DRUG TRAFFIC STILL JAMS COLOMBIA

Slaying Of Archbishop Puts Risks Of Speaking Up Back In Spotlight

CALI, Colombia -- In the mid-1990s, President Ernesto Samper was nearly
forced from office amid accusations that he had accepted $6 million in
campaign donations from the Cali cocaine cartel.

The disgraced president managed to complete his term, and the scandal died
down. But the killing of Archbishop Isaias Duarte last week has brought the
issue of campaign finance -- and the risks of denouncing drug traffickers
- -- back into the spotlight.

Duarte, 63, was shot down in the western city of Cali one month after
claiming that area politicians were funding their campaigns for Congress
with narco-dollars. Authorities speculate that Duarte may have been
targeted by drug dealers in retaliation for his remarks.

"When you say you have evidence, you are putting a target on your chest,"
said Fernando Giraldo, a political analyst in Bogota, the Colombian
capital. "The archbishop knew that (traffickers) could get him."

Duarte will be buried in Cali today following three days of mourning
declared by city officials.

While some officials blame Marxist guerrillas or right-wing paramilitaries
for Duarte's death, Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio said Monday: "We
continue to insist that (the killers) may have been people involved in drug
trafficking."

If so, the outspoken clergyman may have sealed his fate Feb. 8. On that
day, Duarte read a statement accusing unnamed politicians in Valle del
Cauca state of accepting money from drug lords to finance their campaigns
for the March 10 legislative elections.

"Valle del Cauca is once again feeling the weight of drug money," Duarte
said. "We ask the people of Valle del Cauca not to be fooled and not to
support those who, behind the facade of clean democratic politics, hide
their corrupt drug money."

To many, Duarte was simply stating the obvious.

During the scandal-plagued Samper administration (from 1994-98), dozens of
Valle del Cauca politicians were jailed for being on the take from drug
lords. Despite legal measures to clean up the campaign finance system,
experts say the new rules have had little impact.

Authorities broke up the Cali cartel in the mid-1990s, but smaller drug
syndicates continue to traffic tons of cocaine and to influence local politics.

"The impact of drug money in this region is still very strong," said
Hernando Llano, a political science professor at Javeriana University in
Cali. "It's an undeniable truth."

Still, Duarte's words carried great moral weight since he had long been
considered a fair-minded critic of Colombia's ills. He also persuaded
others to speak out.

Following his remarks, Sen. Piedad Cordoba publicly accused four Valle del
Cauca candidates of overspending on their campaigns and implied that they
had received illicit funds.

"I think there should be an investigation to ask (them) where they get
their money," Cordoba told the Cali newspaper El Pais shortly before
election day. "People say that they are passing out money" to the voters.

The Cali Chamber of Commerce, along with two universities, invited all 112
congressional candidates in Valle del Cauca to sign a petition pledging to
run clean campaigns. But just 35 candidates did so.

"Fifty percent of the candidates had hot money," said Juan David Gallego, a
Cali resident who spent $2,000 on his losing bid for a congressional seat.
"They use it to pay for transportation for voters. They pay for food. They
buy votes."

One way or another, most politicians exceed the $175,000 limit for senate
candidates and the $120,000 cap for house candidates, said Giraldo, the
political analyst.

Despite the glaring problems in the electoral system, the Bogota government
challenged Duarte to prove his point.

President Andres Pastrana -- who wanted to preside over clean elections --
was irked by Duarte's remarks and asked why the archbishop refused to name
the guilty politicians. "It's like throwing a stone and then hiding your
hand," Pastrana said.

Duarte claimed that his information came from parish priests and local
citizens. He added that it wasn't his job to accuse individuals and called
on the government to probe the matter.

Others say that Duarte was trying to protect himself since it can be
extremely dangerous to confront Colombia's drug cartels. The Cali newspaper
El Pais sent five reporters to look into Duarte's accusations but came up
empty since most of their sources were spooked.

"No one wanted to say anything," said Gerardo Quintero, an editor at El Pais.