Colombian leader escapes violence; local priest killed

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) A tough lawandorder governor escaped an apparent
assassination attempt by leftist rebels Saturday while visiting a rural
Colombian town on the eve of regional elections, but a local priest was
killed.

Gov. Alvaro Uribe Valez of Antioquia state had left the central square of
San Francisco 10 minutes before the attack began, said the governor's chief
aide, Pedro Juan Moreno. The governor had met with officials and local
residents of the farming town, 110 miles northwest of Bogota.

One of the participants in the meeting, the Rev. Antonio Bedoya, a Roman
Catholic priest, was killed by a shot to the head, Moreno said.

The slaying of the priest "looks to be premeditation," national police
commander Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano said in a radio interview. He said
authorities knew of no other casualties.

"I was about to board my helicopter when the shots began to ring out,"
Uribe told RCN radio. Moreno, who was with Uribe, said their helicopter was
not hit by gunfire but the rebels were clearly trying to shoot at it.

"It was very difficult to know where they were shooting from," he said in a
telephone interview. "They were shooting from all sides."

Authorities did not know if fighting was continuing in San Francisco, which
is in an area where the National Liberation Army, the country's No. 2 rebel
group, operates.

The afternoon attack, which was carried out with assault rifles and machine
guns, was the most serious incident to occur in the runup to Sunday's
nationwide elections for state and municipal posts.

A violent rebel campaign to sabotage the balloting poses the most serious
challenge to Colombian democracy in the guerrillas' more than 30 years
fighting the government.

More than 1,600 candidates in Antioquia state alone have pulled out of
Sunday's elections after receiving death threats from rebels or
landownerbacked paramilitary groups. Nationwide, 53 candidates have been
killed.

Uribe, a major national political player, was accompanied Saturday by a
regional army commander and other officials.

The governor has gained a reputation for toughness with rebels, who
dominate vast areas of Antioquia, and has been the chief proponent of
controversial citizen watch groups known as Convivir.

Human rights groups say many Convivir cells, which ostensibly provide
police and the military with intelligence, are clandestinely involved in
death squad activities targeting suspected guerrilla sympathizers.

Saturday's attack occurred in the same area where two Organization of
American States election monitors were kidnapped on Thursday by rebels who
said they would not release the pair a Chilean and a Guatemalan until
after the vote.