ARISTIDE'S EX-SECURITY CHIEF FACES DRUG CHARGES

An official during the Aristide administration is accused of
trafficking cocaine and appears in Miami federal court.

A former security chief for ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide appeared in Miami federal court Monday on a cocaine smuggling
case that highlighted U.S. complaints the Aristide government was soft
on traffickers.

Oriel Jean, 39, is the highest-level Haitian official to be implicated
in narcotics trafficking since the mid-1990s, when the nation was run
by anti-Aristide military and police officers.

Jean, who was extradited from Canada last week, is charged with one
count of conspiracy to traffic cocaine. He will be held without bond
at the Federal Detention Center in Miami and could seek bond at a later date.

"This is a high-level official who used his position and authority to
allow drug trafficking," said Joe Kilmer, a spokesman for the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration.

More Arrests Likely

Kilmer said more arrests are likely but declined to discuss whether
Aristide was among the potential targets. Neither Aristide nor other
members of his government are mentioned in the complaint.

The DEA, which has agents working out of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-
Prince, has long been investigating Haitian and Colombian drug
traffickers who use the impoverished nation as a transshipment point.

The traffickers use Haiti as a drop-off spot for large quantities of
cocaine and heroin later smuggled into the U.S. market, as well as a
transshipment place for cash going to Panama and other
money-laundering havens.

The Bush administration has been critical of Aristide's administration
in the effort to stem the flow of drugs and last year declared that
Haiti had "failed demonstrably" to combat drug trafficking.