U.S. Drug Czar Meets With Samper

U.S. drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey met with President Ernesto Samper, breaking a two-year freeze on top-level U.S. contacts with the Colombian leader. Neither would comment afterward, but Colombia’s ambassador to Washington, Juan Carlos Esguerra, said McCaffrey reiterated U.S. demands that Colombia reinstate extradition “without conditions” of criminals wanted in the U.S. Washington was angered by the Colombian Senate’s passage last month of an extradition measure that was not retroactive--meaning drug cartel bosses now in Colombian jails could never be tried in the United States, where they could face life imprisonment.