Colombia-Terrorism
11-5-1995
^AM-Colombia-Terrorism,0537<
^Terrorist Group Threatens Colombian President<
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ A group linked to the killings of a prominent politician and dozens of other people says it will launch a new campaign of terrorism unless President Ernesto Samper resigns.
Samper himself will be among the targets, the group Dignity for Colombia warned, saying Samper and other top officials had accepted millions of dollars from the Cali drug cartel for his 1994 election campaign and then denied doing so.
Some Colombians think the group is made up of Cali cartel members, murderously angry at Samper for allegedly using traffickers' money to win the presidency and then launching an offensive against them once in office.
But leftist guerrillas, right-wing extremists and a wide range of other groups also are possible suspects.
Samper responded to Thursday's assassination of former senator Alvaro Gomez Hurtado by declaring a state of emergency. He vowed to prevent terrorism from engulfing Colombia, as it did in the late 1980s and early '90s when the Medellin drug cartel killed thousands of people.
A man who called a radio station minutes after Gomez was shot said Dignity for Colombia had committed the killing. Samper must resign or more murders of prominent Colombians would follow, the caller said.
The man denounced Samper and other leaders "for enriching themselves with money from the people from Cali ... and not having the bravery to acknowledge it," according to a partial transcript published Sunday in El Tiempo, Colombia's biggest daily.
The caller threatened Samper himself.
"Your armored cars won't be worth anything when a 1,000-kilo charge of dynamite explodes next to you, directed by one of our kamikazes. That day you will know what an animal you were for not leaving the presidency," he said.
Samper's security has been stepped up. An appearance in a Bogota neighborhood was canceled Thursday because police believed there were too many places a sniper could hide.
Interior Minister Horacio Serpa told reporters Saturday night that Gomez's killers had not been identified, but said they aimed to "cause chaos in Colombia and destabilize the government."
Dignity for Colombia also claimed responsibility for an attack Sept. 27 on Antonio Jose Cancino, the lawyer defending Samper against drug corruption accusations. Cancino was wounded and two of his bodyguards were killed in that attack.
Police also suspect the group may be linked to a June 10 bombing that killed 26 people in Medellin. A caller after that attack said it was in reprisal for the capture days earlier of Cali cartel leader Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela.
Rodriguez was the first of six Cali cartel kingpins to have been put behind bars in a government offensive undertaken with the help of U.S. drug and intelligence agents.
Washington had pressured the Samper administration to get tough. Otherwise, U.S. officials said, they would be more inclined to believe Samper's election campaign had been funded by the traffickers, and might impose sanctions on Colombia.
^AM-Colombia-Terrorism,0537<
^Terrorist Group Threatens Colombian President<
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ A group linked to the killings of a prominent politician and dozens of other people says it will launch a new campaign of terrorism unless President Ernesto Samper resigns.
Samper himself will be among the targets, the group Dignity for Colombia warned, saying Samper and other top officials had accepted millions of dollars from the Cali drug cartel for his 1994 election campaign and then denied doing so.
Some Colombians think the group is made up of Cali cartel members, murderously angry at Samper for allegedly using traffickers' money to win the presidency and then launching an offensive against them once in office.
But leftist guerrillas, right-wing extremists and a wide range of other groups also are possible suspects.
Samper responded to Thursday's assassination of former senator Alvaro Gomez Hurtado by declaring a state of emergency. He vowed to prevent terrorism from engulfing Colombia, as it did in the late 1980s and early '90s when the Medellin drug cartel killed thousands of people.
A man who called a radio station minutes after Gomez was shot said Dignity for Colombia had committed the killing. Samper must resign or more murders of prominent Colombians would follow, the caller said.
The man denounced Samper and other leaders "for enriching themselves with money from the people from Cali ... and not having the bravery to acknowledge it," according to a partial transcript published Sunday in El Tiempo, Colombia's biggest daily.
The caller threatened Samper himself.
"Your armored cars won't be worth anything when a 1,000-kilo charge of dynamite explodes next to you, directed by one of our kamikazes. That day you will know what an animal you were for not leaving the presidency," he said.
Samper's security has been stepped up. An appearance in a Bogota neighborhood was canceled Thursday because police believed there were too many places a sniper could hide.
Interior Minister Horacio Serpa told reporters Saturday night that Gomez's killers had not been identified, but said they aimed to "cause chaos in Colombia and destabilize the government."
Dignity for Colombia also claimed responsibility for an attack Sept. 27 on Antonio Jose Cancino, the lawyer defending Samper against drug corruption accusations. Cancino was wounded and two of his bodyguards were killed in that attack.
Police also suspect the group may be linked to a June 10 bombing that killed 26 people in Medellin. A caller after that attack said it was in reprisal for the capture days earlier of Cali cartel leader Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela.
Rodriguez was the first of six Cali cartel kingpins to have been put behind bars in a government offensive undertaken with the help of U.S. drug and intelligence agents.
Washington had pressured the Samper administration to get tough. Otherwise, U.S. officials said, they would be more inclined to believe Samper's election campaign had been funded by the traffickers, and might impose sanctions on Colombia.
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