ACCUSED DRUG LORD LOSING SLEEP IN DETENTION

Guards Flash Lights In His Cell Hourly

The man accused of being the world's biggest cocaine trafficker told a
federal judge Friday in Miami that he's having trouble sleeping.

Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela's worries aren't keeping him awake, even though
he's accused of leading the infamous Cali cocaine cartel. He blamed his
sleep deprivation on the flashlight guards at Miami's federal detention
center shine in his eyes hourly, between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., "denying you a
restful sleep, ever."

Rodriguez Orejuela was brought in shackles to court for arraignment, but
the routine legal proceeding was delayed again for 60 days while his
lawyer, Jose Quinon, finds a way to ensure he is not being paid with
drug-tainted money.

Rodriguez Orejuela seized the occasion to complain to U.S. District Court
Judge Federico Moreno about the jail's "draconian rules."

He is held alone for security reasons in a special unit "without the right
to come out into the sunlight." He also complained he has only been able to
call his family four times since he was extradited Dec. 3 from Colombia.
The longest conversation lasted 15 minutes.

But it's the interrupted sleep that's really getting to him.

"I'm asking you to please help me with this very delicate situation, which
is affecting me physically and psychologically, given that I am a
65-year-old man," Rodriguez Orejuela implored the judge.

The detention center's deputy warden, Walter Wood, told the judge the
hourly checks are for security. "We have to see their faces," the deputy
warden said.

As for the other complaints, Wood said Rodriguez Orejuela would soon be
getting a roommate, access to an exercise yard now under construction and
weekly phone access.

Even though authorities say the Cali cartel raked in more than $2 billion,
Rodriguez Orejuela's defense could be paid for with public funds. Quinon
was blocked by the government from seeking payment from property inherited
by Rodriguez Orejuela's wife in the 1970s, long before the days of the Cali
cartel.