By Steve Macko
A prominent terrorist group in the South American country of Colombia has vowed to make Colombian President Ernesto Samper their main target because they claim that he and other top Colombian officials accepted millions of dollars from the infamous Cali cocaine cartel in the 1994 election campaign.
In a statement that was phoned-in to a news network in Colombia, the terrorist group known as "Dignity for Colombia" said that they would launch a new terrorist campaign to get Samper to quit the presidency of this country that is considered to be the most violent in South America.
"Dignity for Colombia" is believed to responsible for the assassination last week of a top Colombian politician and killing of dozens of other people. In regards to the charges of accepting money from the Cali Cartel, the president of Colombia has repeatedly denied the charges.
Officials at the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. observers at the Embassy in Colombia believe that the terrorist group is made up of members of the Cali Cartel. It is believed that the cartel is angry at the Colombian president because he took cash from the cartel to help win the 1994 election and has apparently reneged on a backroom deal to go easy on the cartel. In actuality, and with the help of United States authorities, Samper has launched an all-out war against the drug dealers.
Colombian military intelligence has another theory about "Dignity for Colombia" -- they believe that the group is a possible front for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) which is the largest insurgent group in the country.
After the November 2nd assassination of the former Colombian ambassador to the United States, Samper called for a general state of emergency in the country to help prevent further terrorism, such as was scene in the country during the mid-1980's and early 1990's when the Medillin drug cartel killed thousands of people.
"Dignity for Colombia" in a statement to the Colombian news network denounced the president and other governmental leaders for "enriching themselves with money from the people from Cali and not having the guts to acknowledge it." In a transcript that was published in El Tiempo, the largest daily newspaper in Colombia, the terrorist group said about the Colombian president, "Your armored cars won't be worth anything when a one-ton charge of dynamite explodes next to you. That day you will know what an animal you were for not resigning the presidency." The statement also indicated that the group has several "Kamikazes" who are ready to give up their lives.
The personal security surrounding President Ernesto Samper has been tightened in light of these threats. Unless security police can confirm that there are no places where snipers can shoot at Samper, all public appearances by the president have been cancelled. The Interior Minister of the country said that the objective of "Dignity for Colombia" was "to cause chaos in Colombia and destabilize the government." Police authorities in Colombia suspect that the terrorist group is responsible for the June 10th bombing in Medellin that killed 26 people.
The United States government has maintained pressure on President Samper to continue his promises to pursue the drug cartels. If Samper does not make good of his promises, the United States has said that it would indeed interpret that as an admission by Samper that his election campaign was funded by the drug cartels. In that case, the United States would then impose severe economic sanctions on Colombia. Experts say that the Colombian president's position is tenuous at best.
(c) Emergency Response & Research Institute, 1995, All rights reserved.
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