacha's hideout Friday morning, special correspondent Douglas Farah reported. According to Colombian and U.S. sources, the final move against the drug lord began Nov. 22, when his son, Freddy, who had been arrested Sept. 25 on gun charges, was secretly freed from prison. Police officials trailed the son, who finally led them to Rodriguez Gacha's hideout 60 miles south of Cartagena. A British-trained unit set up roadblocks in the area early Friday and began advancing on the ranch. After two of the trafficker's bodyguards were killed, Rodriguez Gacha and companions were spotted fleeing in a truck. One of the Hueys followed the truck, swooping low and killing Rodriguez Gacha in a blaze of gunfire. Police said Rodriguez Gacha was found gripping an Israeli-made Galil submachine gun. His son, Freddy, and 15 bodyguards also were killed during the 35-minute gunfight. RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ, Reynaldo. "El Padrino". A major Peruvian trafficker considered to be involved with Colombians in cocaine shipments from San Borja and other collection points in northern Peru. Involved in the Lima "Villa Coca" scandal of 1986, where the explosion of a cocaine kitchen in Lima led to the implication of six Peruvian police generals. A member of his organization was Luz FERNANDEZ, who lived in Tijuana, Mexico, and moves people and narcotics across the border to the USA. Another member was Luis LOPEZ VERGARA, former Advisor to Minister of Interior and Prime Minister Percovich, and who was held in the Villa Coca case. Reynaldo and a brother maintained ties with Carlos LEHDER of the Medellin cartel. RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA, Gilberto Jose, AKA "El Chema [the chemist]"; used name Gilberto GONZALEZ in Madrid, Spain. Arrested for kidnapping in 1969, along with Jose SANTACRUZ LONDONO, AKA "El Estudiante", and his brother Miguel Angel. Known as dangerous individuals, they also became involved in forgery in Pereira. Although from Mariquita, Tolima, they like Evaristo PORRAS and Jose Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ were brought up in Cali. They began trafficking by moving small amounts of cocaine between Peru and Valle (Cali) Colombia. With money from kidnappings were able to buy a plane and move base to processing sites in Narino, Cauca and Valle. Were known to Government as drug traffickers as early as 1975. In November 75 Gilberto was captured with 180 kilos of paste. The owner of the shipment was Tulio Enrique AYERBE, from a wealthy Cali family. Castillo claims that with this bust the entire cocaine transport and dollar laundering organization of the Cali cartel was uncovered. Reportedly worked with Santiago OCAMPO ZULUAGA who was indicted in the US in 1980 as then head of the "biggest cocaine ring in US history", and is now, apparently, in retirement. Gilberto helped set up the New York operation and was the brains behind the narcolaundering scam involving First Interamericas Bank of Panama, the Banco Cafetero in Colombia, and the Corporacion Financiera de Boyaca (which involved various frontmen including Antonio BELTRAN, brother in law Alfonso GIL OSORIO, and senator MESTRE SARMIENTO). Founded the Colombian Radio Group which has 28 stations. His frontmen include Alfonso BELTRAN BALLESTEROS and Emilio ALJURE NASSAR, the latter a congressman from Cali. Fernando GUTIRREZ is frontman in the drugstore operation they have nationwide. Rodriguez is owner of a landing strip, the Bar J in Alabama. Manager of Rodriguez' Chrysler outlet, Tomas DE LOS RIOS, is now serving time in the USA for trafficking. In July 1987, A Cali court absolved Rodriguez and Jose SANTACRUZ LONDONO of all criminal charge--charges that formed the basis for their indictment in the USA. RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA, Miguel Angel. Brother of Gilberto JosŽ RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA. Co-owner of a soccer team and various businesses (including a drugstore) in Medell’n. Under indictment in New Orleans. RODRIGUEZ PUENTE, Efrain. Efrain is a member of the ESCOBAR organization. His brother, Humberto, is the former Governor of Bolivar. During the administration of President Betancur Efrain was involved in a well-known 500 kilo smuggling effort. He served some time in a Cartagena jail, and now fronts for the ESCOBAR organization there. His associates include Luis LINARES; Luis, who worked with Medellin traffickers and with Escobar, was seized in Cartagena during a 500 kg bust in 1984. The HCL transaction involved the Cartagena ELJACH organization. RODRIGUEZ PUENTE, Humberto. Financial associate of Pablo ESCOBAR and former governor of Bolivar (Cartagena). RODRIGUEZ ZUNIGA, Ana Elena. Drug trafficker and money launderer; extradition approved in October, 1989. RODRGIGUEZ, Cesar. Involved in Servicios Touristicos money laundering scheme with Enrique Pretel. ROLDAN, Hector. Cali narcotrafficker. RONDON, Gildardo. Rondon is an OCHOA VASQUEZ frontman who appears as owner of La Guarani, Ochoa's posh country house NW of Medellin. Rondon is in charge of real estate sales for Ochoa. ROWLEY, James. Reporter for the Associated Press.RUBIANO OREJUELA, Alfonso. Involved in 1986 Honduran plane crash inwhich one ton of HCL was found. Plane was registered in Cali to Rubiano Pinzon and Company. RUBINO, Frank. Lawyer of Manuel NORIEGA. RUIZ, Jose Ramon. Early trafficker who skipped $100,000 bail in Miami in 1978. Whereabouts unknown. SABOGAL, Hugo. Editor for El Tiempo (Bogota) and producer for BBC television. Co- author of The Cocaine Wars. SALAZAR MANRIQUE, Roberto. Colombian Minister of Justice; assumed position after resignation of Monica de GREIFF. La Opinion, Monday, October 9, 1989: Asume nuevo ministro de judicia BOGOTA, 8 de octubre (AP).-Con el compromiso de aplicar con la mayor firmeza y con la mayor equidad las nuevas pol’ticas del Presidente Virgilio Barco sobre extradiciones de narcotraficantes y expropiac’on des sus fortunas, asumi— hoy el cargo de ministro de Justicia el abogado y economista Roberto Salazar Manrique. Salazar Manrique es el noveno ministro de Justicia nombrado por Barco en tres a–os y dos meses de gobierno; toma posesi—n del cargo en medio de una intensa polŽmica sobre uno oferta de los carteles de la droga de negociar la paz con el Gobierno. Salazar Manrique, de 51 a–os, prest— juramento al medid’a ante el presidente Virgilio Barco en una ceremonia en la que tambiŽn asumieron sus cargos los nuevos ministros de Gobierno (Interior) Carlos Lemos Simmonds, y de Comunicaciones, Enrique Dan’es. Salazar Manrique, quien ven’a ocupando la subgrencia del Banco Central de Colombia, reemplaz— a la joven abogado M—nica de Greiff, quien renunci— despuŽs de recibir amenazas de muerte de los narcotraficantes y expresar discrepencias con el restablecimiento de la extradici—n. M—nica de Greiff estuvo apenas 70 d’as en en el ministerio de Justicia, cuyo ejercicio se ha convertido en una pesadilla por las amenazas del crimen organizado que maneja el negocio de la droga. En una breve reuni—n con los periodistas despuŽs de prestar juramento, Salazar Manrique dijo no tener miedo de las amenazas de los narcotraficantes. Tengo voluntad de servicio al pa’s y eso es lo fundamental. El 30 de abril de 1984 fue asesinado Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, cuando librada desde el ministerio de Justicia una cruzada contra el narcotr‡fico. Su sucesor Enrique Parejo Gonz‡lez escap— herido a un intento de asesinato en Budapest, Hungaria, dos a–os despuŽs. Hab’a sido enviado a ese pa’s de alta seguridad en calidad de embajador para evitar que fuera asesinado por los carteles de la droga que lo sentenciaron a muerte por haber extraditado a varios narcotraficantes. El nuevo ministro de Justicia anunci— que aplicar‡ fielmente las decisiones del presidente Barco quien el pasadeo 18 de agosto restableci— la extradici—n de los barones de la droga y orden— expropriar sus fortunas. He dicho que comparto totalmente la medidas tomadas por el se–or Presidente de la repœblica, reiter— Salazar Manrique cuando fue interrogado si estaba dispuesto a continuar extraditando narcotraficantes. Sin embargo, a ra’z de revelaciones period’sticas sobre una frustrad negociaci—n entre el Gobierno colombiano y el cartel de la coca’na de Medell’n, diversos dirigentes politicos expresaron hoy que no se puede descartar un di‡logo para poner fin a la violencia y erradicar el narcotr‡fico de Colombia. En favor de una soluci—n negociada s pronunciaron hoy en etrevistas para la prensa y la radio, el precandidato presidencial conservador Alvaro Leyya Dur‡n, el ex ministro de Hacienda, Gobierno y Fomento Joaqu’n Vallejo, dirigente liberal, y el ex presidente de Directorio Nacional Conservador Fabio Valencia Coss’o. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Copyright Times Mirror Company 1989 DATE: SATURDAY October 7, 1989 EDITION: Home Edition LENGTH: MEDIUM PART-NAME: ONE PAGE: 9 PART-NUMBER: 1 COLUMN: 1 TYPE-OF-MATERIAL: Appointment Wire DATELINE: BOGOTA, Colombia DESK: Foreign SOURCE: From Times Wire Services COLOMBIA NAMES NEW JUSTICE MINISTER TO BATTLE THE DRUG CARTELS President Virgilio Barco Vargas has named a new justice minister to replace Monica de Greiff, who resigned last month in the face of escalating violence that continued Friday when a bomb exploded in a clothing store in the drug cartel stronghold of Medellin, killing one person. Roberto Salazar Manrique, who was appointed to the job Thursday night, will now lead the government's crackdown on the nation's drug lords, processing extraditions of Colombian traffickers to the United States. He met with reporters on Friday and said that he would take a cautious approach to the job vacated by De Greiff, who quit after repeated death threats from the traffickers and after one of her predecessors was slain. ''To be responsible in life means to be cautious,'' Salazar said after meeting with Barco at the presidential palace in Bogota. Both an economist and a lawyer, Salazar said that he is well aware of the risks involved and still favors extradition of drug-trafficking suspects to the United States. ''If I weren't for it, I wouldn't have accepted'' the appointment, the anti-drug newspaper El Espectador quoted Salazar as saying Thursday night. ''The sole acceptance of the job says it all.'' The Barco government declared war on the traffickers following the Aug. 18 assassination of leading presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, an anti-drug crusader. As part of emergency measures enacted during the crackdown, the government revived Colombia's extradition treaty with the United States. So far just one suspect has been extradited, but proceedings are under way against another. Salazar, a little-known public figure, was deputy finance minister in the 1970s and later worked at the Central Bank where he was deputy general manager and secretary general of the Monetary Board. He becomes Barco's ninth justice minister. Two other Cabinet changes were announced. Communications Minister and acting Justice Minister Carlos Lemos Simmonds was named government minister following Wednesday's resignation of Orlando Vasquez Velazquez, who sought to return to Parliament. Replacing him at the Communications Ministry will be Enrique Danies Rincones, the former governor of the remote Caribbean province of Guajira. Drug-related violence showed no sign of abating amid the Cabinet shuffles. In addition to the bombing in Medellin, two bombs exploded at a supermarket and a bank in Bogota Thursday night. Police said two suspects were detained. Also, police on Friday found 500 pounds of dynamite at a house they raided in southern Bogota following the arrest of two suspects. KEYWORDS: COLOMBIA -- DRUG TRAFFICKING COLOMBIA -- GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SALAZAR MANRIQUE, ROBERTO EXTRADITION UNITED STATES -- FOREIGN RELATIONS -- COLOMBIA DE GREIFF, MONICA APn 11/16 2018 Colombia Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By TOM WELLS Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- President Virgilio Barco's government opposes an attempt in Colombia's congress to pardon drug traffickers, newspapers reported Thursday. During debate in congress Wednesday, Justice Minister Roberto Salazar said Barco is steadfastly opposed to giving amnesty to the Medellin Cartel members and other cocaine traffickers, reported the dailies El Espectador and El Tiempo. Barco has no veto power over legislation and if the congress should decide to approve the amnesty bill, it would become law. However, there is little doubt the Supreme Court would declare such a law unconstitutional. The constitution clearly reserves pardons for political crimes while forbidding amnesty for common criminals. Rep. Cesar Perez is proposing that amnesty for traffickers be made part of a bill that would offer amnesty to leftist guerrillas who signed a truce with the government. Perez said in a speech to the congress Wednesday that the minister of justice was ignorant because of his opposition to amnesty for drug traffickers. Colombia's congress has not been enthusiastic over the government's war on drug traffickers declared by Barco Aug. 19 after traffickers killed a popular presidential hopeful, Sen. Luis Carlos Galan. Barco issued decrees allowing the extradition of traffickers to the United States and the confiscation of their property in Colombia. Attacks blamed on drug thugs since the government offensive began have left at least 39 people dead and 226 injured. Several members of congress have been accused in the last 10 years of accepting money from drug traffickers, but the accusations have never been proven. The suspected head of the Medellin Cartel, Pablo Escobar, was a member of congress from 1982 to 1986. Several congressmen have expressed support for amnesty for drug traffickers, but because most are keeping their opinions to themselves there is no way to tell if amnesty for traffickers might be approved. Debate on the bill is expected to end within the next two weeks. The proposed amnesty for guerrillas came in a peace treaty with the April 19 Movement, known as the M-19. Few in congress have spoken out against the government's attempt to reach a peace with the guerrillas. In exchange for pardons and the right to form a political party, the M-19 has agreed to give up its weapons and disband. Four other guerrilla groups have expressed interest in opening talks with the government, but so far no other talks have taken place. A sixth guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, has said it will never negotiate with the government. SANTACRUZ LONDONO (Londo–o) Jose. AKA "El Estudiante" [the student]. Engineering student who very early got involved in crime. Took part in kidnappings with the RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA brothers in 1969. Later involved in drug trafficking in New York. He was involved in the famous Atlantic Lumber Company cocaine seizure in Maryland, along with Luis IBARGUEN and Manuel VASQUEZ. Londono escaped and returned to Cali in early 1980, where he remains one of the kingpins of the so-called Cali cartel. Although a fugitive, he was tried with RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA and Hernando Giraldo SOTO in Cali, and found innocent in July 1987 of all charges that lead to his indictment in New York and Florida. SCHMUCKLER, Martin L. Los Angeles, California, lawyer of Raul Silvio Vivas. SCOTT, Andrew. Associated Press journalist. SEAL, Alder Berriman Barry (aka Ellis MacKenzie) Former pilot for Pablo ESCOBAR; was involved in Nicaraguan activities with Jose Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ GACHA and Federico VAUGHAN. Provided transportation services for Jorge Luis OCHOA VASQUEZ. He was assassinated in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on February 19, 1986 before he could testify in exchange for special consideration on charges that had been brought against him. Quick End for Flamboyant Informer DEA Says Colombian Hit Squad Apparently Took First Victim By Mary Thornton Washington Post Staff Writer 03/10/86 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: A SECTION TX Adler Barrimore (Barry) Seal, the nation's top drug informer, worked as a Special Forces pilot in Vietnam and later flew for Trans World Airlines before he became a drug smuggler, earning $1.5 million for a single flight into Colombia and amassing a drug fortune of $60 million to $100 million. But, according to officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration, after Seal was arrested three years ago, he began to walk an even more dangerous tightrope. He decided to become an undercover DEA informer. Now, he's dead, and the DEA said he apparently was the first victim of a drug-financed Colombian hit squad whose sojourn into the country -- with botched getaways and flashy clothes -- might have been comical had it not been so deadly. Seal, 45, became the key player in the government's top drug cases, DEA officials said. His testimony led to cocaine charges against a high-level Nicaraguan government official and drug convictions against the top government officials of the Turks and Caicos islands. More recently, Seal had turned his attention to even bigger fish when he testified before a federal grand jury about three of his former employers: Colombian drug kingpins Carlos Lehder, Pablo Escobar and Jorge Ochoa. Lehder and Escobar are fugitives, and Ochoa is in prison in Spain, facing extradition to the United States. Throughout most of his undercover career, Seal, a flamboyant man, lived with the knowledge that drug traffickers had placed a price on his head, but he refused government protection. He recently told television reporter John Camp in Baton Rouge, La., "I'm not worried about the contract. If it comes, it comes." About six weeks ago, as part of his tangled plea-bargaining negotiations, Seal began serving a six-month sentence at the Salvation Army halfway house in his home town of Baton Rouge, leaving each morning at 8:30 for his job as a self-employed aviation consultant, and returning at 6 p.m.Seal's new schedule did not go unnoticed. Not long after Seal reported to the halfway house on Jan. 24, according to federal investigators, four Colombian men began a journey first to Panama, then into Mexico. Officials of the Immigration and Naturalization Service said the men are believed to have illegally crossed the Mexican border into California Feb. 12. DEA sources said the men bought new American clothing in an attempt to "blend in" as they made their way across the country. But it appears they should have had a fashion consultant on their shopping trip. By the time two of the men were apprehended, agents said one was wearing a "flashy" orange shirt with a brown suit and the other wore a pastel outfit that would have been appropriate on "Miami Vice." About 6 p.m. on Feb. 19, as Seal pulled his white Cadillac Fleetwood into the Salvation Army parking lot, two men walked up to the car and began firing wildly with Ingram Mac-10 machine guns, small assassination weapons that fire at a rate of 1,000 rounds per minute. Seal died instantly. Federal agents said that violence among Colombian drug dealers is common, especially in Miami. But they believe that the four Colombians who illegally entered the United States are part of the first "hit squad" sent here by drug traffickers to carry out a murder contract against a U.S. target. Security at DEA offices across the country was increased a year ago when Colombian traffickers let it be known that they had placed a price on the heads of top DEA officials. Sources have said that the price on Seal was to have been $500,000 for his death or $1 million for getting him to Colombia alive. Seal's family and some public officials have complained that Seal should have been better protected. Attorney General Edwin Meese III said last week that he is looking into how the case was handled. But federal agents said Seal had refused offers for a new identity and that he rejected requests that he serve his six-month sentence in a halfway house in an area where he was not so well known. Agents and others who knew Seal said that he was a self-styled soldier of fortune who became involved in drug smuggling for thrills. They said that Seal was an avid pilot who especially enjoyed pushing airplanes to their limits and modifying them with special equipment. When Seal returned from Vietnam, he went to work as a pilot for TWA. But sources said Seal became bored with the routine and began to look for excitement. Seal was arrested in 1972 for attempting to smuggle nearly seven tons of explosives to Cuba, but the case was later dismissed. He has said in interviews and in testimony to the President's Commission on Organized Crime that he got involved in drug trafficking by 1977. He had appeared on numerous televised interviews and last year testified before the crime commission. Seal had bragged of once smuggling 20,000 pounds of cocaine into Baton Rouge without leaving his house, simply by ordering it by phone. Seal lived in an upper-class neighborhood, surrounded by oriental rugs, jewelry, expensive art work, luxury cars, boats and airplanes. Early last month the Internal Revenue Service seized Seal's house, two boats, several planes, real estate and other possessions for alleged nonpayment of $29,437,718 in taxes on illegal drug income. Camp, an investigative reporter for KBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge, said that Seal underwent a "personality change" when he went to work for DEA and became serious about working against his former employers. Agents familiar with Seal's work said he was extremely valuable to the DEA, with a memory for details that was close to photographic. Although Seal will not be able to carry out his planned role as the government's star witness in the Ochoa trial, federal sources said Seal's testimony to a grand jury may still be able to convict his old associate. After the killing, a major federal manhunt was launched. So far, six men have been arrested in connection with the killing. They are being held without bail on a variety of charges while the investigation continues. Within 12 hours of the shooting, three of the suspects were arrested. They included Miguel Velez, Heriberto Sanchez-Cardenas and Jose Renteria-Campos. One of the men was arrested in New Orleans, a second at the Miami airport and the third was arrested after the taxi he had hired to drive him from New Orleans to the Montgomery, Ala., airport hit a deer in Meridian, Miss., and became disabled. A federal official said the other two suspects had raised suspicions among personnel at the New Orleans airport as they ran through the terminal offering large sums of money for any flight that would take them to Miami. Federal sources said that Sanchez-Cardenas and Velez are believed to be among the Colombians who illegally crossed the border Feb. 12. Renteria-Campos, a Colombian, was already in the United States on an expired visitor visa, the sources said. Two days later three other men were arrested by the FBI in simultaneous raids in the New Orleans area. They included John Jairo Cardona-Garcia, Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz and Bernardo Antonio Vasquez-Tamayo. The FBI announced that agents found drugs and weapons during the raids. INS officials said that the first two men are believed to have crossed the border illegally Feb. 12, while Vasquez-Tamayo, a Colombian, is a permanent resident alien living in New Orleans. FBI spokesmen in Louisiana said that all the men were being held in connection with the Seal murder while the investigation continues. By the end of last week, Velez had been charged with retaliation against a federal witness, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Vasquez-Tamayo had been charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and a firearms violation. The other four men were being held as illegal immigrants. SENDERO LUMINOSO (Shining Path). Maoist insurgent organization based in Peru. THE WASHINGTON POST DATE: FRIDAY September 1, 1989 PAGE: A01 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: FIRST SECTION LENGTH: MEDIUM SOURCE: Michael Isikoff Washington Post Staff Writer MEMO: STORY-TYPE: NEWS NATIONAL NEWS FOREIGN UP TO 100 MILITARY ADVISERS TO BE SENT TO COLOMBIA DEA AGENTS TO RESUME ATTACKS IN PERU As many as 100 U.S. military personnel will be sent to Colombia over the next four months to help train police and military units in that country's battle against the drug cartels, the Defense Department said yesterday. Administration officials also confirmed that, after a seven-month hiatus, Drug Enforcement Administration agents working with police forces in Peru will resume paramilitary strikes in the next few days against drug traffickers in the country's coca-growing Upper Huallaga Valley. U.S. officials said the valley is "effectively controlled" by the far leftist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas. The two developments highlighted the escalating U.S. role in the Latin drug conflict. Although White House officials announced a $65 million emergency military aid package, including military advisers, for Colombia last week, Pentagon officials yesterday disclosed for the first time the deployment of a contingent of U.S. support personnel under supervision of the Southern Command in Panama. Defense Department spokesman Pete Williams said "somewhere between 50 to 100 U.S. personnel" will be dispatched to Colombia, perhaps starting Sunday, when two C-130 cargo aircraft are already scheduled to carry military equipment. The U.S. forces will include munitions specialists, communications officials, computer operators, supply specialists, logistics personnel and other support personnel, but "they may not all necessarily be there at any one time," Williams said. The aid package-including helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, boats, small arms and other equipment-was approved by President Bush last week after individuals believed to be speaking for the Medellin cocaine cartel declared what they called "total war" against the Colombian government. In addition, administration officials have confirmed that President Bush will announce an additional $250 million in military and economic aid for Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia as part of a major new drug program drafted by national drug policy director William J. Bennett. Pentagon officials said numerous details about the aid package had yet to be worked out, including where the U.S. personnel will be based, who will protect them and which divisions will provide them. Officials also said the aid package is being revised from the mix of Huey helicopters, grenade launchers, jeeps, antitank weapons and other equipment announced by White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater last week. While administration officials said no "operational" forces will be sent to Colombia, Defense Department spokesman David Super said he could not say whether the support personnel might include U.S. pilots to train the Colombians to fly the Huey helicopters and cargo planes. An administration official acknowledged that the Colombian military might use some of the military equipment to fight leftist guerrillas operating in that country rather than drug traffickers. In the past, U.S. officials have said the two groups sometimes work together, but over the past year there have been increasing reports in the Colombian press about drug traffickers' private armies forging alliances with some elements of the Colombian military to fight leftists. "It's true that one of the Colombian army's missions is to fight the insurgents," said one administration official who asked not to be identified. "But the purpose of our sending the stuff down there is to help (Colombian President Virgilio) Barco fight the drug war." Administration officials have said the situation in Peru may be even more hazardous for anti-drug forces than the one in Colombia. Last February, the U.S. Embassy in Lima suspended a DEA-State Department program called "Operation Snowcap" after concluding that DEA agents were inadequately protected when they accompanied Peruvian police in strikes against drug traffickers. Since then, U.S. officials substantially enhanced a Peruvian base at Santa Lucia where a team of 12 to 18 DEA agents and additional State Department contract personnel are to camp. An airstrip has been built and the base has been surrounded with watch towers and sandbags. "When you visit Santa Lucia, you're sitting in a Vietnam-style military base," said Rep. Robert E. Wise Jr. (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Government Operations subcommittee on government information, justice and agriculture, who returned from a visit to the base this week. "My concern is they don't have all the resources they need . . . . We've got American men and women in harm's way and they're going to be in real danger if we don't back them up." KEYWORDS: ORGANIZATION: defense department; drug enforcement administration SUBJECT: United States; Colombia; Government aid to foreign nations; Narcotic and drug violations; Military personnel on active duty; Peru APn 10/29 1728 Peru Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Army troops killed 27 guerrillas of the Maoist Shining Path movement in a battle near the Andean hamlet of Pariajasa southeast of Lima, officials reported Sunday. A sergeant and a corporal were wounded in the fighting Saturday, according to a communique issued by the Political-Military Command of the Emergency Zone in Ayacucho, 235 miles southeast of Lima. It gave no further details but the guerrilla death toll would be the highest in recent weeks. Pariajasa is 53 miles north of Ayacucho. The Shining Path, which began its anti-government campaign nine years ago in Ayacucho province, has intensified its attacks to disrupt municipal elections set for Nov. 12. At least 120 mayors, candidates and local officials have been killed by the rebels this year and many others have resigned because of threats. Police blamed Shining Path guerrillas for these attacks Saturday: -- Rebels raided the town of Palca, 155 miles east of Lima, and killed three mayoral candidates after a "people's trial" in the town square. The guerrillas then went to the nearby town of Vilca and shot to death two councilmen. -- Guerrillas wearing military uniforms entered San Cristobal de Humanaga University in Ayacucho and used explosives to destroy laboratories, the student dining room, the printing shop and a garage where 19 vehicles burned. No casualties were reported. -- In Huacho, 80 miles northwest of Lima, a car bomb exploded in the downtown area, wounding one passerby and shattering windows. -- The city council building in Chilca, 140 miles east of Lima, was burned by fire bombs. The Shining Path insurgency has spread from Ayacucho and the guerrillas now operate in much of the highlands and also in the northeastern jungles, where officials say they are involved with Colombian smugglers in cocaine trafficking. Government reports say more than 15,000 people have been killed in violence related to the insurgency. APn 10/31 0118 Peru Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Shining Path guerrillas killed two policemen in Lima and hung the bodies of eight dogs from lampposts with death threats against the leaders of the Soviet Union and China, authorities said. They said a police commander assigned to Interpol, the international police organization, was shot to death Monday while driving his daughter to school. Police said several men in a car intercepted the commander's vehicle, hurled a bomb under it, then opened the fire. They said the commander's daughter was not hurt. In the other fatal attack Monday a patrolman was shot as he entered a telephone booth in Lima's El Agustino district. Police said the bodies of the dogs were found hanging from lampposts in various sections of the city Sunday night and notes fastened to the cadavers read: "Death to Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping." The lampposts also were draped with red flags with the hammer and sickle, the symbol of the Maoist Shining Path movement. The Shining Path, which emerged in 1980, claims to follow the principles of the late Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung. It has denounced China's top leader, Deng Xiaoping, and other members of the Chinese Communist Party hierarchy as "traitors" to Mao's teachings. Shining Path has condemned Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev as a violator of Marxism and because of Soviet arms sales to the Peruvian armed forces. The Shining Path used the practice of hanging dogs as a threatening gesture when it first began its anti-government campaign but had not carried out such acts in recent years. Shining Path guerrillas have stepped up their attacks this month in an effort to disrupt nationwide municipal elections scheduled for Nov. 12. The government says 330 people have been killed in political violence in October. The government on Monday extended for 60 days the state of emergency in eight provinces of Peru because of continuing rebel violence. The measure suspends constitutional guarantees and places the areas under military control. Most of the province of Lima, where the capital is located, was placed under a state of emergency last week. More than a third of Peru and half of the nation's population of 21 million people are under states of emergency. APn 11/02 0147 Peru Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. LIMA, Peru (AP) -- At least 100 Maoist rebels fired guns and explosives Wednesday at police supervising a religious procession near downtown Lima, officials said. Two rebels were killed and 15 people were wounded, officials said. Police said they detained 140 people after the attack. Bomb squad units were called to the scene to deactivate explosive devices left by the rebels, said an AP photographer at the scene. Interior Minister Agustin Mantilla told reporters the rebels had staged a brief march in the working-class district of La Victoria at the same time as the procession to mark All Saints Day. The guerrillas attacked the police, but other police from a nearby precinct arrived and joined in the battle. Mantilla said two rebels were killed and 14 were wounded. He said a police sergeant was wounded by shrapnel from a homemade bomb thrown by the rebels. Reporters said the rebels carried banners and scattered pamphlets urging people to stay home Friday and to boycott municipal elections scheduled for Nov. 12. The Shining Path announced an "armed strike" last week as part of its campaign to sabotage the elections. The term is used by the group to imply violence against those who don't participate in the strike. In Huancayo, 140 miles east of Lima, armed Shining Path guerrillas forced employees of two radio stations Wednesday to broadcast messages calling on people to obey a three-day strike beginning Nov. 12. In May, about 1 million people in the Huancayo region obeyed the call for a strike, stopping food supplies from reaching the capital. The Maoist rebels have assassinated more than 120 mayors, local officials and candidates this year in its campaign to disrupt the elections. About 400 candidates have quit out of fear. In Pomacocha, 295 miles southeast of Lima, rebels assassinated a justice of the peace and the assistant police chief, police said Wednesday. Rebels also killed the mayor and police chief of Raquia, a town 125 miles north of Lima. The attacks occurred Tuesday, police said. The Shining Path, based in the Andean highlands, launched its insurgency against Peru's elected government in 1980. Warfare has spread throughout much of the country. The government estimates more than 15,000 people have died. UPn 11/02 2221 Peace march to counter Shining Path action LIMA, Peru (UPI) -- Political parties have organized a "March for Peace" Friday to counter an "armed strike" called by the communist Shining Path guerrilla movement just days before municipal elections. Organizers said the march, brainchild of United Left leader Henry Pease, is backed by the Catholic Church, congressmen, unions, professionals and students, and won the quick support of Mario Vargas Llosa, conservative candidate for president. The Shining Path, a group of some 5,000 guerrillas who control vast areas of the country, is trying to disrupt Nov. 12 elections because it wants to establish a leftist regime of peasants and workers. The "armed strike" called for Friday is believed to be another attempt to disrupt the electoral process. In armed strikes, workers not only stay off the job but are expected to take up arms against the government and their employers. Lima and the nearby port of Callao are under state-of-emergency control by the armed forces to prevent disruptions of the elections. On Wednesday, the Shining Path took over three radio stations in the city of Huancayo, 180 miles east of Lima, and called for a separate "armed strike" for Nov. 11-13 in the Andean states of Junin, Pasco and Huanuco. In Washington, the State Department issued a travel advisory Thursday, warning American citizens to postpone travel to Peru until after the elections. "Increased violence by terrorist organizations is expected during the period leading up to the elections," the warning said. "The (State) Department considers it prudent for Americans to defer travel to Peru until after the elections." Shining Path guerrillas attacked local election candidates and police officials in the pre-election period, and officials estimate 350 people were killed in Peru in the month of October in terrorist incidents. The guerrilla group wants to install an orthodox communist government in Peru based on the teachings of Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Tse-tung. Since the group's first public action in 1980, more than 15,000 people have been killed in political violence directed against both official authorities and peasants. The latter are often brutally slain for refusing to join the rebels. Washington Post 11/03 Peru's Rebels Muddy Drug Drive; Army, Police at ... Peru's Rebels Muddy Drug Drive; Army, Police at Odds on Combating Guerrillas, Coca Growers .By Michael Getler and Eugene Robinson .Washington Post Foreign Service LIMA, Peru, Nov. 2 - Efforts by Peru to attack cocaine trafficking at the source are taking a back seat to what many here see as a more important, the fight against the Shining Path guerrillas, who are waging one of the most violent campaigns in their nine-year-old battle against the government. So far this year, the Maoist guerrillas have assassinated 109 officials, including 45 mayors, according to Sen. Enrique Bernales, who headed a congressional study on the causes of political violence. The violence has mounted as Peru approaches municipal elections Nov. 12, which Shining Path has vowed to disrupt. In what shapes up as a test of strength, the guerrillas have called an "armed strike" for Friday in Lima, while leaders of the major political parties have organized a concurrent "march for peace" to show solidarity in confronting the Shining Path threat. U.S. officials say that of all the campaigns being waged against the cocaine trade in South America, the potential benefits are greatest here, where Andean valleys produce an estimated 65 percent of the world's coca, the plant from which cocaine is made. From the U.S. point of view, the target is all but irresistible: wipe out the coca before the Colombian drug cartels are able to refine it into cocaine, which is much smaller in volume and more easily smuggled into the United States. "Eradicating drugs in the fields is ten times more effective than trying to find the stuff buried in with the bananas" on boats bound for U.S. shores, a U.S. official said. But many Peruvians say efforts to destroy the coca fields have hurt the fight against Shining Path, handing them important popular support among peasant growers and a crucial source of funding from fees collected for protecting the drug trade. The government of President Alan Garcia has suspended its program to eradicate the coca fields. This leaves a beefed-up contingent of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents unable to carry out what they see as their primary mission, large-scale crop eradication, and limits them to helping with joint U.S.-Peruvian police efforts to find and destroy small processing labs in the jungle and to confiscating coca paste or equipment at road blocks. "It is true that our immediate concern has to be terrorism right now, wherever it comes from, because it affects normal development," said Gen. Juan Zarate, head of Peru's national anti-narcotics police and a man U.S. officials here regard as a staunch ally. "With this unrest, with this insecurity, we can't carry out any other major kinds of action," he said. Bernales said the government here has not been able to organize to defeat Shining Path, let alone find a way to attack the drug traffickers at the same time. "For many Peruvians, the drug traffic is not a problem, because there is not yet a serious problem of consumption," he said. The government that is to take office after elections next April "is the last chance this country has to avoid going into a civil war," Bernales said. "What we have is an adversary that has grown enormously and today is in a position . . . possibly to destroy the material basis of government." The Bush administration's war on drugs has focused heavily on Peru and Colombia, and both countries have stepped up measures against narcotics traffickers. But both countries also have overriding domestic problems that complicate the battle and leave in doubt whether there will be any real dent in the amount of cocaine entering the United States. In Colombia, for example, the government is under pressure to curb drug-related violence in its cities and against politicians and judges. Its efforts are weighted heavily toward catching the leaders of the Medellin drug cartel, who are blamed for much of the bloodshed. But there are no prices on the heads of the less violent but equally large rival, the Cali cartel, that shares Colombia's grip on 80 percent of the U.S. cocaine market. Here in Peru, the need to cope with Shining Path - which is held accountable for most of the 2,618 deaths attributed to political violence so far this year - as well as a severe economic crisis and faltering political leadership, has diminished the priority to take on hundreds of thousands of peasant coca growers who bring an estimated $800 million to $1 billion into the economy annually. Coca is Peru's biggest export. The problems intersect in the vast Upper Huallaga Valley northeast of Lima, where most of the coca is grown and where Shining Path has gained strength. The two officers in charge of the Peruvian government's efforts in the Upper Huallaga, Army Gen. Alberto Arciniega and Police Gen. Zarate, continue a longstanding feud between their services. That conflict now is emblematic of the nation's uncertainty over how to approach two such daunting problems as guerrillas and coca producers. A vivid illustration came earlier this year, when guerrillas overran a police installation. Soldiers were nearby, but did nothing to help. U.S. aid for the drug war has been closely tied to the police, although some aid is planned for the military next year. Arciniega, who assumed charge of military operations in the valley last April, has taken the position that his job is to act against Shining Path, even if that means tolerating the drug trade. Based in the former Shining Path stronghold of Uchiza, Arciniega has allied himself with the coca growers in an attempt to separate them from the guerrillas, who have styled themselves the peasants' protectors. He says he eventually wants to substitute other crops for coca, but meanwhile he is taking no action against the coca growers and has been accused of letting the drug business go on as usual, permitting traffickers' planes to use the city airport in their regular runs to pick up coca base. In testimony before a Senate subcommittee in September, Melvyn Levitsky, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics matters, said under questioning there were "reports" that Arciniega had taken payoffs from drug traffickers. In an interview published here by Si magazine Monday, Arciniega denied taking payoffs and said those who criticize him are trying to divert attention from their own failures. He was especially critical of the police operation in the Huallaga, which is run by Zarate. A dozen political leaders, sociologists and journalists interviewed this week expressed the common view that Arciniega's strategy of alliance with the coca growers in an attempt to pry them away from Shining Path is probably the best course to take. "If these are the only options, then public opinion will be with Gen. Arciniega, without doubt," said columnist Mirko Lauer. "If Americans do not understand that Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) is as big an issue as drugs, we should send you some Senderos along with the drugs so you could get a taste of both." "There is no choice if you want to rid the population of Sendero," added Gustavo Gorriti, a journalist-author considered an expert on the guerrillas, in support of Arciniega's strategy. "You can debate about his methods," Sen. Bernales said of Arciniega, "but there is a decision-making capability there now that has been absent in his predecessors. And I would dare to say he has been successful." Zarate, the police commander whose assignment is the drug traffickers and not the guerrillas, is by all accounts an impressive, aggressive and honest leader, and the United States links its prospects here thus far to the relatively small police force, as opposed to the military. The police, however, are widely viewed as heavily corrupted. Bernales said policemen sometimes pay $1,000 to be assigned to the Upper Huallaga, "and, if they don't kill him, he comes back with $15,000" in bribes. Zarate said there is no evidence for such charges and that the allegations play into the hands of drug traffickers who are trying to discredit their enemies. APn 11/07 2040 Peru Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. LIMA, Peru (AP) -- The government on Tuesday imposed a curfew in two departments and placed four Lima provinces under state-of-emergency rule to combat the campaign by leftist guerrillas to disrupt Sunday's elections. The state of emergency decree published Tuesday also extends for 30 days emergency rule in five other provinces in the department of Lima. All 11 provinces in Lima department are now under emergency decrees, which suspend civil rights and give police powers to the military to maintain order. Lima and the port of Callao, each a separate province, were placed under a a 30-day state of emergency on Oct. 24. In Peru, a department is the largest political subdivision -- similar to a state -- and is made up of provinces. More than 330 people have been killed in October in attacks related to efforts by guerrillas of the Maoist Shining Path movement to disrupt the municipal elections. Lima newspapers are calling the month "Red October." In Ayacucho, 235 miles southeast of Lima, Shining Path rebels entered a radio studio Tuesday and forced an announcer to read a statement warning people not to vote, police said. Night curfews were ordered in Junin and Pasco departments. They are mining and agricultural regions in the Andes east of Lima. Guerrillas exploded bombs early Tuesday at two banks, a mining company office and a police barracks in La Oroya, 95 miles east of Lima, officials reported. They said four policemen were wounded in the attack on the barracks. About one-third of Peru and more than half of the nation's 21 million people are now under emergency rule. The government has used state of emergency decrees in an effort to combat terrorism since 1982. Among the provisions of the decrees are the suspension of habeas corpus and free movement and assembly rights and guarantees against search and seizure. More than 15,000 people have been killed in guerrilla-related violence since the Shining Path began its terrorist campaign in 1980, according to the government. APn 11/08 2219 Peru Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Four hundred police surged onto the campus of San Marcos University's medical school on Wednesday, seizing bombs and leftist propaganda and detaining hundreds of people as soldiers sealed off the area, police said. University rector Jaime Rey de Castro said around 500 people were arrested. The government would not confirm the number. It was the largest police incursion onto a university campus in the capital since April, when 518 people were arrested in a similar crackdown. Students, teachers and university workers were detained Wednesday, along with people not related to the university, officers said. Classes have been suspended until after nationwide municipal elections Sunday. Police said they confiscated sticks of dynamite, firebombs, propaganda and maps of Lima districts marked with the location of voting districts. The main San Marcos campus was invaded Monday by police looking for rebels who attacked the nearby National Society of Industries headquarters. Eighty people were arrested then and police seized revolvers and grenades. The government says the campus serves as a ground for recruiting and organizing by leftist rebels, and a storehouse for arms used in attacks in the capital. Maoist Shining Path rebels have waged a violent campaign to sabotage Sunday's elections, assassinating 120 mayors, candidates and local officials the past 10 months. More than 330 people died in political violence last month, one of the bloodiest months in the Shining Path's 9-year-old insurgency. Police said Wednesday that 27 rebels were captured in Ica department, 185 miles south of Lima. The 438-year-old San Marcos University is the oldest university in the Western Hemisphere. More than 40,000 students use its two campuses, including about 6,000 in the medical school. APn 11/10 1831 Peru Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By ANDREW SCOTT Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Maoist guerrillas trying to disrupt local elections this weekend blew up power lines and attacked troops and civilians, and 17 people were killed, police said Friday. Among those killed in the attacks late Thursday and Friday were seven local officeholders and candidates. That raised to more than 135 the number of officials and candidates assassinated by the Shining Path rebels this year. The government says more than 15,000 people have been killed in political violence since the Shining Path launched their insurgency in 1980, and the increasing tempo of attacks have been denounced by all political parties. Thousands marched in Lima Nov. 3 for peace. Police said rebels fatally shot an election board official, a town council officer and three council candidates Friday in Palca, 155 miles southeast of Lima. They killed a policeman and his wife Friday morning in Tarma, 95 miles east of Lima, police said. Authorities said guerrillas shot to death a town council candidate and a provincial official before dawn Friday in Huanta, near the Andean city of Ayacucho. On Thursday night, Shining Path rebels broke into the house of the former local election board president Thursday night in Ayacucho, fatally shot his wife and sister and set fire to the house, police said. The official, Juan Guzman, was not at home when the attack occurred. Police said rebels also shot and killed the wife of the director of a government development agency in Ayacucho Thursday night after not finding the man at home. The guerrillas also set fire to the house. Rebels on Thursday also killed a teacher in the city 235 miles of southeast of Lima. Ayacucho and several mountain departments, or states, have been under a 10 p.m. curfew since Sept. 18. The government on Friday extended a curfew in four states where more than 2 million people live. On Friday, rebels distributed pamphlets in Ayacucho urging people to boycott Sunday's municipal elections, saying, "Down with the electoral farce." The pamphlets also announced a three-day "armed strike" beginning Saturday in the department of Ayacucho. The rebels had previously announced similar strikes for the departments of Junin, Pasco and Huanuco, important agricultural and mining regions in the central highlands. The term is used by the Shining Path to call a general strike, and implies violence against anyone who doesn't comply. The rebels have been waging a campaign of terror and sabotage to disrupt the nationwide municipal elections. Elsewhere, guerrillas blew up high-tension power lines in a series of attacks Thursday night and Friday against the main power grid in the highlands near Huancayo, 140 miles east of Lima. Much of the central highlands were blacked out, as well as some coastal cities, including parts of the capital. APn 11/11 1715 Terror in Peru Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By MONTE HAYES Associated Press Writer LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Peruvians will risk their lives Sunday to elect local leaders who may not survive their terms of office, a grim test of the nation's ability to survive a relentless terror campaign by leftist guerrillas. The Shining Path rebel movement has mounted the heaviest offensive in its nine-year insurgency in an effort to disrupt Sunday's municipal balloting. The rebels say the violence is the first stage in their strategy to block April's presidential election. More than 130 mayors, local judges, clerks, councilmen and municipal candidates have been slain this year, and hundreds more have resigned in fear. Last month was dubbed "Red October" by the Lima press after 330 people were killed in fighting and political violence. Authorities have admitted the government cannot provide protection to the 4,000-plus mayoral candidates and are worried a high percentage of voters may avoid the polls. `If the Shining Path achieves its objective of preventing voting in a large part of the national territory, it will signify a clear victory for terror," said a high government official, who spoke on condition he not be identified. About 10 million people have registered to vote. The national election board says there are no candidates in 86 of Peru's nearly 2,000 municipalities, mostly in rural areas. But independent political analysts say the figure is closer to 200. The guerrillas have concentrated their campaign of terror in villages and small towns. But even in Lima, home to one-third of Peru's population of 21 million, people are fearful of attacks on election day. "I'm not going to vote, no way. They say the terrorists are going to cut off the fingers of people who vote," said Antonieta de Baron, a 36-year-old homemaker. Voters must dip their index fingers into purple ink that does not wear off for at least a week. In the last presidential election in 1985, Shining Path rebels cut off the fingers of voters in several highland villages. "I would rather pay the fine and put up with the problems," said Mrs. de Baron. Voting is required by law. Violators face a fine and cannot apply for passports, driver's licenses and other legal documents if their voting cards are not stamped. Bus passengers traveling the Carretera Central, which connects Lima with the central Andes, say rebels have confiscated their voter registration cards at roadblocks. The Carretera Central leads to Junin department, in Peru's mining and farming heartland. The Shining Path has called for a three-day "armed strike" there and in the neighboring departments of Pasco and Huanuco beginning Sunday. In May, in a demonstration of the Shining Path's growing strength, about 1 million people in the three departments obeyed the group's demand to halt work for three days, cutting all supplies of food, electric power and mineral exports to Lima on the Pacific coast. On Saturday, the bodies of a high school girl and four other people were found near Ayacucho, police reported. They said all had been tortured and shot in the head. Police said they did not know the killers and no group claimed responsibility. The wave of violence in recent weeks has shifted the focus from the candidates and their issues to the ability of the guerrillas to disrupt the voting. The municipal elections have always been viewed as a testing ground for the political parties that participate in the general elections. The principal parties contending in the municipal races are the United Left, a Marxist-led coalition; and the Democratic Front, a center-right coalition led by novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, who is favored to win the presidential race. With Peru suffering from 3,000 percent annual inflation and economic chaos, the governing populist Aprista Party is given little chance of winning many mayoral races. Lima's mayoral race has always been considered a key barometer of political sympathies, and this year a political independent, television showman Ricardo Belmont, is strongly favored to win. Belmont, who owns a television station and is known for his charitable telethons and for promoting sporting events, is promising "action, not words." Analysts say his message is an appeal to voters' disenchantment with Peru's politicians and political parties. His leading competitor in a field of nine candidates is the Democratic Front's Juan Inchaustegui, a former Cabinet minister. Political leaders worry that the public's disenchantment with politics makes voters more susceptible to the Shining Path's campaign against the electoral process. "We cannot expect anything good to come from the elections. On the contrary, they are only a pretext to defend this rotten democracy," said a Shining Path leaflet distributed in Ayacucho, the highland city where the rebels launched their insurgency in May 1980. UPn 11/11 1613 Peru tense before municipal elections By HUBERT CAM LIMA, Peru (UPI) -- Police and army troops were on alert Saturday as the country braced for Sunday's municipal elections, which the violent Shining Path guerrilla group has vowed to disrupt. Local radio reported that five people were found shot to death Saturday in Ayacucho, a city 200 miles southeast of Lima that is considered a stronghold of the Shining Path movement, but gave no other details. Radio reports also said shops were closed in the city and the streets empty. The Shining Path, which is fighting a bloodthirsty war to install a Marxist government in Peru, has carried out a series of assassinations and bombings in an attempt to disrupt the scheduled elections. Voters are heading to the polls to elect 182 provincial and 1,588 district mayors, officials said. But there are a number of areas where there are no candidates because they have been killed or quit under the threat of death, news reports said. Elections also are to be held for regional congresses in five of 12 territories being created as part of a reorganization of local governments. Eight of Peru's 24 regions are under a state of emergency, which suspends constitutional guarantees, because of Shining Path activity. A curfew has been imposed in four of the regions. The capital of Lima, where 34 percent of the country's population lives, also is under a state of emergency. Peru's 75,000-member National Police force and some 100,000 armed forces members were in a state of alert, officials said. The governing Peruvian Aprista Party of President Alan Garcia is expected to suffer significant losses in the municipal elections because of the growing guerrilla strength and a failing economy, with inflation running at a yearly clip of more than 1,000 percent. The center-right Democratic Front, lead by novelist and presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa, is expected to gain strength in the election. SERNA, Hernan Giraldo. Arrested in November 1989; possibly connected to running training centers for the Medellin Cartel and the assassination of Guillermo Cano. UPn 11/22 1957 Car bomb blows up in Colombian capital By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- A car packed with explosives apparently planted by drug thugs blew up early Wednesday in the south of the capital, damaging some 30 shops and homes, police said. There were no casualties. The attack comes less than a week after an anti-explosives team deactivated a 26-pound car bomb parked in front of a crowded up-scale supermarket in northern Bogota. Several unidentified men parked the car packed with 33 pounds of dynamite in front of a used car showroom shortly after midnight in southern Bogota and fled before the explosion, which blew out windows and doors in nearby buildings and damaged three other cars. "I was deafened by the tremendous explosion," a woman told reporters. "I stuck my head out the window and I saw a cloud of smoke. We were frightened." Police searched for the attackers, believed to be linked to the nation's powerful cocaine cartels. On Sunday, the army captured a member of a cocaine mafia terrorist ring and seized 224 pounds of dynamite. The seizure came during efforts to stem a spree of violence that has seen more than 250 bombs detonated in Colombia in the past three months, killing 35 people, destroying banks, schools, businesses and homes and causing $18 million in damage in the war declared by the drug cartel in August to stop extraditions of fugitive traffickers to the United States. In a related development, secret police brought Hernan Giraldo Serna, accused of directing a series of rural massacres last year, to the capital Tuesday. Giraldo, captured Monday by undercover agents outside of Santa Marta, 470 miles north of Bogota, is believed to be the mastermind behind the slaughter of 38 people in La Mejor Esquina in 1988, Bogota newspapers reported Wednesday. The secret police linked Giraldo with training centers for hit men run by the powerful Medellin cocaine cartel. Giraldo has also been linked to the 1986 assassination of the owner of the Bogota newspaper El Espectador, Guillermo Cano, who was machine-gunned in his car by men believed hired by the drug lords. El Espectador, which has long maintained a crusade against drug trafficking, was the target of an explosion in September that left more than 80 people wounded and at least $1 million in damage. SERVICIOS AEROEJECUTIVOS. Firm allegedly owned by Pablo ESCOBAR GAVIRIA and operated for him by Jose Hader ALVAREZ MORENO. SERVICIOS TOURISTICOS. Firm used by Cesar Rodriguez and Enrique Pretelt for money laundering. SHANNON, Elaine. Journalist specializing in coverage of the international drug trade; has written for Newsweek and Time, and is the author of Desperados. The Real Evil Empire --- John Katzenbach 10/02/88 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 11: BOOK WORLD TX DESPERADOS Latin Drug Lords, U.S. Lawmen, and the War America Can't Win By Elaine Shannon Viking. 499 pp. $21.95 IN FEBRUARY 1986, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena was kidnapped in broad daylight from a street in Guadalajara, Mexico. Several weeks passed before the agent's body, showing unmistakable signs of torture, was discovered. To U.S. lawmen working to stem the flood of illegal narcotics into the States, Camarena's shocking murder was outrageous -- they instantly launched a widespread effort to see his killers brought to justice. But what they discovered was that far more than murder was involved. At the core of the crime lay a fundamental corruption that defied even the most cynical, street-wise agent's imagination. Desperados is Time Washington bureau reporter Elaine Shannon's account of the crime and its aftermath. But the book seeks to be much more than a retelling of a single incident. Instead, she uses the murder of agent Camarena to analyze the pervasiveness of the drug culture in Mexico and Colombia and to display why -- despite all the rhetoric and showy acting on the part of candidates and bureaucrats -- America is losing the battle against drugs. It is a thoroughly dismaying tale she tells. In a steady, unadorned style, she exposes equal measures of official corruption, blindness and its everpresent companion, incompetence. She probes the attitudes of the governments of Mexico, Colombia and the United States that place higher virtue on prevention of the spread of communism than of the spread of drugs. She describes the extent of the influence of the Latin American drug kingpins who, so fabulously awash in money, remain almost immune from the ordinary reach of the law. Her book should be required reading by anyone naive enough to believe that the creation of a cabinet-level "drug czar" or the institution of the death penalty for narcotics-related homicides will make a whit of difference to drug smugglers. Above all, she demonstrates that it is not that the U.S. Government "can't" win the war against drugs, it is that the government "won't" win by refusing to see the influx of drugs into America as a dilemma that cuts across social, political and emotional boundaries. Instead, she describes an American government long on promises and showy, but ineffective programs. Shannon's book is not written in such a way as to take advantage of many of the sensational aspects of her research. That the men who ordered the torture-killing of the U.S. agent are resting comfortably in a Mexican prison that more closely resembles a vacation condominium is expressed in dry, matter-of-fact prose. Shannon's strong suit is her digging and her steady presentation of well-documented material. Her sympathies obviously lie with the individual, front-line DEA agents who constantly risk their lives with little backing from stateside officials, and who are continually being undercut by State Department or CIA priorities that contradict their mission. Shannon writes that before Camarena's murder, DEA agents in the midst of virtual drug monarchies in Mexico were not even afforded the protection of carrying a weapon, or given diplomatic passports. She is at her best in documenting the stonewall approach by our "neighbors" to the south, where, she contends, ineptitude and official corruption marked every aspect of the investigation into the agent's killing. She describes numerous instances of payoffs from drug dealers, to police officers and many occasions where members of Mexican security forces were also employed by narcotics organizations. So massive was the corruption and the official lawlessness, that information produced by DEA agents would sometimes be relayed to intended targets within minutes; raids on marijuana fields or cocaine plants were delayed in order to allow the traffickers to clear out; informants were murdered -- as were vacationing Americans mistaken for DEA agents. This book is certain to cause some outrage in those quarters where political expediencies outweigh a need to bring murderers to justice. The hopelessness of the situation abroad -- where narcotics dealers rival the governments and the armies of some Latin nations in power and financial strength -- will likely infuriate American readers of any political stripe. It should cause consternation as well, for the social pot smoker or the person who does the occasional line of cocaine. It is easy to see how our national dependency on narcotics has created a monstrous international situation, and one that defies any easy solutions. Shannon does not offer any solutions to the morass she outlines. But this remains a thoughtful and dedicated book which, despite the dryness of its prose, does an excellent job of displaying how immense a problem the U.S. faces abroad. John Katzenbach, a journalist and novelist, is the author of "In the Heat of the Night" and "The Traveller." Why We're Facing A World of Noriegas --- BY Elaine Shannon 10/23/88 WASHINGTON POST (WP), PAGE 01: OUTLOOK TX THROUGHOUT THE 1988 presidential campaign, Michael Dukakis has been attempting to link George Bush to Panama's Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega -- a longtime CIA contact who has been indicted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges. To Dukakis, the Panamanian general is a study in Reagan administration hypocrisy: While White House spokesmen deliver a barrage of anti-drug messages, other agencies of the government are doing business with drug dealers. But the problem is broader and more difficult than Dukakis suggests. The fact is that Noriega is merely the latest of a series of reprehensible characters who have used -- and have been used by -- the U.S. government in the netherworlds of intelligence and drug enforcement. A close look at a series of supposedly friendly countries -- Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, the Bahamas, Thailand, Pakistan -- should make Americans face the lies, delusions and wishful thinking that have characterized two decades of our war on drugs. The reality, as one veteran Drug Enforcement Administration agent puts it, is that "there are a lot of Noriegas out there." They may not be as notorious or as powerful as the Panamanian dictator, but they can sell what the narcotraficantes want: sanctuary. They regularly countermand the orders of presidents, pervert judicial systems and sabotage diplomatic accords. Not long ago, DEA chief Jack Lawn received a cable from an agent in Asia. "Police corruption is endemic," the agent wrote. "Money buys anything . . . . {Officials are involved in} the transportation of large shipments of narcotics. {They} warn the traffickers prior to {police} raids. The most common practice among police, prosecutors and judges is the buy-out . . . . Reports are changed, evidence tampered with." Lawn read the cable at a meeting of DEA officials stationed around the world. "Raise your hand if this describes your area," he said. Every hand in the room went up. The extent of U.S. involvement with nasty characters in "friendly" countries was highlighted three years ago by the killing of Kiki Camarena, a DEA agent in Mexico. At the time of his brutal murder in 1985, Camarena was investigating widespread collusion between Mexican drug traffickers and Mexican officials. Exactly what happened to Camarena remains a mystery, but the available evidence suggests that a number of Mexican policemen participated in his kidnapping, torture and interrogation and that other Mexican officials destroyed evidence, helped drug kingpins flee and intimidated witnesses. President Reagan, however, has refused to consider sanctions against Mexico. His inaction has convinced many U.S. law officers that the administration places less value on the life of a front-line agent than on preserving the political status quo. The ugly secrets that boiled to the surface after Camarena's death have been unsettling for American policymakers. They raise disturbing questions about the value of a policy that relies on untrustworthy allies. Other voices are asking the questions Camarena asked, not only about the extent of official complicity in drug trafficking in Mexico but about high-level corruption -- and U.S. knowledge of that corruption -- in other supposedly friendly Third World governments. Since the 1920s, it has been an article of faith within the American government that the best place to attack the drug problem is outside U.S. borders. "Going to the source" has been advertised as a clean, rational, cost-effective alternative to rigorous border controls, massive arrests of drug users or wholesale arrests of drug dealers. The flaw in this strategy is that most marijuana, coca and opium comes from the Third World, where traffickers find it easy to exploit political chaos, corruption and poverty. In too many cases, American officials -- from the DEA, the Customs Service, the CIA, the State Department's Office of International Narcotics Matters, and the Agency for International Development -- have to pin their hopes on officials who take bribes, torture prisoners, terrorize innocent people or use information gained from contacts with the United States to extort criminal organizations. The American penchant for pushing the drug problem abroad, onto weaker shoulders, explains why presidents from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan have made speeches, launched task forces, appointed commissions, convened conferences, signed treaties and dispensed reports -- yet dead bodies litter the landscape in 1988, and the drug warlords are stronger than ever. Measures to reduce demand for drugs at home, such as education and treatment, have been neglected. Meanwhile, Congress, the State Department and the DEA have tried to cajole, pay or pressure foreign leaders into dispatching armies of braceros into the wilderness to eradicate the only source of income for hundreds of thousands of peasants. Reagan and his national-security officials have singled out Nicaragua, Cuba, Iran, Soviet-occuped Afghanistan and Syria as facilitators of the drug trade. Heroin, cocaine and marijuana are indeed smuggled through those nations, but professional lawmen say that the true hotbeds of drug-trafficking are the non-communist Latin and Asian nations. As DEA's Jack Lawn once put it, "The problem isn't our enemies. It's our friends." Among them: Mexico. Three years after the Camarena case cast a spotlight on Mexican corruption, DEA agents have documented incidents in which police commanders and state officials in league with traffickers have ordered the torture and dismemberment of rivals and suspected informers. The agents say that police officers have yanked off their victims' fingers one by one, have nearly drowned victims by holding their heads in filthy toilet bowls and have injected chili-oil-laced mineral water up their noses. A number of victims, including at least one DEA informant, have been found with ice-pick holes in their bodies, evidence of the torture called "bone-tickling." Sometimes, body parts have been sawed off. "Corruption has penetrated all levels of the Mexican government," according to one senior DEA official. "It's lateral, it's horizontal, and it's total." Colombia. Colombian officials at the highest level have proved dedicated and able allies of U.S. agents. But the traffickers have managed to buy off or terrify officials in crucial positions. A few months ago, according to DEA agents, Colombian military officials discovered that a colonel in charge of military intelligence about the Medellin cartel was tipping off Medellin leaders to impending army and police raids. The colonel was fired -- but not prosecuted. Panama. The Noriega story illustrates a favorite DEA maxim: A pact with the devil is better than no pact at all. Noriega's unsavory reputation has been well-known to U.S. law enforcement agents since the early 1970s. When it became clear that Noriega was in power to stay after the death of Omar Torrijos, DEA officials decided to cultivate him, just as the CIA had done when Noriega was chief of Panamanian intelligence. Noriega obliged his DEA contacts by summarily deporting a number of accused drug traffickers to the United States, allowing DEA agents to operate undercover in Panama, permitting U.S. authorities to board thousands of Panamanian-flag vessels and passing along some useful tips. Possibly, DEA agents acknowledge, some of Noriega's actions were motivated by the desire to hurt traffickers who were competing with those he protected. Chile. Few of DEA's allies are priests and social workers. Frequently they are drug traffickers themselves, and sometimes they are simply repressive leaders busting traffickers for their own reasons. In the early 1970s, Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was a close friend of the United States. At the time, traffickers were shipping French Connection heroin and Latin cocaine through Chile. After Pinochet's forces ousted and killed Marxist President Salvador Allende in September 1973, DEA agent George Frangullie warned Pinochet that the communists might use heroin money to unseat him; he advised Pinochet to treat the traffickers as a national-security threat and deport them without going through extradition proceedings. Pinochet bought the idea. The Chilean police rounded up 21 men indicted in New York for heroin trafficking, marched them into aircraft chartered by DEA and sent them on their way. The defendants argued that they were kidnapped and had been given no due process at all; the courts upheld the legality of Frangullie's methods. Haiti. DEA agents based in Haiti are currently attempting to counter Colombian traffickers who are pouring into the country to take advantage of the prevailing poverty and the political anarchy that has prevailed in Haiti all year. The disorder has affected the U.S. anti-drug program there as well. When Gen. Henri Namphy overthrew Haiti's fledgling civilian government in June, the State Department cut off all non-humanitarian assistance to the regime. When Namphy's government promised to cooperate in anti-drug efforts, DEA officials urged State not to apply the aid cutoff to anti-narcotics funds. The.fact is, the Haitian drug-enforcement squad has two jeeps and five radios, all donated by the United States, and desperately needs a communications system and helicopters to move to the provinces, which are becoming Colombian trafficking strongholds. But State Department officials dare not supply the equipment because it could be used against Haitian citizens or even to run drugs. Namphy himself was recently ousted by Gen. Prosper Avril, who is saying what the U.S. wants to hear on drug enforcement. But whether Avril will go further to punish corruption and counter the Colombian drug pipeline through Haiti remains an open question. "We have to play the hand that's dealt," says Tom Cash, DEA agent in charge of Miami and the Caribbean. Though "going to the source" has consistently failed to achieve results, that hasn't stopped Congress from trying to find new ways to punish nations that resist U.S. drug-enforcement efforts. Florida Democratic Rep. Larry Smith argues: "You can't have a mixed message, tell people just stay no to drugs at home and then, on the diplomatic front, turn a blind eye to corruption." To pressure foreign nations, Smith and other legislators wrote a clause into the 1986 omnibus drug bill that tied U.S. aid, loans and trade preferences to cooperation on the drug issue. It required the president to certify that recipients of aid were "fully cooperative" on drug control. A "decertified" nation would lose half its U.S. economic and military assistance and risk the loss of favorable treatment on imports to the United States. A separate clause aimed at Mexico threatened to withdraw U.S. support for International Development Bank loans. But the State Department has no intention of using the certification process against friendly governments. "We've cut off aid to Bolivia twice in the decade," said Ann Wrobleski, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics matters. "During that time, the amount of acreage in Bolivia dedicated to coca increased substantially. Did we do the right thing? Yes, we did. Did it have an impact on the drug problem? It probably made it worse." Some members of Congress attempted to decertify the Bahamas after a number of admitted traffickers claimed that they bribed Prime Minister Lynden Pindling and some of his ministers in the early 1980s. DEA and other executive branch agencies successfully opposed those efforts because Pindling has given Customs and DEA planes access to Bahamian airspace, has permitted a Customs radar balloon to be deployed on Grand Bahama Island and has committed Bahamaian police to participate in a joint U.S.-Bahamian interdiction project. The decertification battle for Mexico has turned in part on that country's drug-eradication program, in which Mexican government pilots search out and spray herbicides on opium-poppy and marijuana fields . DEA agents monitoring the program, which is funded largely by the United States, have reported that the Mexican pilots deliberately kept them from seeing areas where the big traffickers based their marijuana and opium farms. The Government Accounting Office buttressed these reports. Since Camarena's death, the U.S. government has given about $60 million in U.S. foreign aid to service a fleet of 80 eradication aircraft. No one seems to know where the money went, but DEA officials say that many of the aircraft are not airworthy. DEA chief Lawn is considering pulling his men out of the program, Operation Vanguard, because of concerns for their safety. Earlier this year, U.S. Customs Commissioner William von Raab wanted to decertify Mexico. Lawn agreed. State's Wrobleski urged a compromise: a second-class "national security" certification for Mexico. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, supposedly an advocate of tough law enforcement, balked. He professed complete trust in his Mexican counterpart, Attorney General Sergio Garcia Ramirez, and insisted on telling Congress that Mexico was "cooperating fully." Wrobleski yielded, knowing that Reagan would take the attorney general's side in an appeal, but she insisted that the White House accompany the 1988 certification message with a caveat, a sort of unofficial dissent, noting the State Department's view that "Mexico's effort has not kept pace with the increased flow of drugs and is below the level of efficiency and effect of which it is capable." The Senate ended up agreeing with von Raab and Lawn. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) introduced a resolution to disapprove Mexico's certification. "Diplomatic niceties be damned. Let's say it's not good enough, because it's not," he said. To the surprise of nearly everyone, including Wilson, the Senate voted to reject the certification of Mexico by 63 to 27. Then the pressure campaign began, and decertification was doomed. The Mexican government lobbied Congress and the press. The Congressional Border Caucus strongly opposed decertification because southwestern commercial interests would be hurt if the action led to trade sanctions and the denial of loans to Mexico. Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) saw to it that decertification resolutions aimed at Mexico and the Bahamas never got to the House floor. The question of Panama ended much differently, but the result had less to do with drug enforcement than with hemispheric politics. For years, the American government's approach to the problem of corruption in Panama was to ignore it in public and equivocate in private. The Reagan administration, anxious to bless the most superficial forms of "democracy" in Latin America, decided to make the best of the situation there. In 1988, Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams would insist that the administration had not ignored Noriega's excesses. He assured a House committee that the president's national-security adviser, Adm. John Poindexter, had gone to Panama in December 1985 "to tell Noriega that we could not tolerate what we believed to be the growing, increasing pattern of {Panamanian Defense Forces} corruption, and it had to change." Abrams acknowledged, however, that senior American officials had given Noriega mixed messages or none at all. State Department officials had arranged, for example, for Noriega to be invited to Washington, where he would receive a stern lecture on corruption from CIA Director William Casey. Abrams would later say that he felt that Casey was the best person to intimidate Noriega into cleaning up his act. Casey did not play, according to Abrams and other officials. He had a friendly chat with Noriega and handed him over to a subordinate, who treated the little general to a pleasant lunch. As those in Abrams' camp told the story, Noriega returned to Panama full of warm feelings about his relationship with the CIA. Congress went into an uproar when a June 12, 1986 story by Seymour Hersh in The New York Times said that U.S. intelligence agencies had evidence that Noriega was "extensively involved" in drug trafficking, money laundering, selling arms to M-19 and other left-wing guerrillas and trading U.S. intelligence sources and methods to Cuba." The Reagan administration tried to downplay the issue and plug leaks. "We do not consider this kind of public speculation something that would be helpful for us to engage in, considering our broad interests in Panama," James Michel, Abrams's deputy assistant secretary, told a House committee. What Vice President Bush knew about Noriega and when he knew it eventually became a campaign issue. Bush insisted this year that he did not know that Noriega was supposedly involved in drug trafficking until last Feb. 5 -- the day the general was indicted. Was it possible that Bush, chairman of the administration's South Florida drug task force, had been kept in the dark about the Poindexter mission and the concerns that prompted it? If Bush had been engaged and alert as CIA director in the mid-1970s, why didn't he know that questions had been raised about Noriega's complicity in the drug trade as early as 1972? (After his initial denials were assailed as incredible, Bush "clarified" his stance, claiming he had had general knowledge of the allegations against Noriega but had been unaware of specifics.) As late as last year, administration officials seemed eager to make excuses for Noriega. The administration certified to Congress that Panama had been "fully cooperative" on drug issues. Associate Attorney General Steven Trott called Panama's performance "superb." Within a year, the administration had reversed its position and put Panama at the top of the decertification list, mainly because Noriega's status had changed from asset to liability. "We don't know anything today about Tony Noriega that we didn't know a year ago," one senior State Department official acknowledged in March. "What's changed is politics and Panama, not Tony Noriega." Bush has claimed that the Reagan administration saw to it that Noriega was prosecuted for his alleged crimes. But in fact, federal prosecutors and agents in Miami and Tampa, acting independently, led the investigations that resulted in Noriega's indictment on Feb. 4. White House and State Department officials were briefed on the developing cases but did not instigate them. The administration eventually mobilized a campaign to force Noriega from office. Belated and heavy-handed, it was a humiliating failure for the Reagan White House. Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato of New York summed up the administration's botched policy with a phrase that could apply to the nation's drug war: "What you have here is an administration that has set its hair on fire and is trying to put it out with a hammer." Elaine Shannon is a reporter in the Washington bureau of Time magazine. This article is adapted from her new book "Desperados," published by Viking. SHERRILL, Robert. Washington Post journalist.SHOHAT, Edward M. Lawyer for Carlos Lehder.SILVA CASTELLANOS, Julio Roberto. An emerald/narcotics trafficker with important links to the Medellin cartel. He was often a visitor to the RIVERA GONZALEZ brothers trafficking operation in Leticia. In 1987 a search of his Bogota home resulted in a find of 95 weapons including 44 submachine guns. On his Factativa ranch ("La Tribuna") in Cundinamarco police found a cocaine processing plant and storage tanks for acetone. At another ranch, the "J.R." police found weapons and dynamite. His nephew is Zamir SILVA AMIR; Zamir, a Liberal senator and former Court magistrate in Cundinamarca, is linked to emerald producers who in turn are linked to traffickers. SKORNECK, Carolyn. Associated Press writer. SLOTNICK, Barry. Lawyer for Manuel NORIEGA. UPse 01/04 1655 Slotnick says he's thinking about defending Noriega By DENISE BARRICKLOW NEW YORK (UPI) -- Noted criminal defense lawyer Barry Slotnick said Thursday he was considering representing Manuel Antonio Noriega on drug smuggling charges, but expressed doubts the ousted Panamanian dictator would get a fair trial in this country. Slotnick, who gained national attention defending subway gunman Bernhard Goetz among others, including organized crime figures, said he had been contacted about taking over the case by "people who are close to Gen. Noriega." "We have gotten some calls with regard to the matter and obviously we're making a determination," added Slotnick, who said he previously served as a consultant to Noriega, meeting him in Panama shortly after he was indicted in Tampa, Fla., and Miami in 1988. Civil rights attorney William Kunstler, the controversial activist who defended the Chicago Seven among other highly publicized, often notorious cases, said he would "seriously consider" representing Noriega, although no one has yet contacted him about the case. Both Kunstler and Slotnick said they believed the ousted Panamanian dictator, currently being represented by Miami lawyer Steven Kollin, was unlikely to get a fair trial. "His greatest problem is he's probably the most unpopular person in the world today," Slotnick said. "I don't think at the present moment that he could get a fair trial in this country." "I hope the American people will be able to produce a jury that will give him the due process rights that we give to every defendant. If the system fails for Noriega, then it has a prospective of failing for everyone," he said. Slotnick added that he doubted lawyers in the case would be able to find "12 people who could lay aside their hatred." Nonetheless, Slotnick said he believed he could get Noriega off if he decided to take the case. "As a criminal defense lawyer, I'm used to representing people who are unpopular," he said. "I think any criminal defendant can be acquitted with enough talent (and) money." "Certainly I've taken much more difficult cases factually and won them," Slotnick added, saying he believed the government's case -- based mostly on the testimony of indicted drug dealers -- was weak. Kunstler, echoing Slotnick's doubts, said he believed Noriega's case was too political to afford him a just trial. "Every organ of the government that's involved in this litigation will be predisposed to deny him a fair trial," he said. "I think he would stand a far better chance with a non-traditional criminal defense lawyer ... not a drug type lawyer. I think he would be far better off it he gets someone who will try the U.S. governent," he added. As Noriega's lawyer, Kunstler said he would introduce into the drug case the dictator's long-term relationship with the U.S. government in an effort to prove the indictments were "manufactured." He said he would subpoena President Bush, who met with Noriega both as head of the CIA and as vice president, but did nothing to remove him from power even though he was suspected of drug trag at the time. Kunstler said he would also subpoena all the CIA records about the dictator, noting that Noriega was on the agency's payroll for a number of years in the late 1960s -- at one point receiving an annual stipend of some $200,000. SMITH, Philip. Washington Post journalist.Sokolowski Salah, Robert James. Colombian-American indicted for narcotics conspiracy; extradited from Colombia in November, 1989. UPse 11/18 1136 Colombia extradites two more By JOSEPH COLEMAN BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) -- Authorities extradited two more Colombians to the United States Saturday to face drug trafficking charges, bringing to eight the number extradited since Colombia launched its drug war three months ago. Manuel Julian Palma Molina and Colombian-American Robert James Sokolowski Salah were turned over to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officers at Catam military airport in Bogota shortly after midnight, Bogota newspapers said. The two were flown to the United States in a DEA plane. A statement from the U.S. Marshal's office said Palma arrived in Miami after midnight EST, while Sokolowski was flown to Greensboro, N.C., arriving about three hours later. Palma Molina, captured Oct. 11 in coastal city Barranquilla, was indicted in April 1987 in Florida on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. Sokolowski, nabbed Oct. 20 in El Cerrejon coal mines in Guajira state, was indicted in November 1984 in North Carolina on a charge of narcotics conspiracy. Palma was extradited despite his lawyers' claims that he was not the same man sought by U.S. authorities, citing differences in height and coloring between Palma and the fugitive described by police. Saturday marked three months since the government launched its all-out offensive on the drug lords following mafia-linked assassinations of judges, police officials, and leading presidential candidate Sen. Luis Carlos Galan. President Virgilio Barco re-established extradition of wanted drug traffickers on Aug. 18. Eduardo Martinez Romero was the first to be extradited, sent to an Atlanta court on Sept. 6. Ana Elena Rodruguez, Bernardo Peleaz Roldan, and Ricardo Victor Carlini followed on Oct. 14, and Jose Abello Silva was extradited Oct. 29. Authorities extradited Guillermo Juan Delgado Bueno on Nov. 4. Ricardo de la Cuesta Marquez, Eduardo Mera Mosquera, and Roberto and Diana Maria Cabellero Rangel are being held in a Bogota jail while the government completes paperwork to extradite them. Authorities also have confiscated kingpin properties and arrested thousands of suspects in August and September, but so far the top reputed drug lords have eluded capture. Some 250 bombs have exploded in Colombia since the cartels reacted to the government offensive with a declaration of "total war" on Aug. 24. Friday afternoon police reported an anti-explosives team defused 45 pounds of dynamite planted in a car parked in front of a crowded north Bogota supermarket. The so-called drug war has recently appeared to be winding down, with fewer arrests coinciding with a drop in bombings in the capital and Medellin, Colombia's second city 160 miles northwest of Bogota. STOLAR, Martin. U.S. (Los Angeles?) lawyer for Juan Ram—n MATTA BALLESTEROS. STROBEL, Warren. Reporter for the Washington Times.SUAREZ GOMEZ, Roberto. Bolivian trafficker once responsible for majority of Bolivian coca leaf purchases for the Medellin cartel. He was involved in the shipments of base to the Tranquilandia laboratory located in eastern Colombia. His ownership of the largest private fleet of airplanes in Bolivia (originally used for transporting meat) helped make him a leading figure in cocaine production. In July of 1988, he was captured by Bolivian police and sent to a La Paz prison to serve a fifteen year sentence for trafficking. SWARTZ, Ken. Public defender representing Luis del Cid. THORNTON, Mary Journalist with the Washington Post.TORO VELASQUEZ, Carlos Mario. Client of Medellin lawyer Luis Eduardo Mesa Velasquez. TREVINO PELAEZ, Julio Cesar. Medellin trafficker who has worked with Luis ECHEVERRY. Other members of the organization are Luis Carlos CORREA, Luis Carlos MOLINA YEPES (called Pablo ESCOBAR's treasurer), Gerson SUAREZ, Joaquin Jorge SOLANO and Manual Antonio CAICEDO Y. All seemed to be involved in Brazilian operations in 1979. TWEEDALE, Douglas. UPI journalist. URIBE RESTREPO, Julio Martin. A well known lawyer who reportedly fronts for Fabio OCHOA VASQUEZ. URIBE SIERRA, Alberto. Medellin drug trafficker murdered near Antioquia. His son, Medellin Senator Alvaro URIBE was once director of Civil Aviation and granted many licenses to traffickers. Alvaro URIBE, owner of a bullfight ranch in Antioquia, was arrested for extradition but saved by the then interior secretary of Medellin, Jesus ARISTIZABAL GUEVARA. URIBE, Martha Maria Upegui de. Relatively unknown owner of a cocaine trafficking "emporium" at Jurado. Her boyfriend is Fernando CORREA GOMEZ. She also works with Benjamin HERRERA ZULETA, once called the "Black Father of Cocaine" when living in Cali, Gabriel Jaime BOTERO, Gregorio RAMIREZ HENAO, Jorge LEON, Victor RODRIGUEZ, Maria Luz GAVIRIA, Jaime CARDONA VARGAS, Jaime CARDENAS, Giovani BORDE and Diego GOMEZ DELGAGO. La Uribe is a fugitive from US, and once arrested in New York. Moves cocaine to the US through Bahia Solano, Florencia and Mitu. Her attorney is Jose Arturo GAVIRIA, who also represents Pablo ESCOBAR and Gustavo GAVIRIA. She is thus considered very close to the Medellin cartel, if not a major participant. VARGAS VARGAS, Leonidas. Suspected drug trafficker and money launderer. Arrested in Colombia October 8, 1989; may be extradited to the US.VARGAS, Veronica Rivera de. One of the many "cocaine queens". In January 1977, a cocaine lab and quantities of HCL were found at her ranch near Cogua, Cundinamarca. Arrested were a Peruvian, Guillermo CARDENAS, her sister, Esther Rivera de SOSA, and her husband Julio Cesar VARGAS TORRES, a naturalized Venezuelan. VARGAS TORRES was killed a few months later by Mario GIL RAMIREZ in a famous narco-war that spread to Miami and New York and apparently had to do with sales and payoffs. Involved in the cocaine wars of the late 1970s involving the family of Carlos ESPINOZA (a Bogota trafficker who quit the rackets, apparently, and disappeared). Veronica was arrested in Bogota in 1985 with 103 million in narcopesos in her possession. She was soon freed. It is not known if she is married to Rodrigo VARGAS, who along with Pablo Escobar and Jorge Ochoa delivered a famous letter to President Betancur in 1984 that offered a dialogue between the traffickers and that politician. VASQUEZ, Bernardo. Miami-based Colombian national, currently serving a life sentence for his participation in the assassination of Barry SEAL. VASQUEZ, Orlando. Former minister of the interior; resigned under pressure from Cartel leaders. 10/05 1118 COLOMBIAN INTERIOR MINISTER RESIGNS AS DRUG WAR GROWS BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (OCT. 5) UPI - Colombia's interior minister became the third Cabinet member to resign since the cocaine cartels declared war on the government in August, officials said Thursday. Interior Minister Orlando Vasquez confirmed his resignation Wednesday night and said he would return to the Senate to fight for constitutional reform. Justice Minister Monica de Greiff resigned Sept. 21 after death threats were made on her and her family and Economic Development Minister Carlos Marulanda quit last week. Meanwhile, three bombs apparently linked to the cartels' war on the nation exploded overnight in the capital, police said Thursday. Early Thursday morning a small bomb went off in the western part of Bogota in a sewage drain in front of an apartment complex, blowing out the windows in the building, police said. Wednesday night two bombs exploded, one in a taxi station near the center of the city, wounding one person, and another in a high school in the southern part of the capital. Classes were suspended for repairs. No injuries were reported in any of the explosions. In Medellin, two police lieutenants were wounded as they drove home Wednesday night by a gunman on a motorcycle, police said. The two were reported to be out of danger and recovering in a Medellin hospital. Medellin, the home of the powerful cocaine cartel of the same name, was under a curfew for some 20 days last month after a series of assassinations and bombings terrorized the city. More than 130 bombs have gone off in Colombia since a cartel-linked hit squad declared "total war" on the nation Aug. 24. Tuesday the Supreme Court ruled constitutional the package of state-of-siege decrees issued by President Virgilio Barco on Aug. 18 in response to a string of assassinations in July and August attributed to the cartels. The measures include extradition of wanted drug traffickers to the United States and confiscation of property bought with drug money. So far, millions of dollars of luxury homes and estates have been siezed, and one trafficker, Eduardo Martinez Romero, has been turned over to U.S. authorities. RCN Radio reported Thursday that presidential candidate Alberto Santofimio accused the United States of "intervening in the internal affairs of Colombia" after his U.S. visa was allegedly revoked because he is against Barco's extradition policy. Santofimio said during a Senate debate Wednesday night that a U.S. consulate official told him his visa had been revoked, the radio said. The debate centered on a scandal over a so-called "black list," supposedly drawn up by the U.S. Embassy, containing the names of some 25 Colombian politicians whose visas were revoked or denied because of alleged involvement in drug trafficking. The U.S. Embassy has refused to comment on individual cases, but an American official said some Colombians had been denied visas because of drug suspicions, including some "prominent Colombians." Vasquez, the third Cabinet member to resign in as many weeks, was appointed July 16 by Barco to replace Raul Orejuela, who resigned amid accusations of being involved in a cocaine cartel spy ring. De Greiff resigned after only two months in office, and Marulanda resigned due to a scandal involving his sale of a farm to the government for an allegedly inflated price. Education Minister Manuel Becerra was rumored in the press to be about to resign as well, but the presidential palace had not confirmed the report. On Tuesday, the Catholic bishop of Arauca in Colombia's northeast was assassinated, apparently by leftist rebels. Police said Bishop Jesus Jaramillo Monsalve, 72, was assassinated along with a priest. The Defense Ministry attributed the killing to the National Liberation Army, or ELN, which has operated in the area for some 20 years. Pope John Paul II sent a telegram of condolence to church officials in South America Wednesday expressing his "profound sorrow" over the assassination, which he said was the product of "unjustifiable violence." VAUGHAN, Federico. Nicaraguan contact who with Pablo ESCOBAR and RODRIGUEZ GACHA, was photographed by Barry SEAL loading 1,452 kg of HCL at a Nicaraguan airport in June 1984. VELASQUEZ ARENAS, Byron. Driver for Ivan Dario GUIZADO in the assassination of LARA BONILLA. Former gofer for Pablo Emilio ESCOBAR GAVIRIA. VELEZ OCHOA, Roberto and Andres. Ranchers and trafficking cousins of the OCHOA VASQUEZ. VIVAS, Raul Silvio. Medellin cartel money launderer. UPn 12/09 1531 Argentine extradited in FBI money laundering sting LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- An Argentine man suspected of overseeing the laundering of more than $1 billion in drug profits through Los Angeles jewelry stores to Colombian drug bosses has been extradited to the United States, the FBI said Saturday. Raul Silvio Vivas, 39, was taken into custody by U.S. agents Friday in Uruguay and flown to Los Angeles on an FBI plane, said Assistant Special Agent-in-charge Thomas Parker. Parker called Vivas's arrest and extradition a "milestone" in the ongoing FBI investigation known as "Polar Cap." The operation resulted in the indictment last March of 33 Los Angeles wholesale jewelers suspected of laundering drug profits through legitimate revenues and then shipping the money to the Medellin drug cartel through numerous bank accounts in the United States. The trail of laundered dollars, the largest such operation ever uncovered by U.S. authorities, stretched from Los Angeles to Houston to New York and into Panama, Uruguay and Colombia, Parker said. Vivas, an Argentine national, is believed to have personally controlled the flow of more than $1 billion in drug profits out of the United States, Parker said. Vivas is scheduled to be charged Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. APn 12/09 2307 Cartel Extradition Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A man accused of laundering more than $1 billion for a Colombian cocaine cartel has been extradited from Uruguay to the United States, the FBI said Saturday. Uruguayan national police turned Raul Silvio Vivas over to FBI agents at a naval base under heavy guard Friday and he was flown to Los Angeles that night, said Thomas R. Parker, assistant agent in charge of criminal investigations and organized crime activities in Los Angeles. An alleged key member of the Medellin cartel, which is believed to supply a majority of the cocaine entering this country, Vivas was a target of a Department of Justice investigation code-named Operation Polar Cap, which has been described as the biggest money-laundering probe in U.S. history. Vivas, a 39-year-old native of Argentina, had been held in a Uruguayan jail since February. His extradition occurred just two days after a devastating terrorist bombing blamed on cocaine traffickers killed dozens and wounded hundreds outside Colombia's police intelligence headquarters. A group of drug lords calling themselves "the Extraditables" has been waging a terror campaign of bombings and assassinations to force the government to end its war on the cartel and stop the extraditions. Vivas was a "badly wanted" fugitive and his extradition "marks yet another turning point in the willingness of the international community, particularly in South America, to work with us in bringing to an end the tyranny and impunity of these drug empires," Parker said. Operation Polar Cap led to the indictment of Vivas and 30 others in February. The probe allegedly uncovered a bogus gold shipping network dubbed "La Mina," the mine, that laundered about $1.2 billion of drug money between 1987 and February 1989. "The charges against Vivas allege that he personally controlled the flow of over $1 billion of drug money out of the United States to the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia," Parker said. Eduardo Martinez Romero, a 35-year-old Colombian economist and reputed financial wizard behind the Medellin drug cartel, was sent to Atlanta on Sept. 6 to face charges stemming from Polar Cap. He was the first person extradited since the Colombian government began its crackdown on drug traffickers. The FBI said Vivas was under tight security. Officials would not disclose his location more specifically than the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Vivas was scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate in Los Angeles on Monday. Vivas has claimed he is a legal trader in gold. Uruguay has some of the most liberal banking laws in South America. Citizens and foreigners may enter and leave the country with gold, and freely transfer capital in and out. APn 12/11 0922 Cartel Extradition Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An alleged key member of the Medellin cocaine cartel was extradited from Uruguay to the United States despite escalating anti-extradition terrorism, the FBI has revealed. Uruguayan national police turned Raul Silvio Vivas over to FBI agents at a naval base under heavy guard Friday and he was flown to California that night, said Thomas R. Parker, assistant agent in charge of criminal investigations and organized crime activities in Los Angeles. "He's very close to the top," said FBI spokesman Fred Reagan. The FBI said Vivas, an Argentine, was under tight security but refused to disclose his location more specifically than the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Vivas was scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate in Los Angeles today. Vivas, 39, accused of laundering more than $1 billion for the Colombian cartel and a target of a U.S. Department of Justice money-laundering probe code-named "Polar Cap," had been held in an Uruguayan jail since February. His extradition, however, occurred just two days after a devastating terrorist bombing blamed on cocaine traffickers killed dozens and wounded h.deds outside Colombia's police intelligence headquarters. A group of drug lords calling themselves "the extraditables" has been waging a terror campaign of bombings and assassinations to force the government to end its war on the cartel and forestall extraditions. Parker said Vivas was a "badly wanted" fugitive and his extradition "marks yet another turning point in the willingness of the international community, particularly in South America, to work with us in bringing to an end the tyranny and impunity of these drug empires." The U.S. indictment of Vivas and 30 others was handed up in February. It charged them with "carrying out the largest Colombian drug cartel money laundering operation ever uncovered by American law enforcement authorities," Parker said. Vivas is accused of personally controlling the flow of more than $1 billion in drug money, he said. Vivas has said he is a legal trader in gold. Uruguay, with some of the most liberal banking laws in South America, allows both citizens and foreigners to enter and leave the country with gold and freely transfer capital in and out. Vivas' transfer to FBI custody was conducted under a blanket of police protection in Uruguay on Friday. He was led handcuffed from a jail cell in Maldonado, 90 miles east of Montevideo, local radio stations reported. Police sharpshooters stood guard atop buildings while Vivas was put in a helicopter for a short ride to the Captain Curbelo navy base. Access to the base was blocked off and its perimeter was patrolled by other helicopters. A dozen FBI agents took custody of Vivas on board a U.S. plane. APn 12/12 0351 Money Laundering Copyright, 1989. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By E. SCOTT RECKARD Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A South American metals dealer was ordered held without bail after pleading innocent to directing the laundering of a half-billion dollars for a notorious Colombian cocaine cartel. Raul Silvio Vivas of Argentina, who was extradited from Uruguay despite escalating anti-extradition terrorism, is named in 26 counts contained in two federal indictments. The 39-year-old Vivas entered his pleas Monday before two judges and listened through an interpreter as Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Hayman described the charges. Vivas is accused of being a top member of the Medellin cartel's money-laundering operations. For at least two years beginning in 1985, he used his money-changing house in Montevideo to launder cocaine profits from the United States, disguising them by real or "paper" gold transactions, Hayman told U.S. District Judge William D. Keller. "There was about $250 million laundered in this manner," Hayman said. "We have bank records supporting those figures." A second indictment, to which Vivas pleaded innocent before Judge Consuelo Marshall, alleges another $250 million was laundered, Hayman said. He said he did not know why the FBI earlier had said Vivas was involved in laundering $1 billion. Vivas' attorney, Martin L. Schmukler, suggested he might ask that Vivas be tried separately from other defendants. All told, 32 people, many from Los Angeles' downtown jewelry district, are named in the indictments, along with one corporation. But Keller said he was unlikely to sever Vivas' case and told Schmukler to return to his court today to consult with other defense attorneys, who planned to ask that evidence from wiretaps be thrown out. Keller tentatively set trial for Jan. 27. Vivas was arrested in February and had fought extradition since March in a Uruguayan jail. Asked if Vivas had done business with the other defendants, Schmukler said, "If he did, they were professional dealings, not criminal dealings." Uruguayan national police turned Vivas over to FBI agents at a naval base under heavy guard Friday and he was flown to California that night. Just two days earlier, a bombing blamed on cocaine traffickers killed dozens and wounded hundreds outside Colombia's police intelligence headquarters. A group of drug lords calling themselves "the Extraditables" has been waging a campaign of bombings and assassinations to force the government to end its war on the cartel. The U.S. indictment, issued in February, charges Vivas and the others with carrying out the largest Colombian drug cartel money laundering operation ever uncovered by American law enforcement authorities. Several defendants already have pleaded guilty. UPwe 12/11 2128 Suspected drug cartel money launderer pleads innocent By INGRID BECKER LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- The alleged mastermind of an international money-laundering network pleaded innocent Monday to charges he funneled $500 million in cocaine profits through jewelry wholesalers for a Colombian drug cartel. Raul Silvio Vivas, 39, an Argentine gold trader, was arraigned in U.S. District Court on conspiracy and drug charges contained in separate indictments alleging he ran an operation described as the largest of its kind ever uncovered by U.S. authorities. Vivas entered his pleas before two separate judges through a Spanish interpreter. At the request of the federal prosecutors, U.S. District Judge William D. Keller ordered Vivas held without bail. Vivas was extradited from a Uruguay jail Friday and flown to Los Angeles aboard an FBI plane. He had been in custody since Feb. 22 when, at the request of the FBI, he was arrested by the Uruguay National Police. His arrest and extradition are part of an ongoing investigation by federal and Los Angeles area law enforcement agencies known as "Operation Polar Cap." One of 33 defendants in the case, Ronel Refining of Miami, has pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to cease operations and pay $750,000 in fines, U.S. Assistant Attorney Russell Hayman said. Vivas, described by the FBI as the mastermind of the international money-laundering network, is accused of running an operation in Central America that extended from the East Coast to the Southwest and West wherein cocaine proceeds were shipped to jewelry wholesalers in Los Angeles and other cities and mixed in with their legitimate accounts. The indictments allege Vivas controlled the money-laundering operation for the Medellin cartel of Colombia, laundering at least $500 million. Vivas allegedly arranged with cocaine traffickers and money launderers in Colombia to collect money from cocaine sales in U.S. cities and, while in Uruguay, supervised the wire transfer of the money, according to the court documents. The laundered money was then used to finance additional large shipments of cocaine to the United States. Hayman said in court Monday that in 1986 Vivas allegedly purchased a money exchange business, Cambio Italia, to facilitate the deals. If convicted on conspiracy and drug trafficking charges, Rivas could face life imprisonment. Vivas' attorney, Martin Schmukler of New York, denied his client was involved in drug-money laundering, but acknowledged that Vivas is personally familiar with some of the other defendants. "Nobody can show me that this man knew that a single dollar bill that passed through his hands was the product of a drug sale," Schmukler said before the arraignment. WALDEN, Sara. Reporter for the London Sunday Times and co-author of The Cocaine Wars.WARREN, Michael. Associated Press (AP) journalist. WEINSTEIN, Henry. Reporter for the Los Angeles Times.WELLS, Tom. Journalist with Associated Press (AP). YARBRO, Stan. Washington Post journalist. ZAPATA VASQUEZ, Camilo. An important Bogota trafficker, who is also believed to launder money in Panama. ZUAZO, Alberto. UPI journalist working in La Paz, Bolivia. ZUNIGA, Carlos. A Cali narcotics trafficker who deals in large shipments of HCL.