U.S. Aide Lambastes Colombia Drug Terms

President Clinton’s narcotics adviser harshly criticized prison sentences a Colombian judge gave two notorious drug traffickers as evidence of drug money’s power to corrupt the Andean nation’s legal system.

Brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, leaders of the world’s largest drug syndicate, were sentenced Friday to 10-1/2 and nine years in jail respectively.

“We’re looking at the corrupting power of $30 billion of drug money on the institutions of democratic government,” said the White House drug policy director, retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey.

McCaffrey singled out Colombian President Ernesto Samper for criticism. “We watched the evidence laid out in front of the Colombian Congress on Samper’s alleged receipt of $6 million to win the presidential election from these same Orejuela brothers,” he said.