JUDGE IN COLOMBIAN DRUG CASE FIGHTS TO STAY IN U.S.

She Once Hid In Detroit From Suspect's Hit Men

Consuelo Sanchez-Duran, the Colombian judge who hid out in Detroit for
two years from infamous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, is in Washington
to beg the U.S. government to stop the South American country's effort
to have her return.

Sanchez-Duran was 32 and the youngest judge in Colombia when she signed
the arrest warrant for Escobar 12 years ago. Since then, she has been
running from Escobar's hit men, living first in Detroit then moving to
the East Coast 10 years ago after being outted in a story that appeared
in the Detroit News.

Last year the Colombian government replaced her position in one of its
consular offices, where she was working, and told her to come home.
Escobar died in 1993 in a shootout while trying to escape from police,
and Colombian officials say they now can protect the judge in their own
country.

But Sanchez-Duran is convinced her life is in danger if she returns to
Colombia and has filed for political asylum in the United States, said
Cyril Weiner, a Southfield lawyer who advises her.

Weiner said Sanchez-Duran, her husband and 11-year-old daughter visited
him in Detroit on Thursday to consult with him before heading to
Washington to plead her case. In the meantime, Weiner said he is trying
to set up meetings for Sanchez-Duran with Michigan Rep. David Bonior and
others in Congress.

"She feels her country is still very dangerous to her," Weiner said.
"She's the only Colombian judge who's indicted a major drug figure and
who is still alive."

During her short metro Detroit visit, Sanchez-Duran stayed in Sterling
Heights with her former bodyguard, Mark Diaz, and his wife.

"She loves the Detroit area," Diaz said Thursday. "She wanted to come
back here. She wanted to make this her home. In all her travels in the
U.S., Michigan was the place that stayed in her heart. She made many
friends here."

The Immigration and Naturalization Service is expected to make a
decision on her case next week, Weiner said. INS officials did not
return repeated calls for comment.