Aristide's ex-security chief faces drug charge

[Freddie Stubbs]

An official during the Aristide administration is accused of trafficking cocaine and appears in Miami federal court.

BY LARRY LEBOWITZ

[email protected]


AND NANCY SAN MARTIN

A former security chief for ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appeared in Miami federal court Monday on a cocaine smuggling case that highlighted U.S. complaints the Aristide government was soft on traffickers.

Oriel Jean, 39, is the highest-level Haitian official to be implicated in narcotics trafficking since the mid-1990s, when the nation was run by anti-Aristide military and police officers.

Jean, who was extradited from Canada last week, is charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic cocaine. He will be held without bond at the Federal Detention Center in Miami and could seek bond at a later date.

''This is a high-level official who used his position and authority to allow drug trafficking,'' said Joe Kilmer, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8253734.htm