From: nyt@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: Colombian Newsbriefs 1/20 ed-lp
Date: 21 Jan 93 04:48:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:ZJLPXB4w165w@nyxfer.uucp:356170054:000:3164
Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!nyt    Jan 20 20:48:00 1993


Subject: Colombian Newsbriefs 1/20 ed-lp
From: nyxfer!nyt (NY Transfer News)


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

From el diario/La Prensa

Translated and edited by Toby Mailman. "el Diario/La Prensa" is 
a Spanish language newspaper published in New York City.

Escobar May Be Cornered

On January 16 Victor Giovanni, one of drug kingpin Pablo 
Escobar's bodyguards, was killed in Medellin. As a result, 
according to the Colombian newspaper El Espectador, which cites 
official sources, Escobar is closer to capture. [Many of his 
bodyguards have been killed or have turned themselves in since 
his escape from prison last July.] The newspaper said he is 
cornered and economically weakened after six months of being 
hunted by Colombian police. The press and residents of Medellin 
have said that in order to survive Escobar or various doubles had
appeared on highways near Medellin, robbing automobile drivers 
and passengers and threatening a wave of terrorism if the police 
continued to pursue him. The threats were not taken seriously 
until the Colombian Attorney General, Gustavo De Greiff, declared 
that such things would not be permitted in Medellin. (edlp 
01/18/93 from EFE)


Escobar Converting to Political Rebel

Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug kingpin, said on January 18 in
a letter to the Attorney General, Gustavo De Greiff, that he 
would launch a war against the government, and that he is 
creating a terrorist command named "Antioquia Rebelde" (Rebel 
Antioquia) [Antioquia is a department in the northeastern part of
Colombia whose capital is the famous city of Medellin] to 
confront armed authorities. He said he would no longer pursue a 
path through the courts but would seek to open peace talks with 
the government the same as other guerrilla groups. The new group 
will not have as its objective the independence of the department
of Antioquia, because, Escobar said, "I was born Colombian and I 
want to continue being Colombian all my life."

President Gaviria's government has refused to dialogue with 
Escobar, saying his terrorist activities are very different than 
those of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and the 
National Liberation Army (ELN). The letter was received at a time
when some liberal and conservatives senators from Antioquia are 
trying to approach Escobar to talk him into turning himself in. 
A week earlier Escobar threatened to let loose a wave of 
terrorism, including exploded 10 tons of dynamite in the office 
of the Attorney General.

Escobar complained, among other things, that his lawyers had
been searched, sacked and jailed, threatened and charged with 
weapons, drugs and dynamite possession, and that even under the 
government of Virgilio Barco (1986 - 1990) this type of thing did
not happen. (edlp 01/19/93 from AFP)


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