DEA AGENT FROM TEXAS SLAIN IN COLOMBIA BAR FIGHT

BOGOTA, Colombia - A U.S. drug agent from Texas was shot and killed
early Sunday in an entertainment district of Bogota, apparently after
an argument in a bar, authorities said.

Frank Arnold Moreno, 37, was shot once in the chest about 1 a.m.
outside the El Divino bar, U.S. officials said. A bystander was shot
in the neck, they said, and police were pursuing a suspect.

Mr. Moreno of Edinburg, Texas, had gone to the bar with a male
Colombian friend and was killed after what one U.S. Embassy official
called "a bar brawl."

"I don't think it had anything to do with drugs," said the official,
who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I understand he was walking away
and then boom, boom."

Witnesses took Mr. Moreno to a Bogota hospital, where he was declared
dead.

It was not immediately known whether Mr. Moreno was carrying a gun,
and the police official said it did not appear that Mr. Moreno had
fired any shots.

Authorities said Mr. Moreno, his friend and the gunman had been told
to leave the bar because of aggressive behavior that included shouting
insults.

Mr. Moreno had been in Colombia for about a year and was recently
married, officials said. His wife lived with him in Bogota. Police
said the body was being flown to the United States on Sunday night.

Mr. Moreno had previously been assigned to Oklahoma
City.

Authorities would not say whether the killing was directly related to
a drug investigation. They said they believed the last time a DEA
agent was shot in Colombia was in 1982, when two agents investigating
marijuana smuggling were wounded in an attack in the Caribbean port of
Cartagena.

The DEA has about 50 agents in Colombia, the world's leading producer
and exporter of cocaine. About 80 percent of the cocaine sold on U.S.
streets comes from Colombia, as does an increasing amount of heroin.

Colombia has one of the world's highest murder rates, with about
27,000 murders a year.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry