COLOMBIA SENDS ANOTHER MAJOR DRUG SUSPECT TO U.S.

FLORIDA - For the second time in less than a week, Colombia braved a
possible terrorist backlash and extradited a major drug suspect from Bogota
to the United States yesterday.

Venezuelan Fernando Jose Florez, who faces a U.S. indictment for shipping
cocaine to Florida on behalf of the Cali drug cartel, was whisked away in a
U.S. government plane to Miami.

Sunday, the government extradited a suspected Colombian heroin kingpin,
Jaime Orlando Lara. It was the first time since 1990 that Colombia had
delivered one of its nationals to stand trial in the United States.

But the man extradited yesterday may prove the bigger catch.

U.S. prosecutors believe Florez, who weighs more than 300 pounds and is
nicknamed "Fatso," may provide testimony they need to request the
extraditions of two of the biggest Colombian drug lords -- the brothers who
ran the Cali cocaine cartel.

When Florez arrived at Miami International Airport in the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration plane, he was complaining of breathing problems,
DEA agent Brent Eaton said. Florez was put into a van and taken to Miami's
Federal Detention Center.