From: Jim Rosenfield <[j n r] at [igc.apc.org]>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Re: News Stories from the Drug War
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1995 17:24:46 -0800 (PST)

REUTER    <<>>RTw   11/28     Colombia's tough top prosecutor to stay in office

By Tom Brown 

   BOGOTA, Nov 28 (Reuter) - A government tribunal ruled on
Tuesday that Colombia's chief prosecutor -- a fiery thorn in the
side of drug barons and President Ernesto Samper alike who might
have been removed in March -- should hold office until August
1998. 
   Prosecutor-General Alfonso Valdivieso, a popular figure who is
also one of the most powerful and feared men in Colombia, was
appointed in August 1994 to finish the term of Gustavo de Greiff,
who retired early and is now ambassador to Mexico. 
   There had been a long-running debate over whether he should
serve until March 1996, when de Greiff's term would have expired,
or be given a full four-term term of his own. The country's
Supreme Court recently announced that it was unable to rule on
the matter, and Samper himself declined to weigh in one way or
the other, at least in public. 
   Ultimately, the decision was left to Colombia's so-called
Council of State, an independent body of magistrates whose
constitutional mandate includes the resolution of administrative
conflicts within the government. 
   Late on Tuesday, the council announced that 12 of its 22
judges had voted to grant Valdivieso a full four-year term,
making it almost impossible to remove him until Aug. 15, 1998,
when Samper's term is due to end as well. 
   The prosecutor-general's job was created in 1991 in a bid to
crack down on the drug-related corruption that had permeated
Colombia's criminal-justice system. 
   De Greiff, the first man to fill the post, infuriated U.S.
Attorney General Janet Reno because of his apparent leniency
toward drug traffickers and by publicly backing a call for the
legalisation of drugs. 
   Valdivieso, a former senator, education minister and
ambassador to Israel, has been applauded worldwide, however, for
his tough stance against drug lords and the cocaine wealth that
he says has corrupted all levels of Colombian society. 
   Apart from prosecuting jailed leaders of the Cali drug cartel,
he has overseen the seizure of their properties and the closure
of bank accounts as part of an unprecendented move to curb money
laundering in Colombia's banking system. 
   He is constitutionally barred from prosecuting Samper himself.
But Valdivieso has aggressively gathered evidence and pursued
charges that the president's 1994 election campaign accepted up
to $6 million in contributions from Cali cartel kingpins, and
political commentators say his probe may ultimately force Samper
to resign in disgrace. 
   Valdivieso has already jailed three top Samper campaign aides
on charges of soliticing drug money and he has vowed repeatedly
to pursue the case to "the final consequences." 
   REUTER  Copyright, 1995 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved. The
following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in
whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters
Ltd.