Colombian Senator Is Abducted : Drug war: Police fear the kidnaping signals a renewal of terrorism by cocaine lords. The senator had opposed negotiation.

Armed men kidnaped a senator from Colombia’s ruling Liberal Party in the hometown of the Medellin cocaine cartel today in what appeared to be a resurgence of the drug cartel’s violent anti-government campaign.

Medellin police spokesman Col. Carlos Otalora Ayendano blamed the kidnaping of Sen. Estrada Velez on drug traffickers “because of his statements Sunday against having a dialogue with the narcotics dealers.”

The spokesman said Velez’s vehicle was intercepted by armed men while he was en route to his office.

There were no claims of responsibility for the kidnaping.

The incident came three days after Colombia’s notorious drug leaders issued a statement saying they would step up violence against the government because officials had turned down a request for a dialogue.

The Medellin drug cartel has threatened to set off a 5-ton dynamite bomb for each Colombian extradited to the United States.

In a sign of the widespread fear caused by the drug cartel’s violence, the newspaper El Espectador, a leader in the fight against narcotics trafficking, suspended its editorial today after receiving threats by drug dealers that they will kill members of the Cano family, owners of the publication.

The editorial space was left blank.

A front-page story said the editorials will resume once President Virgilio Barco Vargas returns from a European tour on Apirl 11 and “steps are taken to guarantee human life and freedom of expression.”

Despite threats of violence, government sources said they were continuing to process requests for extradition of suspected drug traffickers.