SMUGGLER GUILTY IN ATTACK ON DEA PAIR

`Justice Done,' Say Victims Who Were Left For Dead In Colombian Jungle
In '82

Nearly two decades have passed since former DEA agents Charles
Martinez and Kelly McCullough were repeatedly shot and left for dead
on the edge of the Colombian jungle outside Cartagena.

The two former agents stoically celebrated Wednesday when the last of
their four attackers, marijuana smuggler Rene Benitez, was finally
declared guilty by a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale.

``We've both waited a long time to see justice done,'' said Martinez,
who was shot in the hip and the shoulder and survived only because
Benitez's .38-caliber pistol misfired while it was pointed at his head.

Martinez and McCullough were sent to South America for Operation
Tiburon -- Spanish for shark -- trolling the skies over Colombia's
northern coast, hoping to intercept drug-laden vessels and planes
headed for the United States.

The agents were living in adjoining rooms on the 18th floor of the Don
Blas Hotel in Cartagena when DEA supervisors discovered that Benitez
and a drug-smuggling associate and fellow fugitive, former Plantation
lawyer Clifford Wentworth, were holed up in the same beachfront resort.

Martinez and McCullough were openly asking questions about Benitez and
Wentworth shortly before they were confronted in their rooms around
midnight on Feb. 10, 1982, by Benitez, Colombian National Police
officer Jose Duarte-Acero and two other men.

The Colombian cop confiscated the American drug agents' credentials.
The Americans asked permission to call the U.S. Embassy. Benitez waved
a pistol in Martinez's face and said, ``This is the only law in Colombia.''

Hotel Abduction

The agents were led at gunpoint, through the hotel lobby to a waiting
orange Nissan. The Americans thought they were traveling to a police
station. But the Colombian cop drove them to a deserted area outside
Cartagena.

Martinez testified that Benitez said, ``You DEA guys come down here
and screw up our marijuana business,'' then fired one shot into the
agent's hip.

Duarte-Acero stopped the car. The marijuana smuggling fugitive and the
Colombian cop heatedly discussed what to do with the American agents.

Benitez shot Martinez once through the shoulder. He took aim at the
agent's head, but the gun misfired. Martinez scrambled from the car
and escaped into the nearby jungle.

At the same time, McCullough lunged for Duarte-Acero's .45-caliber
pistol, missed and bolted into the darkness. Duarte-Acero fired,
striking the agent in the buttock and knee, bringing him to the ground.

Left For Dead

The Colombian police officer stood over McCullough, pumped another
bullet into his neck and left the American drug agent for dead.

The agents separately dragged themselves back to civilization. Today,
both are retired from government service and living in Texas;
McCullough works in a corporate security firm and Martinez is a
commercial pilot.

The case held special significance in federal law enforcement circles.
A large contingent of current and former DEA agents attended the trial.

``Here we are 19 years later and justice is finally served,'' said
Vincent J. Mazzilli, special agent in charge of DEA's Miami field
office. ``This case shows we have a long memory and we will literally
go to the ends of the earth to apprehend people who have attempted to
murder or murdered our agents.''

U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis, who rarely prosecutes cases, and veteran drug
prosecutor Michael ``Pat'' Sullivan personally handled the trials of
Benitez and Duarte-Acero, who was convicted on the same charges by a
separate jury on Feb. 27.

Benitez's brother, Armando, and Jairo Valencia Cardenas were convicted
in 1983 for their roles. Both are serving life sentences in prison.

Benitez, a Cuban-born American citizen, was extradited from Colombia
in 1995. Duarte-Acero, 49, was apprehended in August 1997 after the
DEA lured him to cross the Ecuadorean border for a bogus business
deal. The case languished for years as attorneys unsuccessfully argued
that a U.S. trial would violate the constitutional protection against
double jeopardy; Benitez and Duarte-Acero were adjudicated for the
same crime in Colombia.

Lengthy appeals are expected after both men are sentenced May 17 by
U.S. District Judge Jose A. Gonzalez. Duarte-Acero's attorneys will
argue the U.S. violated international treaties when agents spirited
him from Ecuador before he was allowed to contact Colombian officials.