COLOMBIA EXTRADITES ANOTHER DRUG SUSPECT TO U.S.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- For the second time in less than a week, Colombia
braved a possible terrorist backlash and extradited a major drug suspect to
the United States on Thursday.

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.

On 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 Thursday may prove the bigger catch.

U.S. prosecutors believe that 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,
said DEA agent Brent Eaton. Florez was put into a van and taken to Miami's
Federal Detention Center.

The resumption of extraditions marks a historic change for the South
American country that produces 80 percent of the world's cocaine.

Colombia outlawed the practice in 1991, capitulating to a wave of bombings
and assassinations by late Medellin drug boss Pablo Escobar. The ban
strained ties with Washington until December 1997, when the country
reinstated extradition in a constitutional reform.

Many Colombians feared that drug traffickers would revive the terror -- a
concern heightened when a car bomb killed eight passers-by in an upscale
Bogota shopping district two weeks ago.

But hours after the attack, President Andres Pastrana defiantly signed the
extradition papers for Lara, Florez and a Cuban national, Sergio Gonzalez.
Thirty-nine other drug suspects are awaiting possible extradition.

On Wednesday, President Clinton praised Pastrana's courage and pledged to
work with Congress on a major aid package to Colombia next year.