(21 Nov 1999) Spanish/Nat
For the first time in nearly a decade, Colombia extradited on Sunday a suspected drug dealer to the United States.
Jaime Orlando Lara was handed over to officials from the U-S Drug Enforcement Administration (D-E-A) and will stand trial for heroin trafficking.
The handover comes 10 days after a deadly terrorist bomb exploded in Bogota in what many suspect was a warning against extraditions.
Jaime Orlando Lara arrived in Bogata by helicopter.
Handcuffed and heavily-guarded he walked to the twin-engine Cessna without uttering a word.
This is the first time since 1990 that a suspected drug trafficker has been extradited to the United States.
Colombia banned extradition in 1991- capitulating to a wave of bombings and assassinations by the now-defunct Medellin drug cartel.
The shadow of those times was raised again when on November 11 a deadly terrorist bomb exploded in Bogota in what many suspected was a warning against extraditions.
Under heavy pressure from Washington, Colombia reinstated extradition in December 1997.
Lara was indicted in New York in October 1998.
Prosecutors say he headed a smuggling ring that shipped as many as 30 pounds (15 kilograms) of heroin to the United States on commercial flights.
Acting on a U-S request, police captured Lara in Bogota last December.
At Bogota's airport, the police made the official announcement.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Yesterday the decision was taken to authorise the extradition of the Colombian citizen Jaime Lara. In compliance with that executive decision, this citizen was transferred today to the United States. We informed him of our decision and all of his rights have been guaranteed according to Colombian law for those that are in prison."
SUPER CAPTION: General Ismael Trujillo, judicial police director
There are at least 40 other suspects waiting extradition to the U-S.
U-S officials argue extradition is the only way to ensure Colombian drug traffickers receive stiff punishments for their crimes.
In Colombia, top drug kingpins receive short sentences due to their campaign of intimidation and corruption.
The plane is flying to Fort Lauderdale in Florida, a southern U-S state.
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