Word: samper
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Five gunmen jumped out of a van and fired automatic rifles at a car carrying an attorney for Colombian President Ernesto Samper this morning, wounding the lawyer and killing two of his bodyguards. A previously unknown group calling itself Movement for a Dignified Colombia claimed responsibility and demanded the resignation of Samper, who is beset with accusations that his campaign accepted contributions from the Cali cocaine cartel. Tuesday, the President was questioned at his palace by the head of a congressional commission that is investigating charges that Samper accepted contributions from the Cali cocaine cartel. "The commission is credible," reports...
...reportedly cooperating with the authorities. "In terms of the Cali cartel, it's not going to hurt them much because most of the top leadership has already been caught," reports Latin America bureau chief Laura Lopez. "But if he can say the cartel wrote checks to Colombian President Samper, and that Samper accepted them, then it's going to be devastating for the president - probably fatal for his administration." More than $6 million is rumored to have been accepted by Samper's campaign. Samper has steadfastly denied knowing that drug money was accepted by his campaign. COLOMBIAN MASSACRE...
...reportedly cooperating with the authorities. "In terms of the Cali cartel, it's not going to hurt them much because most of the top leadership has already been caught," reports Latin America bureau chief Laura Lopez. "But if he can say the cartel wrote checks to Colombian President Samper, and that Samper accepted them, then it's going to be devastating for the president - probably fatal for his administration." More than $6 million is rumored to have been accepted by Samper's campaign. Samper has steadfastly denied knowing that drug money was accepted by his campaign. COLOMBIAN MASSACRE...
Given Botero's success, U.S. officials, who had been pressuring the Samper government to crack down on the drug mafia, greeted the Defense Minister's resignation with mixed emotions. "This guy was pushing very, very hard for the right results," said a ranking U.S. policy hand. "He's been very helpful." Other U.S. agents, however, bolstered Medina's story when they found two Chase Manhattan Bank accounts in New York that appeared to be linked to Samper's inner circle. Medina says that a Chase account was used to launder the Cali funds...
...document that brought Botero down and damaged Samper was the record of a July 28 interrogation of Medina that was stolen or leaked from Valdivieso's office. In the transcript Medina says that on April 29, 1994, Botero gave him the go-ahead to seek funds from the Cali cartel to help pay for Samper's campaign. Medina ultimately received, he said, two payments totaling $5.9 million...