Critics derided the law as an attempt to please both the United States and drug traffickers, largely failing at the former. Enrique Parejo, a former justice minister with strong anti-drug credentials, said, ôI donÆt believe this government has the will to extradite Colombian citizensö (Ambrus "Columbia," A4). At the time, most of the Cali cartelÆs leaders already resided in Colombian jails, serving light sentences while continuing to operate their drug business. This law insured that they would never do hard time in the U.S. Moreover, the Americans suspected that the law might be applied to non-Colombians, which could make the country a haven for international criminals (Constantine, International).

At the very least, Colombia reversed a 1991 law that had barred the extradition of Colombian citizens under any circumstances. The impact of that change, and the Colombian commitment to extradition, cannot be assessed for many more years, after American authorities build new cases against drug kingpins and then seek to extradite them from Colombia.

At the same time, however, Colombia did take some steps directed at weakening the cartels. Law 365 made money-laundering a crime, with penalties no

There can be no doubt, though, that working as a police officer in Colombia qualifies as one of the worldÆs most dangerous occupations. In 1997, 160 members of the Colombian National Police were killed in the line of duty, most while engaged in anti-drug operations (Constantine International). In 1995, the anti-drug police were attacked without provocation 36 times, resulting in the deaths of 22 agents and injuries to 46 others. In addition, traffickers and guerrillas downed four police planes and helicopters and destroyed a police base in the Colombian city of Miraflores, a hotbed for drug trafficking (Eaton A1).

The European market presented challenges as well as opportunities for the Colombian drug cartels. Unlike the Americans, the Europeans have not been vigilant in their anti-drug efforts. However, in Europe, the Colombians had a much higher profile than in the polyglot U.S., and a substantial portion of those arrested for drug trafficking were Colombian. So the drug cartels turned to the Sicilian Mafia and its well-established distribution channels. Soon the alliance evolved into money laundering, another specialty of the la cosa nostra. For the Sicilians, an alliance with the Colombians gave them the opportunity to regain ground lost to the Asians in the heroin market (Williams).

For most inhabitants of ColombiaÆs prisons, though, life is very harsh. ColombiaÆs prisons are overcrowded, so bad that most inmates serve only 80 percent of their term, at most. Conditions are ripe for violence, a daily occurrence. Lax security also leaves the pr