COLOMBIAN DRUG LORDS TO GO FREE

Government Fury As Judge Grants Cali Cartel Leaders Release from Jail for
Good Behaviour

Two of the world's most notorious drug lords could be free in Colombia
within days after a judge granted them parole for good behaviour, a
decision that has surprised and infuriated the government.

A parole judge on Friday ordered the release of brothers Miguel and
Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela - once the leaders of the powerful Cali drug
cartel - from a maximum-security prison after they had served just over
half of their terms.

The decision took the government of President Alvaro Uribe by surprise and
officials immediately said they would seek to have the ruling overturned
before the brothers were allowed back on the streets.

Justice Minister Fernando Londono questioned the legitimacy of the judge's
decision towards the multimillionaires.

'These men, with their gigantic economic power, are generating a result
that doesn't correspond with the evidence,' said Fernando Londono, who is
also Colombia's Interior Minister.

'This shows us once again that judicial power in Colombia is incapable of
dealing with the issue of drug trafficking.'

Legal experts say the one way to prevent their release is to present new
charges against them or if the United States asks for the brothers'
extradition.

The Rodriguez Orejuela brothers were captured in 1995 and convicted of
shipping tons of cocaine to the US. They were sentenced to 14 and 15 years.

The US repeatedly requested the extradition of the brothers after their
arrest, but Colombian authorities denied the requests, which would have
violated the constitution at the time.

A constitutional amendment in 1997 reinstated the possibility of
extradition for drug trafficking charges but it did not apply retroactively.

The judge ordered the release of the men after they had participated in a
work-study programme to reduce their sentences. He also ordered each of the
men to pay a $5,400 bond, and barred them from leaving the country.

The Cali cartel run by the brothers competed in the Nineties with the
powerful Medellin cartel, run by Pablo Escobar, who was shot dead while
fleeing police in 1993.

After the demise of the Medellin cartel, the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers
were believed to have shipped 80 per cent of the cocaine consumed in the
US. They also allegedly helped finance the political campaign of former
President Ernesto Samper, who was cleared of the charges by Congress.

After the men were captured other drug lords turned themselves in, in
exchange for reduced sentences, and the Cali syndicate broke up into
smaller, more agile drug-trafficking organisations.

Colombia remains the world's largest producer of cocaine and a major
supplier of heroin to the US.

Washington, which provides the Colombian government with millions of
dollars in aid to fight drug production and trafficking in Colombia, often
expressed concern that the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers did not receive a
strong enough sentence and could be freed after only a few years.

It was unclear exactly when the men would be freed. Monday is a holiday in
Colombia, so the earliest day they could go through the necessary steps to
leave prison would be Tuesday.