Colombia-Lone Crusader
5/2/1995
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ The country's former justice minister, shot five times by a drug cartel assassin, is like a terrier snapping at the heels of traffickers and President Ernesto Samper.
Undeterred by the bullets that seriously wounded him in 1987, Enrique Parejo is waging a one-man crusade to make the government investigate the biggest political scandal to hit Colombia in years _ reported drug links to the president.
Days after Samper won the closest election in decades last June, audiotapes emerged indicating his campaign accepted huge donations from the Cali drug cartel, which supplies 80 percent of the world's cocaine.
On the tapes, Cali cartel figures _ their voices authenticated by the government _ discuss having made the donations.
But Prosecutor General Gustavo de Greiff, whose daughter was Samper's campaign treasurer, decided there was insuffucient proof to mount a criminal investigation. Samper himself has repeatedly denied taking cartel money.
Weeks later, Samper took office and appointed de Greiff ambassador to Mexico. De Greiff's daughter became Samper's foreign affairs adviser.
Enter Parejo, who as justice minister had taken the Medellin cocaine cartel head-on. He smelled something fishy.
"De Greiff should obviously have disqualified himself as head of the investigation" because of apparent conflict of interest, Parejo told reporters Monday.
In September, Parejo, as a private citizen, asked the new chief prosecutor, Alfonso Valdivieso, to reopen the case the media had dubbed the "narco-tapes" scandal. Parejo also asked for an investigation of three other damning cassettes that emerged after the first one.
Valdivieso promised to do so, but more than a half-year later the case remains closed.
Valdivieso on Sunday told the newspaper El Tiempo "it is possible the moment will come in which (the case) should be reopened" but did not explain why Parejo's petition has been set aside.
All this has Parejo, who slicks his dark brown hair straight back from his hawk-like face, even more determined to uncover what happened. He has asked Congress to investigate de Greiff. On Thursday, Parejo plans to meet Attorney General Orlando Vasquez to ask him to oversee the matter.
Parejo is virtually alone in seeking an investigation of Samper, accompanied only by a few newspaper columnists and by the Pastrana family. Andres Pastrana, a former Bogota mayor and television reporter, lost to Samper in June by only 1.7 percentage points, one of the closest races in Colombian history.
The Pastrana-owned newspaper La Prensa printed transcripts Sunday of the four narco-tapes that have emerged, in which Cali cartel leaders discuss having met with the Samper campaign and having "delivered" money.
Still,there has been little Watergate-style reporting in Bogota's major newspapers, which traditionally support the ruling Liberal Party. Many Colombians blame drug-consuming nations like the United States for creating the demand for cocaine and avoid looking too deeply at problems at home.
One other politician is supporting Parejo's quest _ but for personal reasons.
Valdivieso announced last week that he had investigated eight members of congress for alleged cartel links, and had forwarded the results to the Supreme Court. He said Sen. Alberto Santofimio, one of the politicians, also requested a reopening of the narco-tapes scandal.
"I hope we won't be the sacrificial lambs in the narco-tapes episode," Santofimio told El Tiempo.
Parejo, meanwhile, says he is just doing his civic duty.
"In doing this, I feel at ease with my own conscience," he said. "I just can't keep quiet about what's happening to my country."
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ The country's former justice minister, shot five times by a drug cartel assassin, is like a terrier snapping at the heels of traffickers and President Ernesto Samper.
Undeterred by the bullets that seriously wounded him in 1987, Enrique Parejo is waging a one-man crusade to make the government investigate the biggest political scandal to hit Colombia in years _ reported drug links to the president.
Days after Samper won the closest election in decades last June, audiotapes emerged indicating his campaign accepted huge donations from the Cali drug cartel, which supplies 80 percent of the world's cocaine.
On the tapes, Cali cartel figures _ their voices authenticated by the government _ discuss having made the donations.
But Prosecutor General Gustavo de Greiff, whose daughter was Samper's campaign treasurer, decided there was insuffucient proof to mount a criminal investigation. Samper himself has repeatedly denied taking cartel money.
Weeks later, Samper took office and appointed de Greiff ambassador to Mexico. De Greiff's daughter became Samper's foreign affairs adviser.
Enter Parejo, who as justice minister had taken the Medellin cocaine cartel head-on. He smelled something fishy.
"De Greiff should obviously have disqualified himself as head of the investigation" because of apparent conflict of interest, Parejo told reporters Monday.
In September, Parejo, as a private citizen, asked the new chief prosecutor, Alfonso Valdivieso, to reopen the case the media had dubbed the "narco-tapes" scandal. Parejo also asked for an investigation of three other damning cassettes that emerged after the first one.
Valdivieso promised to do so, but more than a half-year later the case remains closed.
Valdivieso on Sunday told the newspaper El Tiempo "it is possible the moment will come in which (the case) should be reopened" but did not explain why Parejo's petition has been set aside.
All this has Parejo, who slicks his dark brown hair straight back from his hawk-like face, even more determined to uncover what happened. He has asked Congress to investigate de Greiff. On Thursday, Parejo plans to meet Attorney General Orlando Vasquez to ask him to oversee the matter.
Parejo is virtually alone in seeking an investigation of Samper, accompanied only by a few newspaper columnists and by the Pastrana family. Andres Pastrana, a former Bogota mayor and television reporter, lost to Samper in June by only 1.7 percentage points, one of the closest races in Colombian history.
The Pastrana-owned newspaper La Prensa printed transcripts Sunday of the four narco-tapes that have emerged, in which Cali cartel leaders discuss having met with the Samper campaign and having "delivered" money.
Still,there has been little Watergate-style reporting in Bogota's major newspapers, which traditionally support the ruling Liberal Party. Many Colombians blame drug-consuming nations like the United States for creating the demand for cocaine and avoid looking too deeply at problems at home.
One other politician is supporting Parejo's quest _ but for personal reasons.
Valdivieso announced last week that he had investigated eight members of congress for alleged cartel links, and had forwarded the results to the Supreme Court. He said Sen. Alberto Santofimio, one of the politicians, also requested a reopening of the narco-tapes scandal.
"I hope we won't be the sacrificial lambs in the narco-tapes episode," Santofimio told El Tiempo.
Parejo, meanwhile, says he is just doing his civic duty.
"In doing this, I feel at ease with my own conscience," he said. "I just can't keep quiet about what's happening to my country."
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