DRUG TRIAL COULD SHAKE COLOMBIA

Prosecutors Expect To Take Six Months To Show A Prominent Citizen Ran
The Powerful Cali Drug Cartel

TAMPA - He lived in a sprawling compound on the outskirts of Cali,
Colombia, with his wife, a model and skating champion. His personal
fortune was estimated at more than $500-million, and he bred some of
the world's finest Paso Fino horses.

But federal agents say Joaquin Valencia-Trujillo, 48, also had a
secret identity. He was "El Joven," or the young man, a reference to
his youth as he allegedly rose to power in the notorious Cali drug
cartel. Before his arrest in 2003, prosecutors said, Valencia was
responsible for shipping more than 100 tons of cocaine per year into
the United States.

On Monday, lawyers will make their opening statements in Valencia's
trial, the starting salvo in what could be a six-month proceeding.

In those six months, prosecutors will paint a picture of drug trails
winding through Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Mexico. They will
attempt to link Valencia to massive money laundering schemes and even
larger cocaine shipments. There will be talk of bribes and
kidnappings. Many of the witnesses who will testify left their homes
and shed their identities because they fear for their safety.

Valencia's lawyers will dispute the prosecution's claims, portraying
their client as a legitimate businessman used as a scapegoat by
criminals cooperating with the government in exchange for lesser sentences.

In the end, a jury must decide whether to find Valencia guilty of
multiple counts of drug smuggling and money laundering. If convicted,
he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

While his name may not be well known in the United States, Valencia's
trial is certain to cause a stir in Colombia, said Luz Nagle, a
professor at Stetson University College of Law who specializes in
international law, drug trafficking and Latin American business law.

"You are talking about prosecuting the most elite members of Colombian
society," Nagle said of the Cali cartel. "It would be like prosecuting
the Kennedys for ties to illegal alcohol smuggling."

A Key Government Witness

Valencia is the biggest catch ever netted by Operation Panama Express,
a decadelong investigation in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Since
January 2000, the operation has seized more than 400 tons of cocaine
and caught about 890 people, according to the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

Authorities believe Valencia became involved in the Cali cartel as far
back as 1988. He managed to elude detection for years by using the
name Oscar Martinez, according to court documents. He was arrested in
January 2003 and extradited to the United States in March 2004.

"When you ask for Mr. Big, well here he is," Assistant U.S. Attorney
Joseph K. Ruddy said after Valencia arrived in Tampa.

Valencia allegedly ran one of the largest-ever maritime drug shipping
operations, using several shipping and paper companies in South
America and Florida, including America Paper Inc. in Miami and
Caribbean Fisheries in Jacksonville, according to the indictment.

Chief among the witnesses the government believes will link Valencia
to these illegal enterprises is Jose Castrillon-Henao, described as
the head of the Cali cartel's maritime smuggling operations.

Castrillon was arrested in Panama in 1996. He spent two years in jail
there before he was whisked to Tampa to stand trial. He pleaded guilty
to drug trafficking and agreed to cooperate with the government,
tipping agents about dozens of cocaine shipments.

In exchange, he was sentenced to time already served in prison, about
41 months.

The dealings between Castrillon and Valencia are spelled out in great
detail in a 142-page affidavit by FBI agent Roderick Huff, which was
filed when U.S. authorities were trying to persuade Colombian
authorities to extradite Valencia.

According to the document, Castrillon met Valencia in 1989. By then,
Castrillon was already involved in drug trafficking, according to the
affidavit. He owned a shrimping and seafood company called Invermarp.

After their initial meeting, the two men bought a fishing vessel that
could be used for smuggling, the affidavit said.

Over the next six years, Castrillon performed a multitude of tasks for
Valencia, including transporting millions in illegal currency between
Panama and Colombia and smuggling cocaine by fishing boat from
Colombia to southern California, Huff wrote.

Later, Valencia proposed a new method of transportation: airlifting
several tons of cocaine into the eastern Pacific Ocean, where it would
be retrieved by fishing vessels and brought to Mexico. From there,
most of the cocaine was brought across the border to the United States.

Castrillon tried to retire from the smuggling business in 1995,
according to the affidavit. He was arrested a few months later.

An Upper-Class Lifestyle

With his refined good looks and aristocratic demeanor, Valencia
doesn't fit the Hollywood stereotype of a thuggish drug lord.

But Valencia's style is in keeping with the reputation of the Cali
cartel, whose members were more upper- and middle-class than those of
the brutish Medellin Cartel, said Bruce Bagley, who teaches Latin
American politics at the University of Miami.

"They weren't as violent," Bagley said. "They were also more urban.
They invested in things like condominium towers and sugar mills."

Valencia was certainly a member of Colombia's upper class. He was the
owner of Unipapel, a paper company. He is married to Luz Mery Tristan,
a skating champion, sportswear designer and model.

Before his arrest, Valencia was best known in Florida for his
collection of champion Paso Fino horses. His farm, Criadero La Luisa,
was considered one of the best breeding stables in the world, with an
estimated 900 horses.

In 1999, the first year the Paso Fino Federation world championships
were held in the United States, at the Florida State Fairgrounds in
Tampa, La Luisa was voted top breeder. One of the farm's mares,
Traviata de la Luisa, placed first in the performance category at the
show.

One of Valencia's stallions, Insolito, was world champion in 1997.
Another, Patrimonio, was said to be valued in excess of $1-million,
with stud fees of more than $10,000.

Valencia sold numerous horses to the 90 or so Paso Fino horse farms
that have sprung up in recent years around Ocala, according to the
Paso Fino Horse Association. Those that remained at La Luisa were
seized by the government.

The proceeds from the horse sales were at the center of a strange
controversy that popped up this year and threatened to derail
Valencia's trial.

A Story With Many Twists

James Gahan, an investigator for the defense, contacted Assistant U.S.
Attorney Ruddy in April and arranged a meeting. Gahan said Valencia
and his family hatched a scheme to resell horses seized by the
government to raise money for Valencia's defense.

Acting on Gahan's information, U.S. customs officials stopped another
defense investigator as he tried to re-enter the United States and
confiscated his papers, which he described as sensitive defense materials.

Valencia's attorneys, Matthew Farmer and Ronald J. Kurpiers,
protested, saying the government's actions made it impossible for
Valencia to receive a fair trial. They asked U.S. Magistrate Judge
Elizabeth Jenkins to dismiss the case.

Jenkins refused, but called the incident "bizarre, and no doubt deeply
disturbing to the defense."

It was just one of the many strange twists and turns the Valencia case
has made on its way to trial. In March 2005, Ruddy nearly caused an
international incident when one of his court filings contained the
accusation that the Colombian president was taking bribes.

Ruddy was referring to a provision in Colombian law that allows
extraditions only for crimes committed after Dec. 17, 1997, when the
country's constitution was changed.

The provision "represents the product of the successful bribery of
then- Colombian President Ernesto Samper and the Colombian Congress by
the Cali cartel," Ruddy wrote.

The document was later replaced with one that did not mention bribery.
However, the original remains in the court file.

Security is also a major concern.

In October, Ruddy asked U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich to
keep jurors anonymous to protect them from potential harm. In a court
filing, Ruddy said Valencia had dispatched hit men in the past to
impede criminal investigations and hired lawyers to represent drug
smugglers to buy the loyalty of people who might testify against him.

Valencia's attorneys said keeping the jury anonymous would create an
unfair prejudice against their client. Kovachevich denied the
prosecution's request.

But security will still be tight. All visitors to Valencia's trial
must pass through a magnetometer before entering the courtroom. They
must also produce a photo ID and give their name and address to a
security guard.

One thing is certain: No matter the outcome of the trial, drug
trafficking will continue to thrive in Colombia, said Ron Chepesiuk,
an author who has written extensively about the Cali cartel.

The Cali and Medellin cartels splintered in the '80s and '90s after
their leaders were either captured by law enforcement or killed, he
said. However, many smaller groups have sprung up to take their place.

"The beat just goes on," Chepesiuk said. "These guys are like
cockroaches. You get rid of one of them and another pops up."

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.