BYLINE: By FRANK DAVIES Herald Staff Writer

A former CIA agent Wednesday told a federal jury of doublecrosses and
betrayal in Venezuela, as leaders of an elite unit set up by the
intelligence agency to fight smuggling instead protected huge drug
shipments to South Florida.

Exagent Mark McFarlin also described how he was caught in a turf war
between his CIA supervisor in Caracas and the Drug Enforcement Agency
as he began to realize the antismuggling effort he helped develop ``was
starting to fall apart.''

For U.S. agents, the Venezuelan venture proved to be an embarrassment.
Several large shipments were seized, but after the fact they learned that
hundreds of pounds got through. No major drug lords were captured, and a
large CIADEA rift was revealed.

McFarlin's testimony, including information that was classified until he
took the witness stand, came on the second day of the trial of Adolfo
Romero Gomez, former aide to a retired Venezuelan general, Ramon Guillen
Davila, who ran his nation's drug war from 1988 to 1992.

Federal prosecutors have charged Guillen, once a trusted operative of the
CIA, and Romero with a broad conspiracy to smuggle up to 22 tons of
cocaine through Venezuela to Miami during that time.

Venezuelan officials have refused to extradite Guillen. Romero was
extradited from Colombia a year ago and faces 10 years to life
imprisonment on the charges if convicted.

In U.S. District Judge Shelby Highsmith's court, McFarlin provided an
unusual public view of how a major antidrug initiative in Latin
America, designed to cripple the Colombian cartels, ended in failure and
cost him his job.

The CIA in Venezuela trained and equipped a special intelligence unit of
the National Guard, a military force with more power than its U.S.
namesake. McFarlin and other U.S. agents taught the Venezuelans
``tradecraft'' how to collect information and manage informants.

``We offered a comprehensive package,'' said McFarlin, a softspoken
Texan with a slight drawl and a blue Lone Star tie.

In 1989, Guillen told the CIA and DEA that Colombian suppliers wanted to
truck large amounts of cocaine across the border to Venezuela for
storage and eventual shipment, and Romero was the Colombians' contact.
U.S. agents saw a chance to track ``controlled deliveries'' of the drugs
and capture major traffickers.

Shipment of cocaine

When trucks took a shipment of 3,000 pounds of cocaine into Venezuela,
McFarlin told his CIA station chief.

His boss asked: Did the DEA know about the shipment?

``No,'' McFarlin said.

``Let's keep it that way,'' his boss ordered, according to McFarlin.

McFarlin, who had been working closely with DEA agents, said ``this
perplexed me.'' He told DEA agents about it anyway.

But McFarlin soon had bigger worries than turf wars. He learned in late
1990 that the National Guard was involved in the drugtrafficking it was
supposed to stop, allowing some of the cocaine to be flown to South
Florida without U.S. knowledge.

A call for accounting

McFarlin said he realized this when he examined photos of specially
designed hollow cargo pallets. Guillen said one shipment, flown to Miami
and later seized, contained 1,200 pounds.

McFarlin suspected it contained less, about 800 pounds, and that the
National Guard was dealing the rest. He asked Guillen for a strict
accounting.

The general refused, saying, ``He trusted us why didn't we trust him?''

What Guillen and Romero were doing was ``twotiming, and a betrayal of
law enforcement,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Sullivan in his opening
argument.

Romero told DEA agents they had to allow some cocaine to get through
``to keep their credibility with traffickers,'' said Sullivan. At the
same time, the allegedly told the Colombians they had to let some
shipments be seized.

Guillen and Romero were also worried about retribution from the
Colombian cartels, McFarlin testified. Romero pleaded with U.S. agents
not to seize a 680pound shipment disguised in boxes of blue jeans.

``Why can't we let it just walk?'' Romero asked. Translation: Can't you let
this one get through?

Testimony from dealers

Earlier this week, two imprisoned drug dealers testified that Romero was the
middleman who helped arrange shipments through Venezuela.

William Norris, Romero's attorney, asked McFarlin who made the decisions
in the Venezuelan connection.

McFarlin conceded that Guillen did, but with Romero's input. And he
described Romero as a ``close, longtime friend'' of Guillen.

For his part, McFarlin was asked to resign from the CIA in 1992 after an
internal investigation.

McFarlin's station chief was recalled from Caracas and quickly retired.