Man Claims to Have Taken Part in Assassination in Colombia

A man claiming to have taken part in the assassination of a veteran political leader in the Colombian capital turned himself in to police but has not yet been charged with any crime, authorities said Saturday.

Gloria Cassiani, chief prosecutor in Aguachica, a rural town in northern Cesar province, said the suspect was being held under her custody while doctors tried to determine his mental state.

She told Colombia’s Caracol radio network that Victor Raul Valencia had approached her office Friday and tearfully confessed to participating in Thursday’s killing of Alvaro Gomez Hurtado, a three-time former presidential candidate and longtime leader of Colombia’s Conservative Party.

She did not make it clear if Valencia, believed to be about 20 years old, had confessed to being a accomplice or pulling the trigger on Gomez.

Aguachica’s mayor told Caracol earlier that he was convinced Valencia had made up his story and was mentally unbalanced.

Gen. Hugo Martinez Poveda, the police general heading the investigation into Gomez’s killing, made no reference to Valencia in brief remarks to reporters Saturday, saying only that authorities still had no firm leads in the case.

Gomez, 76, a former senator and ambassador to Washington, was killed by gunmen in front of the Bogota university where he taught law. The killing prompted the government to declare a state of emergency.