COLOMBIA'S LEADER KEEPING A LOCK ON DOPE BARONS

SAN ANDRES, Colombia -- President Alvaro Uribe on Saturday halted the
release from prison of two of Colombia's former top drug lords while the
government investigates the legitimacy of a judge's decision to free the men
after they served less than half their terms.

"The government has prohibited the release of the prisoners as long as there
remain judicial doubts," Uribe, who was elected on a pledge to crack down on
drug traffickers and leftist guerrillas, said to reporters during a visit to
San Andres, an island in the Caribbean.

Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez were captured in 1995 and sentenced to 14 and
15 years, respectively, for trafficking cocaine to the United States with
the Cali cartel.

The brothers' drug cartel was the second largest in Colombian history after
the Medellin cartel led by Pablo Escobar, who died in a 1993 shootout with
police.

Judge Pedro Suarez on Friday ordered the brothers released after seven years
behind bars because they participated in a work-study program to reduce
their sentences.

Unusually speedy delivery of a "good behavior" certificate by the director
of the prison helped the process, prompting government officials to suspend
the prison director, the office of the presidency said.

U.S. requests for the men's extradition were denied on the grounds this
would violate the Colombian Constitution.