Colombia Labor Leader Hurt, 2 Killed in Attack

Suspected right-wing gunmen shot and wounded one of Colombia’s top labor leaders Friday in a botched assassination attempt in which at least two people were killed, authorities said.

Wilson Borja, president of the Federation of State Workers--Colombia’s largest labor union--was shot in the shoulder and leg, and a bullet grazed his head, in the attack in Bogota, the capital. Only days earlier, Borja, who had been facilitating peace talks between the government and leftist rebels, publicly denounced death threats against him by a right-wing paramilitary group.

Labor Minister Angelino Garzon said he suspected that the group had tried to carry out its threat. President Andres Pastrana called the attack “wicked and cowardly.”

The gunmen sprayed Borja’s vehicle with bullets as it was about to enter an avenue crowded with traffic. Borja’s bodyguards returned fire. A female street vendor was killed, and Borja, his driver and one of his bodyguards were wounded.

The gunmen fled in a car, which was found later--riddled with bullets--near the body of a man believed by police to be one of the assassins.