2ND DRUG SUSPECT EXTRADITED

Colombia Gives U.S. A Reputed Associate Of Cali Kingpins

BOGOTA, Colombia, Nov. 25 - Colombian authorities today extradited a
suspected Venezuelan drug trafficker who could be the key to Washington's
attempt to try Colombia's undisputed cocaine kings, the Rodriguez Orejuela
brothers, in a U.S. court.

Fernando Jose Flores, 38, nicknamed the Fat Man, is the second alleged drug
smuggler extradited this week. He is accused of shipping more than 3 1/2
tons of cocaine to Florida, packed in concrete fence posts.

He was reputedly a crony of the Rodriguez Orejuelas, who have been serving
time in a Bogota prison since their capture in mid-1995.

Flores has said he fears U.S. officials will force him to give evidence
against the Rodriguezes, former kingpins of the notorious Cali drug mob who
were once blamed for 80 percent of the world's cocaine traffic.

Colombia banned the extradition of Colombian citizens in 1991 after Pablo
Escobar, then capo of the Medellin cartel, waged a bloody campaign of
bombings, murders and kidnappings. Escobar was killed in 1993 during a
shootout with police on a Medellin rooftop.

Under intense U.S. pressure, Colombia's congress lifted the ban in December
1997, but the measure only covers crimes committed after that date.

No Colombian had been sent abroad for trial since 1990 until Sunday's
extradition of suspected heroin trafficker Jaime Orlando Lara, 30.

The extradition of foreign nationals was never suspended. But after
Flores's capture in August 1998, he argued that he was a Colombian citizen
and his crimes were committed before the resumption of the extradition
treaty with the United States.

Flores was bundled aboard a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration jet at a
Bogota police airport after extensive medical checks. Just 5 feet 6 inches
tall but weighing 308 pounds, Flores has heart problems.

Under the gaze of scores of heavily armed police officers, he crossed the
runway with tubes in his nose from a small oxygen canister to help him
breathe. He was not handcuffed, but police officers gripped his arms.

Neither Flores nor police chiefs made a statement at the airport. But in an
interview published this week by the magazine Semana, Flores voiced fears
about his imminent extradition.

"With threats, psychological torture. . . . I will sign whatever [U.S.
officials] put in front of me so that they get what they want--the
extradition of the Rodriguezes," he said.

Colombia rejected an extradition request for the Rodriguezes in mid-1996.
U.S. authorities, however, say the two men have continued to run their
criminal empire from behind bars and could be liable for extradition for
acts committed after December 1997.

Both men were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to terms that
could allow them to be freed from Bogota's top-security La Picota prison in
less than 10 years. If ever tried in the United States, the Rodriguezes
could expect much stiffer sentences, possibly even multiple life terms.

Colombian authorities have warned that the resumption of extradition ties
with the United States could spark a violent backlash by the country's drug
mobs.

Two weeks ago, seven people were killed by a car bomb in northern Bogota in
an attack that police blamed on either drug traffickers or Marxist guerrillas.