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Colombia: Druglord extradition official

Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Colombia's president has signed an order to extradite to the United States one of the country's most notorious druglords, El Tiempo newspaper reported Tuesday.

The decree by President Alvaro Uribe makes official the transport of Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela to the states, where, if convicted, he could be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Orejuela -- the erstwhile chief of the world famous Cali cartel -- has been in a Colombian prison since his 1995 arrest. However at that time extradition to the United States was forbidden by Colombian law.

In other Colombia news, Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has rejected an offer to hold talks with the Colombian government to swap their hostages for imprisoned rebels.

FARC uses hostage taking and drug production to fund their 40-year war with the Colombian government.

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[embedded reporter]Kevin Sites has made several trips to Colombia, covering U.S. anti-drug efforts, including cocoa spraying operations and the training of the Colombian government's Jungle Commandos. When Colombian paramilitary forces captured travel writer, Robert Young Pelton and his companions in November 2002, Sites interviewed them live, via videophone from the edge of the jungle, shortly after their release.