... in response to situation in Colombia, posted by newby Jim on Sep 29, 2001Sunday September 30 12:09 PM ET
Ex-Colombia Official Found Dead
By JARED KOTLER, Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - The body of a popular former minister who was allegedly kidnapped by leftist guerrillas a week ago was found near a northern town, family members said Sunday, in a death that could jeopardize Colombia's fragile peace process.
Consuelo Araujo, President Andres Pastrana's former culture minister and wife of the nation's inspector-general, was shot to death and her body found near Valledupar, said family members, who asked not to be identified for security reasons.
President Andres Pastrana called the family to let them know the 62-year-old Araujo was dead, they said.
Araujo was a friend of Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez and organized Colombia's main music festival, which is held in Valledupar.
Her killing threatened peace talks that Pastrana initiated nearly three years ago with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the strongest of Colombia's rebel armies.
The talks have produced few results and the rebels have been accused of abuses, including kidnappings, extortion, murder and drug trafficking, generating strong pressure for Pastrana to abandon the negotiations.
Authorities and witnesses said the FARC kidnapped Araujo and 10 other people at a roadblock on a rural road outside Valledupar, about 420 miles north of Bogota, on Sept. 24. Most of the others were freed.
Security forces had been trying to find her in the mountainous region near the Caribbean coast.
She was the wife of Edgardo Maya, Colombia's inspector-general, a watchdog agency in charge of investigating government officials.
On Saturday, FARC fighters blocked a peaceful caravan from entering a rebel-held demilitarized zone, forcing presidential candidate Horacio Serpa to call off a demonstration aimed at demanding rebel peace concessions. Serpa had planned to make a speech in the zone.
Pastrana called the rebel blockade of the convoy a blow to the peace process and said he had instructed his peace envoy to seek an immediate meeting with the FARC.
``With its attitude, the FARC is putting in doubt its word and its desire for peace,'' said Pastrana, before the announcement of the discovery of Araujo's body.
