Reporter Gunned Down in Medellin; Third This Month

A radio reporter was shot to death in Colombia’s drug capital of Medellin, the third reporter to be murdered this month in the embattled country, police said today.

Meanwhile, the judicial system was virtually paralyzed by a 72-hour strike that is to last until Friday.

Most of the country’s 20,000 judges and judicial employees stopped work to press security demands after Tuesday’s murder of Medellin High Court Judge Hector Jimenez Rodriguez, in what was called the first direct retaliation for the extradition of accused drug traffickers to the United States.

Journalist Diego Vargas Escobar, 56, was gunned down by two motorcycle-borne killers Tuesday night. He directed a program called Radio Buenos Dias Medellin and had worked with the leading national network Radio Caracol.

With the judicial sector, the press has been the hardest hit by the ruthless drug lords’ campaign of bombings and killings since they declared “all-out war” on the government Aug. 24.