Pubdate: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL) Copyright: 2003 Tallahassee Democrat. Contact: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444 Author: Catherine Wilson, the Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine), http://www.mapinc.org/colombia.htm JAILED KINGPIN TURNED TO COLOMBIAN PARAMILITARY LEADER FOR HELP, U.S. SAYS MIAMI -A jailed cocaine kingpin wrote a Colombian paramilitary chief asking for help settling a $14 million drug debt and reminding him of past support in the form of military rifle deliveries, according to court papers released Tuesday. The letter offered by prosecutors going to trial next week against Fabio Ochoa Sanchez, a leader of the defunct Medellin cartel, solidifies evidence of ties alleged for years between top Colombian traffickers and the country's right-wing paramilitary leaders. Alejandro Bernal, an admitted Colombian kingpin now cooperating with U.S. investigators, wrote the unaddressed and unsigned letter in 2000 to Carlos Castano, indicted head of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, prosecutors said. Castano has gone underground since his indictment in Washington in September. But he responded on his group's Web site in March that his paramilitary group is not a drug cartel and has ended past involvement in drug trafficking. Bernal pleaded guilty to drug racketeering this month and could become a witness against Castano, who faces extradition on the indictment charging him in a 17-ton cocaine smuggling venture starting in 1997. His five-page letter refers to offering a Mexican commander named Enrique Gonzalez $2 million to "settle" a problem, apparently with a DEA agent, without harming him. "He is only doing his job and I do not want a guilty conscience," Bernal wrote. "I have never killed anyone or asked anyone to do it for me." 'Settle my debts' Bernal asks Castano to intervene "to settle my debts" and suggests sources to cover $13.5 million of a $14 million drug debt. "The remaining balance would be paid in cash obviously," Bernal wrote. He writes that he doesn't know Castano personally but adds, "I have been one of your biggest collaborators for the cause that is an obligation for all Colombians." Bernal was charged in Miami with coordinating a 30-ton-a-month smuggling network and was convicted of drug charges in Mexico in 1989. Ochoa is accused of joining Bernal's smuggling venture. Ruben Oliva, Bernal's attorney, said he was unaware of any connection between Bernal and Castano but said it's not something he discussed with his client. He said he was unaware of the letter but wasn't surprised that he didn't know about it in a case with 200,000 documents. Prosecutors and Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Joe Kilmer had no comment on the letter filed in court to fulfill evidence-disclosure rules for Ochoa's trial scheduled to begin Monday with jury selection. Bernal reports providing more than 1,000 pieces of equipment including "AK-R15 and M60" sent 50 at a time from 1983 to 1996. He also refers to his intention to send "100 AK and a few M-60 in order to keep collaborating with you and the cause" after each 30-ton-a-month deal. AK and AR are makes of rifles. M60s are tanks. M-16s are military assault rifles. The letter was written more than a year after Bernal was jailed in Colombia in a 43-defendant drug indictment based on bugs planted in his Bogota office. He was extradited in 2001. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk