COLOMBIAN FLOWN TO US FOR ARRAIGNMENT

WASHINGTON (AP) - It was a rare law enforcement breakthrough against a
reputed Colombian drug trafficker, and it occurred as Colombia's
president-elect was in Washington to discuss ways of improving
counterdrug cooperation

Alvaro Uribe, who was elected to a four-year last month, was having an
appointment at the White House on Thursday with national security
adviser Condoleezza Rice, concluding two days of talks with Bush
administration officials, congressional leaders and international bankers.

During Uribe's discussions here on Wednesday, the Colombian rebel
leader was being flown to Washington from Suriname for his arraignment
on drug trafficking charges.

He was identified variously as Carlos Bolas and Eugenio Vargas
Perdomo. Colombian military officers said Bolas was second in command
of a rebel combat unit in Colombia.

The DEA took Bolas into custody Tuesday. Surinamese authorities
arrested him for immigration violations after determining he was using
a false Peruvian passport.

Surinamese officials, aware that Bolas was wanted in the United
States, ordered him expelled and turned him over to the DEA. He was
flown to Washington on Wednesday and is awaiting arraignment U.S.
District court.

Last March, a federal grand jury in Washington indicted Bolas and
other FARC members on charges of conspiring to manufacture and import
cocaine into the United States, the DEA said.

Uribe made clear in his conversation with Secretary of State Colin
Powell on Wednesday that he wants to preside over a Colombia that is
not sending a single kilo of cocaine to the United States

That kind of talk has endeared Uribe the State Department officials.
He also has received plaudits here for his determination to bring
increased pressure to bear on leftist rebels in hopes of stimulating
peace talks and achieving a settlement.

He leaves for Canada on Thursday in late morning.