War Against Drugs (1989)

Liberal presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán is gunned down by assassins at the service of the Medellín drug cartel headed by Pablo Escobar. Former president Virgilio Barco declares a war on drugs involving severe repression and advocating extradition to the United States. Over 10,000 people are detained. Several leading drugs traffickers were arrested or killed and their property seized.

Escobar responded by unleashing a wave of terrorist attacks. Although the government blamed the country's problems on the drug traffickers in 1989 only 200 people were killed and 800 injured by Escobar's terrorism. There were more than 5,700 political killings during the same period with 70% attributed by human rights organizations to the security forces, often employing resources destined for counter-narcotic operations, and acting with total impunity under the cover of the permanent state-of-siege legislation.

The violence ended with Escobar’s dead in 1993 but the war against drugs continues.