Rachael's Drug Extradiction Project

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

When she wasnt busy cutting a deal with the generals, did Rachael
propose working out a few drug extradiction deals to send the dealers to
a prison outside Rangoon. Here's Columbia story, is Burma next?

Wednesday November 10 2:51 PM ET 

 Colombia Court OKs Another Capo's Extradition

 BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's Supreme Court handed down its second
extradition ruling in
 less than 24 hours Wednesday, saying that it would turn another reputed
drug trafficker over to
 the United States to stand trial.

 The court said Tuesday it had agreed to send alleged heroin trafficker
Jaime Orlando Lara to
 stand trial in a New York federal court, making him the first Colombian
to be extradited since
 Congress lifted a six-year ban on the practice in December 1997.

 In a separate case Wednesday, the court said it ruled in favor of
sending alleged cocaine trafficker
 Jose Flores Garmendia, a Venezuelan, to face an array of drug charges
in a U.S. court.

 Police said Flores, who was arrested in Bogota in August 1998, is a
known associate of Gilberto
 and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, billionaire leaders of the Cali drug
cartel which once cornered up
 to 80 percent of the world cocaine market.

 Prior to his arrest, he paid frequent visits to the brothers in the
maximum security wing of Bogota's
 Picota prison, where they have been held since 1995, according to
police sources.

 Carlos Perdomo, a spokesman for Colombia's National Police chief, said
Flores, who is known in
 the drug underworld as ``El Gordo'' or ``Fatty,'' was accused by U.S.
drug agents of having
 conspired to smuggle more than 11,000 pounds (5,000 kg) of cocaine into
the United States.

 Colombia, where penalties for drug trafficking can be extremely
lenient, banned the extradition of
 its citizens in 1991 after a campaign of bombings, kidnappings and
murders waged against the
 practice by late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

 Congress lifted the ban in 1997 in a move that was widely seen as
stemming from intense U.S.
 pressure on then-President Ernesto Samper, who was nearly ousted from
office because of
 charges he bankrolled his campaign with Cali cartel drug money.