Medellin Cartel Denies Plot to Kill Bush During Andean Summit

Drug lords stepped up their public relations blitz, announcing that they have no plans to kill President Bush during a February drug summit and promising to release a Colombian diplomat abducted Friday in the capital.

Warring drug cartels last month staged a number of kidnapings to extort ransom but recently have been releasing captives to persuade the government to negotiate a cease-fire.

Furthering the public campaign for negotiations, the Medellin cartel late Monday issued a communique, purportedly signed by fugitive kingpin Pablo Escobar, saying the cocaine traffickers have no plans to assassinate Bush when he meets Feb. 15 with Andean leaders in the Colombian port city of Cartagena.

Escobar, wanted for extradition to face drug charges in the United States, also denied a report that the traffickers are smuggling shoulder-fired SAM-7 missiles into Colombia to attack Air Force One as Bush lands.

CBS-TV News reported last week that the Secret Service was investigating a drug-ring plot to kill the President during his anti-narcotics summit with the leaders of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

In its communique, the Medellin cartel promised to release Roberto Garcia Pena, a Colombian official kidnaped last week in Bogota. When freed, Garcia Pena will be carrying a message from the cartel, the announcement said.

Two weeks ago, the cocaine czars offered to surrender if the government agreed not to extradite them to the United States. The offer signaled a tactical turn away from the bombing onslaught begun last year that killed almost 200 people.