Colombian court: two key drug cartel associates may go free

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Two key figures arrested in Colombia's most
wideranging probe of drug traffickers' infiltration into politics can
leave jail, a top court has ruled.

The two men, considered close associates of the Cali drug cartel, may be
freed on bail because the oneyear limit for a verdict in their cases
expired, the National Tribunal said Thursday.

The prospect of early release for freelance journalist Alberto Giraldo and
exsenator Eduardo Mestre was a blow to an investigation of drug corruption
that nearly toppled Colombia's president.

Arrested more than two years ago, Giraldo and Mestre were suspected of
funneling drug cash through cartel front companies to stooges in the
Colombian Congress.

On audiotapes released in 1994, Giraldo and Cali kingpins are heard
discussing donations of millions of dollars to President Ernesto Samper's
election campaign.

There is little question that the cartel gave $6 million to Samper's
campaign, but the president denied any knowledge of wrongdoing and resisted
calls to quit. He was cleared by a loyalist Congress.

Giraldo and Mestre, a former ambassador to Switzerland, were expected to
pay $8,000 in bail money as early as today. They remain under investigation.

The chief prosecutor at the time of their arrests, Alfonso Valdivieso, was
hailed by U.S. officials as an antidrug crusader for launching the
investigation of drug corruption in politics.

But the failure to reach a verdict in the Giraldo and Mestre cases suggests
poor handling by government prosecutors.

Copyright 1997 Associated Press. All rights reserved.