COLOMBIAN DRUG TRAFFICKER BEING HELD IN CUBA

HAVANA - Cuba said Monday it was holding an alleged Colombian drug
trafficker wanted in his homeland and the United States and challenged the
U.S. government to sign an agreement allowing the two nations to cooperate
in the fight against narcotics smuggling.

The Cuban government did not say whether it would hand over Rafael Miguel
Bustamante Bolanos if such an agreement was signed. But it suggested it
would be more cooperative if accords existed.

"The possibility now exists for the U.S. administration to show that it is
truly willing to seriously undertake the fight against those grave scourges
of humanity while avoiding a double-standard approach," the Foreign
Ministry said in a statement published in the Communist Party daily Granma.

"It is in the hands of the United States government to prove, before
American and international public opinion, that it can sidestep the petty
interests of small anti-Cuban groups and defend the American people's real
interests," the statement added.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said he was
unaware of Bustamante's arrest. A spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement
Administration in Washington said she also had no immediate information
about the developments described by the Cuban government.

For several years, Cuban officials have been trying to persuade Washington
to sign such an agreement. They argue that this impoverished island has
limited law enforcement resources and needs the technological resources and
expertise of the United States in its fight against narcotics smuggling.

So far, the American government has expressed no interest in such an
agreement. Cuba blames political pressures from anti-Castro Cuban exiles
opposed to reapprochement between the two countries, which have had no
diplomatic relations for four decades.

Bustamante entered Cuba on Jan. 6 from Jamaica using a Venezuelan passport
identifying him as Alberto Pinto Jaramillo and was arrested at a Havana
home on March 6, the statement said.

Cuban authorities said they learned of Bustamante's true identity and the
accusations against him from other countries' anti-drug agencies.

The statement said authorities here established that Bustamante was
involved with a major Bahamas-based trafficking organization and that about
10 years ago he escaped from a Colombian jail where he was serving time for
trafficking.

Bustamante also is sought in the United States, both in an investigation
into drug trafficking and for escaping from a federal prison in Alabama
where he was serving time for money laundering and cocaine trafficking, the
statement said.

Arrested with Bustamante was Robert Lewis, of the Bahamas. Still in
custody, the men will be tried here for falsification of documents and drug
trafficking, the statement said.