LETTERMAN HEROIN QUIP INFURIATES MISS COLOMBIA

Colombia's top beauty queen threatened Tuesday to sue U.S. television talk
show host David Letterman for joking on air that swallowing bags of heroin
ranked among her top talents.

Andrea Noceti, who recently competed in the Miss Universe competition in
Puerto Rico, said Letterman insulted all Colombians and made light of the
country's deadly drug-fueled civil war.

"I am totally outraged," Noceti told the Bogota-based RCN television news.
"I don't think there should be jokes about something this serious. . . .
People have died in this conflict."

Letterman has apologized, saying no offense was intended.

In his CBS network show's opening monologue Friday, Letterman said: "I
don't know if you've seen a beauty pageant lately, but you know what's
really gotten very impressive, the talent competition. For example, Miss
Colombia -- and this was hard to beat -- swallowed 50 balloons full of heroin."

The joke has infuriated many in the war-torn Andean nation of 40 million
people, who are tired of being stereotyped as drug traffickers when
traveling abroad.