- Title: COLOMBIA: CALI CARTEL DRUG TRAFFICKER SHOT BY POLICE
- Date: 6th March 1996
- Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (MARCH 6, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV/SV COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT ERNESTO SAMPER AT NEWS CONFERENCE/ SAMPER SAYING THE UNITED STATES SHOULD RECONSIDER ITS DE-CERTIFICATION OF COLOMBIA IN THE LIGHT OF SANTACRUZ'S DEATH (SPANISH) (2 SHOTS) 0.50 2. SV CAMERAMEN 0.55 3. SV NATIONAL POLICE DIRECTOR ROSSO J
- Embargoed: 21st March 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- City:
- Country: Colombia LATIN AMERICA
- Reuters ID: LVAEZM42H611FPMA48A0AS0UDEOX
- Story Text: Cali cartel kingpin Jose Santacruz Londono, whose escape from prison was cited by Washington as a reason to de-certify Colombia as a partner in the anti-drug fight, was shot and killed by police late on Tuesday (March 5).
National Police director General Rosso Jose Serrano said Santacruz, 53, who escaped in January from the La Picota prison in Bogota, was killed in a shootout with police shortly before midnight on a highway outside the northwest city of Medellin.
Serrano said police had traced Santacruz to Medellin two weeks ago, capping a nationwide manhunt launched after his escape from La Picota.
He said Santacruz, who had a two million U.S. dollar price on his head, was travelling in a caravan of cars carrying up to 10 men when his vehicle was stopped on the darkened highway by police.
Santacruz died alone, in the front passenger-side seat of a black four-wheel drive vehicle.
The escape of Santacruz, the number three man in what has often been described as the world's largest drug trafficking organisation, was cited by Washington last Friday as one of the reasons for its decision to drop Colombia from a list of favoured nations "fully" cooperating in the global struggle against drugs.
The move, strongly criticised by President Ernesto Samper, automatically cut off most U.S. aid to Colombia and made it ineligible for most U.S. government-backed loans.
Serrano emphatically repeated three times at a news conference at the presidential palace early on Wednesday (March 06) that the United States should reconsider its "decertification" of Colombia in light of Santacruz's death.
"It allows us to reiterate to the world that we have a serious commitment (to fighting drugs)," he said.
"I can sincerely say to the American people, and to President Bill Clinton, that we deserve certification, for what we've done and the fact that it was done out of conviction," he said. "We're masters in the fight against drug trafficking."
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