U.S. LOSES ROUND ON COLOMBIA DRUG FIGURE

BOGOTA, Colombia, Aug. 31 (Reuters) — A Bogota judge temporarily suspended
the extradition of Fabio Ochoa, a former associate of the late drug figure
Pablo Escobar, today, saying the United States had failed to prove that he
broke the law outside Colombia, Mr. Ochoa's lawyer said.

Judge Maria Claudia Merchan gave American lawyers 10 days to provide new
evidence that Mr. Ochoa had committed crimes outside Colombia, the lawyer,
Irving Garces, said.

"The crimes committed were in Colombia," he said. "And according to the
Colombian Constitution, one cannot be extradited only over crimes committed
in Colombia."

Colombia's Supreme Court approved an American request for Mr. Ochoa's
extradition last week, and President Andres Pastrana signed the extradition
order on Monday. Mr. Ochoa was expected to be sent to the United States as
soon as Sept 3.

Judge Merchan also said the Supreme Court violated Mr. Ochoa's rights by
not notifying him in person of its decision to extradite him, Mr. Garces said.

Mr. Ochoa, captured in October 1999 in a joint operation between the
Colombian police and the Drug Enforcement Administration, is accused of
helping to smuggle cocaine worth $1 billion a month to the United States
and Europe. He had been released from prison in 1996 after serving five and
a half years for trafficking with the Medellin cartel.