Atty. Gen. Kidnaped in Colombia : 2 Bodyguards Killed; Abductors Believed Part of Drug Ring

BOGOTA, Colombia — The attorney general of Colombia was kidnaped today, probably by drug traffickers fighting threatened extradition to the United States, and two of his bodyguards were killed in the attack, police said.

Carlos Mauro Hoyos, 45, was abducted at 7:20 a.m. while nearing the Medellin airport for a flight to the capital about 200 miles to the southeast.

The young assailants, in three jeeps and a car, sprayed Hoyos’ Mercedes-Benz with submachine-gun fire. The bodies of Hoyos’ driver and another bodyguard were found inside.

A policeman who was able to see the “frightful fusillade” said Hoyos appeared to have been hit in the throat by bullets, the mayor of the nearby town of Rionegro, Juan Diego Murillo, told the Caracol radio network.

Bowed and Bloodied

The mayor quoted the policeman as saying “the kidnapers pulled out the prosecutor, whose head was bowed and bloodied.”

Although nobody has claimed responsibility for the kidnaping, officials from the attorney general’s office said it was most probably done by the powerful cocaine-smuggling Medellin Cartel.

Hoyos investigates wrongdoing in the government and judiciary and recently ordered an inquiry into last month’s release from prison of reputed cocaine baron Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, whom the United States has been trying to extradite.

Another kidnap victim, Bogota mayoral candidate Andres Pastrana, who was abducted eight days ago, was freed by police, the mayor of Medellin said today. Mayor Jaramillo Gomez offered no details of the release.

Country in Crisis

The latest kidnaping plunged the country into a deep crisis. President Virgilio Barco convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.

In a message made public on Sunday, drug traffickers under threat of extradition to the United States had confirmed that Pastrana was in their hands and suggested setting up a 12-member committee to negotiate his freedom. They proposed Nobel Literature Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez as one of the committee members.

“Beginning today, we are declaring total war on those who support the extradition of Colombian citizens,” they said in the same message.

Extradition Feared

Extradition to the United States to stand trial there is the only thing that the immensely rich drug barons fear.

An alleged leader of the Medellin Cartel, Carlos Lehder Rivas, is currently being tried in Jacksonville, Fla., and faces the possibility of a life sentence.

Responding to pressure from Washington, which protested Ochoa’s release from jail, the government earlier this month issued arrest warrants for five alleged drug kingpins, including Ochoa, his two brothers, Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha.

Ochoa was released from a Bogota prison Dec. 31 after serving less than half of a 20-month sentence for illegally importing fighting bulls.