By JAY WEAVER AND TYLER BRIDGES

The surprise move by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to authorize the extradition of 14 notorious paramilitary warlords early Tuesday morning to the United States won applause from the Bush administration and was expected to raise his sky-high popularity in Colombia even higher.

But many people fear that sending the men to the United States to be tried on cocaine-trafficking charges will keep victims' families from receiving any of the promised reparations from the paramilitary leaders.

In a nationwide television address, Uribe said that he agreed to the extradition because the paramilitary leaders had been continuing their criminal activities behind bars and had failed to make restitution.

''The country has been generous with them, but the government can't tolerate a relapse into crime,'' Uribe said.

The extraditions follow the transfer of a major paramilitary warlord last week.

Carlos Mario Jiménez, known by the alias ''Macaco,'' had surrendered in December 2006 as part of a peace pact with the government. But Jiménez, 42, was among the least cooperative of about 50 warlords, and in August became the first to be stripped of peace-deal benefits that include protection from extradition.

Among those extradited was Salvatore Mancuso, who in his heyday helped lead an army of 30,000 men that fought the FARC guerrillas, killed innocent people for sport, imposed taxes on coca farmers and sold the finished product, cocaine, authorities said. He and the others could face up to 30 years in U.S. prisons, a much tougher sentence than they were facing in Colombia.

The two paramilitary defendants brought to South Florida -- Ramiro Vanoy-Murillo and Francisco Zuluaga-Lindo -- will face drug charges stemming from a major cocaine-smuggling case. Both were indicted in November 1999 for mid-level roles in a vast cocaine smuggling and money laundering operation.

The other 12 defendants face charges in Orlando, Tampa, Texas, New York and Washington in separate cocaine-conspiracy indictments. ''These extraditions are yet another substantial step by the government of Colombia, in partnership with the United States, to hold accountable those who support terrorist organizations and send illegal drugs into this country,'' Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said in a statement. ``We commend the courage of the Government of Colombia, which recognizes that these crimes pose a serious threat to both of our nations.''

Rafael Nieto, who served as Colombia's vice minister of justice earlier in Uribe's term, said that the president clearly had reasons to extradite the paramilitary leaders, because they were violating the law. But Nieto said Uribe also wanted to send a message.

''It's a strong and forceful move that will encourage other paramilitary leaders to make reparations to avoid being extradited themselves,'' Nieto said by telephone from Bogotá.

Other analysts ascribe a political motive as well, noting that Uribe's decision comes at a time when political allies and the president himself have been increasingly enveloped in a scandal over their ties to the paramilitary groups.

Professor Bruce Bagley, of the University of Miami, said 31 members of Congress who are allies of Uribe have been imprisoned because of their paramilitary ties while another 37 are under suspicion or are under indictment -- or about one-fourth of the Congress overall.

''Uribe has broken with the paramilitaries personally,'' Bagley said. ``This will enhance his reputation.''

A second benefit for Uribe, Bagley said, will be showing Democrats in Washington that he means business when he says he wants to break the right-wing paramilitary groups that have been murdering leftist labor leaders. Democratic congressional leaders and their allies in organized labor have cited those murders as a reason for not approving the Free Trade Agreement sought by Uribe and President Bush.

A third benefit, Bagley said, is strengthening Uribe's hand if he decides to seek congressional approval to run for an unprecedented third term.

''Uribe is showing that he doesn't have to rely on paramilitary support,'' Bagley said. ``He is showing that he can rely on his 85 percent approval rating.''

BOOMERANG EFFECT

The extraditions could boomerang down the road, Bagley added, if any of the men choose now to reveal damaging information they are rumored to have that would show Uribe had closer ties to paramilitary groups than he has admitted when he was a local politician in Antioquia state.

Colombia's paramilitary groups were created in the 1980s by wealthy ranchers frustrated that the government could not protect them from attacks by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the FARC.

But the groups developed into armed rogue bands that terrorized rural areas before Uribe got most of the leaders to agree several years ago to surrender to authorities in exchange for relatively light prison sentences in Colombia. But they had to promise that they would confess to their crimes, stop their illegal activities and use their illicit gains to help victims. About 160,000 victims have applied for assistance.

VICTIMS HAVE NOTHING

Many will no longer have any chance of receiving anything, victims rights groups said Tuesday.

''Uribe is mocking the rights of victims,'' Alfonso Castillo, a board member of the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes, said by telephone from Bogotá. ``We won't know the truth of what happened or get reparations. The United States only cares about trying them for drugs.''

Uribe said, however, U.S. officials had agreed to try to get the defendants to give illicit gains to victims.

Vanoy-Murillo and Zuluaga-Lindo were charged along with 41 others in a 1999 indictment returned in Fort Lauderdale, accusing them of playing supporting roles in an organization that authorities said imported hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.

Prosecutors crafted the ''Operation Millennium'' conspiracy case around Alejandro Bernal-Madrigal, the central power broker who put the various players of the multi-ton cocaine operation together.

Bernal cut a deal with prosecutors and testified against longtime Medellín cartel kingpin Fabio Ochoa-Vásquez at his 2003 trial in Miami.

Much of the evidence was supplied by the Colombian National Police and DEA agents, who collected 1,500 hours of surveillance tapes of Bernal's Bogotá office and other locations.

The jury found Ochoa guilty on two counts of participating in the vast Colombian network, which pumped 30 tons of cocaine a month into the United States from 1997 to 1999. Ochoa was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Miami Herald staff writers Bridges and Weaver reported from Miami and Caracas, respectively. Special correspondent Jenny Carolina González contributed from Bogotá.