DRUG MULE SPENDS UNHAPPY HOLIDAY IN JAIL

Things Went Bad For 'Pegger In Venezuela

Convicted drug mule Filipe Valente will wake up this Christmas morning
lying on a thin mattress on the cement floor of his Venezuelan prison cell
he shares with at least 20 other criminals. The 24-year-old Winnipegger
admits his own stupidity is to blame for his dismal surroundings. If he
could turn back time this holiday season, he would.

"I try not to think about it everyday. The more I think about it, the
harder it is," Valente said yesterday from a prison in South America where
he's spent 10 months behind bars. "I still regret it. I wish I could
reverse time."

The Tec-Voc High School graduate said it was a man he met in Madrid, not
Winnipeg, as earlier reported, who offered him $36,000 US to smuggle three
kilos of cocaine on a flight from Venezuela to Amsterdam. Valente said he
knew exactly how he would have spent the cash.

"A nice car. Go on a trip. Have fun, enjoy, take it easy," said the former
autobody assistant, who's spending this Christmas far from his parents and
sister, Cristina, back in Winnipeg. "It's going to be pretty rough."

Valente was busted before even setting foot on the plane and received a
10-year sentence instead of bundles of cash. Security personnel inspecting
his carry-on luggage discovered the cocaine hidden inside the lining of
Valente's bag, he said.

"They opened my hand baggage and were looking through it. They opened it on
one side. It was fine," Valente recalled. "I was about to grab it. They
said, 'We're not finished yet.' They saw the coke bulging out and said,
'What is this?'"

"I was, like, I'm so f--ked."

Valente said he deserves to spend the rest of his sentence in a Canadian
prison, a move he's hoping will happen by March, 2004. His family is in
contact with officials in Ottawa, he said.

A foreign affairs spokesman confirmed Canada and Venezuela have an
agreement that allows some prisoners to serve their time on Canadian soil.

"I don't think I deserve to be here but somewhere where the conditions are
better. The way this place is set up, it's not fit for humans," said Valente.