Pubdate: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 Source: Reuter MIAMI, Sept 30 (Reuter) A top aide to Venezuela's former antidrug chief has been convicted in a Miami federal court of conspiring to ship up to 22 tons of cocaine to Florida, a court clerk said on Tuesday. The verdict against Adolfo Romero Gomez was announced late on Monday, a clerk for U.S. District Judge Shelby Highsmith said. The jury deliberated 12 hours over two days but remained deadlocked on a second charge, in which Romero was accused of smuggling a specific shipment of more than 900 pounds of cocaine from Colombia through Venezuela to the United States in 1990. Highsmith declared a mistrial on that count, leaving open the possiblity that Romero could be tried again on the second charge, the clerk said. Romero, who is in his 60s, faces life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 10. Prosecutors said Romero and his boss, Gen. Ramon Guillen Davila, betrayed the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Drug Enforcement Administration agents who worked with them. Convicted drug smugglers, who cooperated with prosecutors in hopes of reducing their sentences, testified that Romero acted as a middleman between Colombian cocaine suppliers and Florida traffickers. They said he worked as the general's righthand man to protect illegal drug shipments. CIA and DEA agents also testified that Romero kept them informed of ``controlled deliveries of drugs,'' which the agents tracked in hopes of catching major traffickers. They testified that at the same time, Romero smuggled tons of cocaine into the United States in 1990 and 1991 without telling U.S. authorities. Romero testified during the trial that he had nothing to do with ``uncontrolled shipments'' of drugs to the United States. He was extradited from Colombia a year ago. Guillen is in Venezuela, which has resisted efforts to extradite him to Florida for trial on drug smuggling charges.