Colombia-Gomez Assassinated
11-2-1995
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ Gunmen ambushed a prominent opponent of Colombia's president in a crowded Bogota street on Thursday, killing him and an assistant.
President Ernesto Samper declared a state of emergency, giving himself and security forces wide powers after the assassination.
Samper's assumption of sweeping powers comes amid investigations into allegations he won the 1994 elections with huge donations from the Cali drug cartel.
Alvaro Gomez Hurtado, 76, had written editorials in an opposition newspaper urging Samper to resign over allegations that the cartel had given millions of dollars to his 1994 election campaign.
Gomez, a former senator and ambassador to Washington, was hit four times in a hail of automatic weapons fire in front of the university where he taught law.
In a somber, nationally televised address Thursday night, Samper said Gomez's assassination "makes the entire nation mourn."
He then announced police could make searches and arrests without court orders, and he placed limits on press freedom, saying the media could not carry any declarations by persons involved in crimes.
A man telephoned radio stations and claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of a group called "National Dignity."
"Await more actions," the caller said. In some of the calls, he demanded Samper's resignation.
A similarly-named group, Movement for the Dignity of Colombia, claimed responsibility for an attack on Sept. 27 on Antonio Jose Cancino, a lawyer defending Samper against the allegations that drug traffickers had financially aided his election.
Cancino was lightly wounded and two bodyguards were killed in the attack, which some Colombians suspect was mounted to divert attention from the political crisis that threatens to topple the president.
Samper condemned Gomez's murder as "an attack on the entire nation." Army commander Gen. Harold Bedoya called it the work of terrorists trying to destabilize the country.
After the late morning attack, troops and riot police took up position in the streets. Hundreds of demonstrators clustered outside the hospital where Gomez died, chanting "Samper resign!"
Dozens of heavily armed police sealed off the area in front of Sergio Arboleda University, where the attack occurred. Bullet casings littered the street.
The attack killed aide Jose del Cristo Huertas and wounded a bodyguard and a street vendor.
The assailants escaped, possibly in a car or on a motorcycle, radio reports said.
The ambush recalled the worst days of the government's war against the Medellin cocaine cartel in the 1980s, during which dozens of senior officials were assassinated.
"It's not explicable. It's just barbaric," said former president Julio Cesar Turbay. "This is the blackest and darkest day we could have."
The government said that under the state of emergency, the presidency could assume legislative powers. However the government insisted no constitutional or press freedoms were being suspended, and said the state of emergency would last 90 days.
Samper declared a state of emergency last August, citing violence by leftist guerrillas, drug traffickers and common criminals. Colombia's Constitutional Court struck it down on Oct. 18, saying there was no evidence violence had reached a level warranting the decree.
The court ruled the government could declare a state of emergency only in a "special situation of unrest."
Gomez, a member of the opposition Conservative Party, ran for president several times without success, most recently in 1990. His father, Laureano Gomez, was president in the 1950s.
Gomez was kidnapped and held for three months in 1989 by rebels belonging to the leftist April 19th Movement, which laid down arms the following year to join the political process.
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ Gunmen ambushed a prominent opponent of Colombia's president in a crowded Bogota street on Thursday, killing him and an assistant.
President Ernesto Samper declared a state of emergency, giving himself and security forces wide powers after the assassination.
Samper's assumption of sweeping powers comes amid investigations into allegations he won the 1994 elections with huge donations from the Cali drug cartel.
Alvaro Gomez Hurtado, 76, had written editorials in an opposition newspaper urging Samper to resign over allegations that the cartel had given millions of dollars to his 1994 election campaign.
Gomez, a former senator and ambassador to Washington, was hit four times in a hail of automatic weapons fire in front of the university where he taught law.
In a somber, nationally televised address Thursday night, Samper said Gomez's assassination "makes the entire nation mourn."
He then announced police could make searches and arrests without court orders, and he placed limits on press freedom, saying the media could not carry any declarations by persons involved in crimes.
A man telephoned radio stations and claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of a group called "National Dignity."
"Await more actions," the caller said. In some of the calls, he demanded Samper's resignation.
A similarly-named group, Movement for the Dignity of Colombia, claimed responsibility for an attack on Sept. 27 on Antonio Jose Cancino, a lawyer defending Samper against the allegations that drug traffickers had financially aided his election.
Cancino was lightly wounded and two bodyguards were killed in the attack, which some Colombians suspect was mounted to divert attention from the political crisis that threatens to topple the president.
Samper condemned Gomez's murder as "an attack on the entire nation." Army commander Gen. Harold Bedoya called it the work of terrorists trying to destabilize the country.
After the late morning attack, troops and riot police took up position in the streets. Hundreds of demonstrators clustered outside the hospital where Gomez died, chanting "Samper resign!"
Dozens of heavily armed police sealed off the area in front of Sergio Arboleda University, where the attack occurred. Bullet casings littered the street.
The attack killed aide Jose del Cristo Huertas and wounded a bodyguard and a street vendor.
The assailants escaped, possibly in a car or on a motorcycle, radio reports said.
The ambush recalled the worst days of the government's war against the Medellin cocaine cartel in the 1980s, during which dozens of senior officials were assassinated.
"It's not explicable. It's just barbaric," said former president Julio Cesar Turbay. "This is the blackest and darkest day we could have."
The government said that under the state of emergency, the presidency could assume legislative powers. However the government insisted no constitutional or press freedoms were being suspended, and said the state of emergency would last 90 days.
Samper declared a state of emergency last August, citing violence by leftist guerrillas, drug traffickers and common criminals. Colombia's Constitutional Court struck it down on Oct. 18, saying there was no evidence violence had reached a level warranting the decree.
The court ruled the government could declare a state of emergency only in a "special situation of unrest."
Gomez, a member of the opposition Conservative Party, ran for president several times without success, most recently in 1990. His father, Laureano Gomez, was president in the 1950s.
Gomez was kidnapped and held for three months in 1989 by rebels belonging to the leftist April 19th Movement, which laid down arms the following year to join the political process.
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