Pubdate: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2002, The Tribune Co. Contact: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446 Author: Anita Snow, Associated Press CUBA HOLDS COLOMBIAN DRUG SMUGGLER, SOLICITS U.S. ACCORD HAVANA - Cuba announced Monday it was holding an alleged Colombian drug trafficker sought in his homeland and the United States and challenged the U.S. government to sign an agreement allowing the two countries to cooperate in the fight against narcotics smuggling. The Cuban government did not say whether it would hand over Rafael Miguel Bustamante Bolanos if such an agreement was signed. But it suggested it would be more cooperative if accords existed. ``The possibility now exists for the U.S. administration to show that it is truly willing to seriously undertake the fight against those grave scourges of humanity while avoiding a double-standard approach,'' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ``It is in the hands of the United States government to prove, before American and international public opinion, that it can sidestep the petty interests of small anti-Cuban groups and defend the American people's real interests,'' the statement said. In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher and a spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration said they were unaware of Bustamante's arrest. For several years, Cuban officials have been trying to persuade Washington to sign such an agreement. They argue that this impoverished island has limited law enforcement resources and needs the technological resources and expertise of the United States in its fight against narcotics smuggling. The American government has expressed no interest in such an agreement. Cuba blames political pressures from anti-Castro Cuban exiles opposed to rapprochement between the two countries, which have had no diplomatic relations for four decades. Bustamante entered Cuba on Jan. 6 from Jamaica using a Venezuelan passport identifying him as Alberto Pinto Jaramillo and was arrested at a Havana home March 6, the statement said. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh