`LA SENORA' SENTENCED AS DRUG LORD

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) -- A woman who built an
international drug ring from her Florida home before fleeing to
Colombia has been sentenced to life in prison by a judge seeking to
deter others.

Mery Valencia, 46, wept Thursday at sentencing by U.S. District Judge
Kimba Wood. Valencia, nicknamed ``La Senora,'' was convicted of
various narcotics charges related to her leadership of a
drug-trafficking conspiracy.

Prosecutors said more than 13 tons of cocaine worth some $180 million
was involved. Ms. Valencia also was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine for
her July 30 conviction after a two-month trial.

Prosecutors alleged that Ms. Valencia, a native of Colombia, started
her organization in the mid-1980s, directing drug distributions from
her Miami home. At her trial, her defense had argued that many of the
witnesses against Ms. Valencia were trying to win leniency from
prosecutors for their crimes.

She fled the country in 1992, and authorities seized cocaine in homes
from California to Miami. For years in Colombia, the government said,
Ms. Valencia supplied tons of cocaine to U.S. cities, including New
York, Miami and Los Angeles.

She was first indicted in 1994 in California on narcotics charges and
remained a fugitive until February 1997, when she was captured after
she traveled to Brazil for Carnival.

Ms. Valencia is the 46th defendant to be convicted in New York in
connection with the investigation. The others had already pleaded
guilty. Additional members of the organization were convicted in
California and Florida.