U.S. TRIES TO BLOCK RELEASE OF DRUG LORD

TUNJA, Colombia - Stunned by a court order to release a former drug kingpin
from prison after serving only half his sentence, U.S. investigators
hurried to find evidence Thursday to support further charges - and possibly
his extradition to the United States.

The court ordered the release of Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, who with his
brother Miguel once controlled the Cali drug cartel, an empire that moved
multi-ton shipments of cocaine across the globe.

Rodriguez, who was arrested in 1995 and sentenced to prison until 2010, was
ordered released last week by Judge Pedro Suarez. As the government
investigated Suarez to see if the convicted drug trafficker might have
bribed him - Suarez has denied it - another judge upheld his decision on
Thursday.

Dozens of police and soldiers surrounded the prison where Rodriguez was
being held, outside the town of Tunja 60 miles northeast of Bogota, to
prevent any violence as prison authorities prepared to let him go. With the
clock ticking, U.S. officials hastened to stop his release.

''Some documents have arrived from the United States that officials are
evaluating, and that could stop the release,'' President Alvaro Uribe's
spokesman, Ricardo Galan, told The Associated Press.

Details on what information was being provided were not immediately
available, but U.S. drug agents have been trying to link Rodriguez and his
jailed brother Miguel to international crimes committed after 1997, when
Colombia's constitution was revised to allow the extradition of its citizens.

Suarez's decision last week that the Rodriguez brothers should be freed
shocked the nation, and prompted the president to intervene. But Judge Luz
Amanda Moncada ruled Thursday that Suarez's order on Gilberto Rodriguez
should stand. She also ordered an investigation of the government for
allegedly interfering in the judicial process.

Interior and Justice Minister Fernando Londono called the ruling a
''terrible blow.''

''This is a moment of mourning and pain for the country's image and for the
administration of justice in Colombia,'' Londono said, but nonetheless
added that the administration would respect the decision.

Moncada also ruled that Miguel Rodriguez must remain in prison to serve an
additional four-year sentence for a bribery charge, which reportedly
stemmed from a 1996 attempt to buy his way out of prison.

The Cali drug cartel once controlled 80 percent of the world's cocaine
trade. It became the world's most powerful drug gang after the demise of
the Medellin cartel, whose leader Pablo Escobar was killed by police in
December 1993.

While the Medellin cartel was ultaviolent, killing scores of police,
judges, journalists and top government officials in bombings and by hit men
in an attempt to force Colombia to bar extraditions, the Cali cartel ran
the drug business more like a corporation - although one that did not
hesitate to kill.

One of its victims was a crusading anti-drug journalist, Manuel de Dios
Unanue, who was slain in New York in 1992.

The Cali cartel also tried to buy influence, contributing millions of
dollars to the 1994 presidential election campaign of Ernesto Samper. The
scandal soured relations with Washington after Samper won the presidency,
and Washington revoked his U.S. visa.

Uribe, who was elected this year and is a strong U.S. ally, has been
courting Washington for more aid to help fight ''narco-terrorism'' in
Colombia, torn by a 38-year civil war fueled by drug money.

U.S. officials in Bogota criticized the rulings that put Gilberto Rodriguez
on the brink of freedom.

''We really lament the decision,'' U.S. Embassy economic counselor
Francisco Fernandez said in Bogota Thursday. ''But we understand that ...
the government did everything possible to try and avoid this.''

Authorities believe that all the top leaders of the Cali cartel have been
jailed or killed, yet remnants of the drug operation still exist in Cali,
Colombia's third-largest city, 185 miles southwest of Bogota.

U.S. authorities believe William Rodriguez, the son of Miguel Rodriguez,
may be one of the new drug leaders in Cali. In August, the United States
requested the extradition of the 37-year-old lawyer.