U.S. Rejects Cali Drug Cartel Offer
BOGOTA, Colombia — The United States refused the Cali drug cartel’s offer to provide evidence allegedly implicating Colombia’s president in drug corruption in exchange for a promise not to pursue some cartel leaders, the U.S. ambassador said.
Ambassador Myles Frechette told QAP television Wednesday that the offer to implicate President Ernesto Samper came from drug lords Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez.
In a radio interview Thursday, Frechette said the United States primarily is interested in bringing the drug kingpins to justice and seeing Colombia speed up anti-drug efforts. “The policy of the United States is not to topple President Samper,” Frechette said.
Samper’s attorney on Thursday dismissed the suggestion that there is such evidence against the president.
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