PARAMILITARY LEADER AGREES TO FACE DRUG CHARGES IN U.S.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- Colombia's most powerful far-right warlord, whose
paramilitary fighters are responsible for some of the country's worst
human-rights abuses, said Tuesday he would turn himself in to the United
States to face drug charges.

Carlos Castano's decision could change the course of Colombia's 38-year
war, shake the world's largest cocaine industry and possibly shed light on
allegations by human-rights groups that sectors of the military cooperate
with paramilitaries.

Castano wrote in a letter that he would step down as head of the outlawed
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and defend himself against charges
of smuggling cocaine to the United States and Europe.

While admitting to carrying out many killings and leading a bloody war
against leftist rebels, Castano said earlier this month that he would
surrender to U.S. authorities if they ever accused him over drugs.

On Tuesday, U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft announced Castano's indictment,
and the warlord responded immediately in a letter addressed to the U.S.
Embassy in Bogota.