MIAMI, Sept 30 (Reuter) A top aide to Venezuela's former antidrug
chief has been convicted in a Miami federal court of conspiring to ship
up to 22 tons of cocaine to Florida, a court clerk said on Tuesday.

The verdict against Adolfo Romero Gomez was announced late on Monday, a
clerk for U.S. District Judge Shelby Highsmith said.

The jury deliberated 12 hours over two days but remained deadlocked on a
second charge, in which Romero was accused of smuggling a specific
shipment of more than 900 pounds of cocaine from Colombia through
Venezuela to the United States in 1990.

Highsmith declared a mistrial on that count, leaving open the possiblity
that Romero could be tried again on the second charge, the clerk said.

Romero, who is in his 60s, faces life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled
for Dec. 10.

Prosecutors said Romero and his boss, Gen. Ramon Guillen Davila,
betrayed the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Drug Enforcement
Administration agents who worked with them.

Convicted drug smugglers, who cooperated with prosecutors in hopes of
reducing their sentences, testified that Romero acted as a middleman
between Colombian cocaine suppliers and Florida traffickers.

They said he worked as the general's righthand man to protect illegal
drug shipments.

CIA and DEA agents also testified that Romero kept them informed of
``controlled deliveries of drugs,'' which the agents tracked in hopes of
catching major traffickers.

They testified that at the same time, Romero smuggled tons of cocaine
into the United States in 1990 and 1991 without telling U.S.
authorities. Romero testified during the trial that he had nothing to do
with ``uncontrolled shipments'' of drugs to the United States.

He was extradited from Colombia a year ago. Guillen is in Venezuela,
which has resisted efforts to extradite him to Florida for trial on drug
smuggling charges.