The World : Judge Slain in Colombia

Gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed a Colombian judge hours after he upheld an arrest warrant for a reputed Medellin drug cartel leader. Police said Judge Carlos Ernesto Valencia was ambushed shortly after he left his office for home. The judge’s bodyguard and two passers-by were also wounded. Earlier in the day, Valencia upheld an arrest warrant for reputed cartel leader Pablo Escobar on charges of masterminding the December, 1986, killing of newspaper publisher Guillermo Cano. In the wake of Valencia’s killing, a group representing the nation’s 4,379 judges called for mass resignations in protest. By early afternoon, 50 of Bogota’s 55 appeals court judges had resigned, a Justice Ministry spokeswoman said.