The World - News from March 14, 1988

Colombian voters went to the polls to elect mayors for the first time, a reform aimed at strengthening one of Latin America’s oldest democracies, currently battered by political violence and drug trafficking. Mayors previously had been appointed. Andres Pastrana, a young lawyer kidnaped earlier this year because he called for tougher action against drugs, was elected mayor of Bogota. Government officials reported no major incidents, in contrast to pre-election violence in which 14 mayors were kidnaped and five mayoral candidates were killed.