4 More Police Die in Colombia Despite Pledge
Gunmen killed four more police officers in Medellin, three of them after the city’s cocaine cartel declared an end to its campaign of bombings and assassinations, police said Saturday.
Minutes before the Extraditables, as the Medellin drug bosses call themselves, sent a message by facsimile mail to the local press Friday calling for a truce, gunmen killed a police officer, according to a police statement.
Three other police officers were assassinated later in the day, the statement said.
“We decree a unilateral, indefinite cease-fire and we suspend attacks against police, bombings in all Colombian cities and the executions of politicians, journalists, judges and other functionaries,” said the statement, which claimed the cartel was responsible for the murders of 215 police officers this year in Medellin and the surrounding region.
The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified.
Police say the cartel is paying assassins $4,000 for each police officer killed.
The Extraditables’ statement said the killings were in retaliation for the murder and torture of suspected cartel members by police.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
