A gunman assassinated a leading presidential candidate at a political rally Friday night, the mayor of Bogota said. It came hours after another attack by drug traffickers that killed a provisional police chief.
A gunman opened fire on Sen. Luis Carlos Galan as the Liberal Party candidate was about to give a speech before 10,000 people in Soacha, 20 miles south of Bogota. At least 10 others werre wounded.After the attack, President Virgilio Barco used his powers under the nation's state of siege to re-establish a treaty with the United States to extradite suspected drug traffickers.
Galan, 46, died of several gunshot wounds to the chest, said Bogota Mayor Andres Pastrana. Galan had escaped an assassination attempt Aug. 5 in the city of Medellin by drug traffickers, who police said had offered $500,000 to kill him.
However, Friday in Medellin drug traffickers shot to death a provincial police chief who had led a campaign against drug dealers in this cocaine capital. The notorious Medellin cocaine cartel claimed responsibility for the slaying in calls to local radio stations.
On Wednesday night, Magistrate Carlos Valencia Garcia was shot to death in Bogota, hours after rejecting appeals filed on behalf of two Medellin leaders.
On Thursday night, an armed band intercepted a police van carrying 18 arrested people and set them free. They included several suspected drug traffickers, officials said.
The attacks came amid a strike by the nation's judges, who are protesting the violence and lack of protection for members of their profession.
Galan, who had been one of several Liberal Party candidates seeking the presidential party's nomination for the May 1990 president, was widely considered the front-runner to replace Barco.
Photographer Jesus Calderon said two shots hit Galan in the stomach as he was about to give a political speech.
"When the individual began firing, (Galan) fell to the ground," said photographer Jesus Calderon. Calderon said two shots hit Galan in the stomach, but he maintained consciousness "and asked only that he be taken quickly to the hospital."
At least 10 others were wounded, including one of Galan's bodyguards, two local political leaders and supporters near the podium. The crowd panicked.
"The people were running, screaming and crying," said Calderon.
The gunman escaped, and police mounted a search.
Barco, in an address broadcast nationwide on television and radio, said he would renew the extradition treaty with the United States, which was suspended by the Supreme Court on a technicality in April 1988.
He said his government would take emergency measures to stop the Medellin cartel, which is responsible for 80 percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States. They include hiring special judges to investigate drug traffickers and detaining suspects for 7 days without a hearing.