
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 22, 1990                   TAG: 9003222677
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA                                 LENGTH: Short

COLOMBIAN CANDIDATE ATTACKED

Attackers shot and wounded a leftist presidential candidate today at Bogota's international airport, and a radio station reported that the politician died while undergoing surgery.

It was the second attack on a presidential candidate in seven months.

Bernardo Jaramillo, 38, candidate of the Patriotic Union, was shot by two gunmen and rushed to a nearby clinic to undergo surgery, party President Diego Montana told Caracol radio network.

A spokeswoman at the clinic told Caracol that Jaramillo was in serious condition, shot twice in the throat and twice in the abdomen.

Caracol later said Jaramillo died while undergoing surgery, but there was no immediate confirmation of that from his party or the government.

Hundreds of Patriotic Union supporters who had gathered outside the clinic began shouting and crying when they heard the report that Jaramillo had died, Caracol said in a live broadcast from the scene.

Montana said one of Jaramillo's assailants was shot and killed by bodyguards, but Caracol said the man, identified as Jairo Restrepo, 21, was only wounded. Police were searching for the other gunman, Caracol said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the shooting. However, the Patriotic Union has been targeted by Colombian right-wing death squads. Since the party's founding in 1984, 1,044 of its members have been assassinated.

Drug traffickers were blamed for the August slaying of leading presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan of the governing Liberal Party. The shooting prompted President Emilio Barco to launch a crackdown on drug lords.

The presidential election is May 26.

by CNB