Drug Crazy - The River of Money - Page 122

Illinois. So The Godfather set out to terrorize the one institution that had final authority over extradition. In November of 1985, a band of heavily armed guerrillas, now aligned with the traffickers by their mutual hatred of the U.S., occupied the Palace of Justice in Bogota and took 300 hostages. In the vicious shoot-out that followed, half the Colombian Supreme Court was slaughtered. By curious coincidence, the eleven judges who died had all voted in favor of extradition. So when the new court convened, its members had a clear sense of mission. They took another look at the U.S.-Colombian Extradition Treaty, found something wrong with one of the signatures, and declared it unconstitutional.

Despite foot-stomping and shouting from Washington, the Colombian court was paralyzed with fear, and there was not a prayer that the equally terrified congress would do anything about it. But in the summer of 1989 there appeared on the horizon a single ray of hope.  His name was Carlos Galan, the Liberal Party candidate for president in the upcoming elections. By all accounts, one of the most incorruptable public figures in the country, Senator Galan was also a man of extraordinary courage. He alone among the candidates openly favored extradition of Escobar and his compadres. Jubilant U.S. officials were holding their breath. With a Galan victory, they could at last lay hands on some of the most dangerous criminals on the planet.  By the week of August 13, the Senator was 30 points ahead.

Throughout the campaign, Galan was receiving constant death threats, and he and his phalanx of bodyguards always took extensive precautions. That Friday night as he rose to address the ten thousand cheering supporters at a rally outside Bogota, he had the sense to wear his bullet-proof vest, but it proved no match for the seven hit men who stepped out of the crowd and cut him to ribbons.^[38]

Although Pablo Escobar had been correct in identifying the unbuyable Galan as a signal threat to his empire, this time he had apparently stepped over some invisible line. Galan the