BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia's top police official and an important U.S ally in the war on drugs announced Tuesday that he was resigning, saying he's tired of seeing his officers die.
Five years after making history by dismantling the Cali cocaine cartel, Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano said this Andean nation's battle against drugs, kidnapping and guerrilla violence has claimed too many lives.
"I've been to so many police officers' funerals I can't bear another," he said. Nearly 2,000 police have died in the line of duty since 1994, the year Serrano, 58, became national police chief.
Serrano's retirement was widely expected. Late last year, he published his memoirs, which became a best seller in Latin America.
The 40-year police veteran — whose reputation for valor and honesty have made him Colombia's most revered public official — is stepping down at a delicate moment for the government.
President Andres Pastrana is lobbying in Washington for a $1.7 billion anti-narcotics aid package that the Clinton administration has pledged but that Congress is holding up. The aid package, is caught in election-year gridlock on Capitol Hill.
Serrano is highly regarded by U.S. lawmakers and officials for his close cooperation in the drug war and for cleaning up a police force riddled with corruption. About 8,000 officers were fired or retired during his tenure.
When the U.S. government shunned former president Ernesto Samper over allegations that he won election in 1994 with contributions from drug traffickers, it simultaneously maintained close ties to Serrano.
Serrano's "steadfast dedication to the anti-drug crusade will be sorely missed," Donnie R. Marshall, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a statement. "He is truly a hero."
Serrano had indicated he might stay in his post until Colombia receives the U.S. counternarcotics aid.
"I have done everything I can for my country," he told a news conference at which he sobbed when employees lining the balconies at police headquarters gave him a standing ovation.
Serrano said he hoped his retirement would not affect Washington's willingness to help Colombia battle drug traffickers.
"The aid has to come," he said. "It's a commitment not to one person, but to the country."
But Adam Isacson, a Colombia specialist with the Center for International Policy in Washington, said the country had lost an important "sales tactic" on Capitol Hill.
"It's going to be tougher if Serrano's successor is less charismatic and can't be brought around to make the rounds in Washington as a genuine hero in the drug war," Isacson said.
There was no immediate comment from Pastrana, who since taking office in 1998 has reduced Serrano's profile with Washington. Pastrana assigned a greater role to Colombia's military in fighting the cocaine and heroin trade.
Serrano's replacement has not been named. He said Pastrana has offered him a post abroad, but did not elaborate on his plans other than to say he would take a vacation in the United States, where his children and grandchildren live for security reasons.
The general lives under heavy guard, and frequently receives death threats.
In stepping down, Serrano made a plea for nonviolence from rightist paramilitary groups and leftist rebels, who despite peace talks with Pastrana have continued bloody attacks on towns and garrisons around the country.
"We can't make peace atop a pile of bodies," Serrano said.
Serrano catapulted to fame with the 1995 capture of Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez, brothers who ran the Cali cocaine mafia. That ended the era of large cartels, forcing traffickers to keep a lower profile and splintering the trade.
Despite Serrano's accomplishments, Colombia continues to supply about 90 percent of the world's cocaine and is a growing supplier of heroin.