COLOMBIA : Panel Recommends Clearing Samper

A congressional committee recommended that President Ernesto Samper be cleared of charges that he accepted millions of dollars from the Cali drug cartel to finance his 1994 election campaign. The Chamber of Representatives investigating panel voted 10 to 3 against a resolution recommending that Samper be accused of criminal wrongdoing before the full Chamber. The panel, however, is dominated by 10 members of Samper’s Liberal Party and was expected to back the president. The 163-member Chamber will still have to vote on the resolution, and Samper still faces the possibility of impeachment proceedings.