FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         CRM
FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1995                             (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


                     FORMER BOLIVIAN OFFICER
             EXTRADITED TO U.S. TO FACE DRUG CHARGES


     Washington, D.C.--  The Department of Justice announced today
that Jose Faustino Rico Toro, a Bolivian citizen and retired
colonel of the Bolivian Army, was extradited from Bolivia to the
United States to stand trial in federal court in Miami, Florida on
cocaine trafficking charges.  
     Colonel Rico Toro, 57, is named in a second superseding
indictment filed on March 11, 1994, in the U. S. District Court in
Miami, charging him with conspiracy to possess and distribute
cocaine.  
     The extradition of Rico Toro represents the first successful
extradition of a Bolivian citizen by the Bolivian government to the
United States since July 1992.
     According to the indictment, Rico Toro and others allegedly
conspired to transport quantities of cocaine from Bolivia to the
United States beginning about February 1991.
     Rico Toro was at one time a close assistant to Bolivian
dictator Luis Garcia Meza.  He also attained a brief appointment as
Chief of the Bolivian Special Anti-Narcotics Force (FELCN) under
former President Jaime Paz Zamora, a position which he was forced
to relinquish because of his suspected ties to drug traffickers.
     The defendant was arrested by Bolivian authorities with a view
toward extradition to the United States on March 22, 1994, in
Cochabamba, Bolivia.  Exactly one year later, on March 22, 1995,
the Bolivian Supreme Court issued its final judgment approving the
United States' request for his extradition.  
     Attorney General Janet Reno praised the efforts of the
Bolivian government to secure the extradition.  "The Department of
Justice appreciates the efforts of the Bolivian government to
secure the extradition Colonel Rico Toro to the United States. 
Only through determined cooperation in law enforcement matters and
mutual respect for international treaty obligations can we bring
such fugitives to justice.  
     "It is the sincere hope of the Justice Department that the
case of Colonel Rico Toro will serve as a precedent for future
successes in the extradition of fugitives between the United States
and Bolivia, Reno said."
                               ####
95-178