EX-COP CONVICTED FOR ARMS TRAFFICKING

Linked To Narcotics Barons In Colombia

GUATEMALA CITY -- Signaling a link between drug trafficking and the
arms deals of Colombian death squads, a Nicaraguan
ex-cop-turned-arms-dealer has been convicted in Managua for possession
of narcotics and illegal weapons.

Colombian authorities have long accused the right-wing "self-defense
forces" that fight the country's Marxist rebels of ties to narcotics
barons who supply three-fourths of the cocaine and a growing share of
the heroin used in the United States.

Thursday's conviction of Roger Ramirez -- a former Nicaraguan police
official drummed out of the force six years ago under a cloud of
suspicion involving drug trafficking -- illustrated those ties in a
court of law.

The self-defense forces were formed a decade ago by ranchers and rural
merchants besieged by rebel kidnappings and extortion. Heavily
subsidized by drug traffickers in recent years, the private armies
have become a major factor in Colombia's prolonged civil war as they
regain territory from the insurgents, mainly by terrorizing civilians
that they suspect of being rebel sympathizers.

Increasingly, Colombian intelligence officials believe that disputes
between the self-defense forces and the insurgents are centered on
areas that produce cocaine and heroin. Both sides are believed to
"tax" production of illegal crops.

Leaders of the self-defense forces have acknowledged human rights
abuses but insistently denied any ties to drug traffickers. They could
not be reached for comment on the puzzling case of Ramirez, who in the
Managua court called himself a leftist and then announced his
intention to join Colombia's anti-guerrilla forces.

Police were tipped to the arms cache last month when they saw
suspicious Guatemalan and Colombian figures visiting the ranch
belonging to Ramirez's father, according to court documents.

Officers discovered the illegal arms, including rocket launchers, at
the ranch, then searched the Managua home of Ramirez's ex-wife,
finding 275 pounds of cocaine, the documents stated.

"The arms are mine," Ramirez told the judge last week. "I sold them
for a nominal price to the commanders of Colombia's self-defense
forces, and I had planned to join their struggle."

But he denied any knowledge of the cocaine.

The court found Ramirez guilty of possession of both the arms and the
drugs. A jury will determine the length of his sentence, which could
be from two to seven years.

Ramirez testified that he obtained the weapons in 1990, during the
transition from the Marxist Sandinista government that ruled Nicaragua
in the 1980s to the elected administration of Violeta Barrios de
Chamorro. At the time, he was the Sandinista Interior Ministry
delegate in the eastern port city of Bluefields -- now the hub of
Nicaragua's drug trade.

In open court, Ramirez would say only that the purpose of the weapons
was "practically a state secret."

Tomas Borge, who was interior minister during that period, denied that
he had ordered Ramirez to deal in arms.

After leaving the police in 1993, Ramirez opened a law practice and
successfully defended several drug trafficking suspects. He was
prosperous enough to send his children to Managua's most exclusive
private school.

Ramirez testified that he decided to sell the weapons to the Colombian
self-defense forces because "their current struggle is similar to that
of other military forces in the past decade that struggled against a
dictatorial government."