Lara Bonilla:-PART2

Thirty-five-year-old Lara stood to respond in a business suit and tie, his thick dark hair swept aside, his charming face clean shaved. Not in the habit of scrutinising the origin of incoming donations, he'd never heard of Mr Porras, nor could he recall any such telephone conversation.

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"My life is an open book." Lara said that he was and always had been blameless, rendering him impervious to his enemies' claims. He would resign any moment that suspicion fell upon him "knowing that I will not be followed by complacent ministers affected by the blackmail and the extortion being perpetrated against Colombia's political class." He damned the act of casting suspicion on the alleged recipients of the money as opposed to the senders of it, including "those, who, yes, have to explain here or anywhere else in this country where their fortunes have come from Morality is one thing, but there are levels: one thing is the cheques that they use to throw mud at politicians. But it's another thing when somebody runs a campaign exclusively with these funds." Lara pointed an accusatory finger.

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"[We have] a congressman [Pablo] who was born in a very poor area, himself very, very poor, and afterwards, through astute business deals in bicycles and other things, appears with a gigantic fortune, with nine planes, three hangars at the Medellín airport, and creates the movement Death to Kidnappers, while on the other hand, he creates charitable organisations with which he tries to bribe a needy and unprotected people. And there are investigations going on in the US, of which I cannot inform you here tonight in the House, on the criminal conduct of Mr Ortega's alternate."

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Some of the respondents defended Pablo. They said that all of them were guilty of receiving tainted contributions. Pablo had been attacked, so that Lara might gain political capital.

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"It was only when Representative Escobar joined our movement that all kinds of suspicion were thrown on the sources of his wealth," a congressman said. "I, as a politician, lack the ability to investigate the origin of any assets… Representative Escobar has no need to rely on others to defend his personal conduct, which, on the other hand, and as far as I know, has not been subjected to any action by the law or the government."

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Simmering with anger, Pablo didn't respond. Rejoining his bodyguards, he left the chamber and walked into a swarm of reporters, whom he tried to dodge.

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The next day, Lara received notification that he had a day to back up his claims with evidence, or else be sued. While Lara set about gathering evidence, he issued statements criticising drug-trafficking, which necessitated frontal fight, clear, open, without fear Or retreat, running all the necessary risks." He classified the allegations of the cheque he'd received from Porras as a smokescreen. "My accusers could not forgive the clarity of my denunciation of Pablo Escobar, who through clever business deals has manufactured an enormous fortune… This is an economic power concentrated in a few hands and in criminal minds. What they cannot obtain by blackmail, they get by murder."

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The media contacted Porras, who acknowledged donating a million pesos to Lara and admitted that he had been indicted by the Peruvian police for trafficking, which he put down to a youthful indiscretion. Working in the coca-leaf business for Pablo, Porras claimed that his wealth had originated from winning the lottery three times. Faced with Porras' testimony, Lara admitted receiving the cheque, which he said had been for a family debt. At Pablo's behest, a judge initiated an investigation into the cheque, which went nowhere.

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Lara received help from a newspaper, El Espectador, which ran a story about Pablo's arrest for cocaine in 1976, including mugshots of Pablo and Gustavo. Pablo ordered his men to buy every copy of the newspaper, which only increased sales and encouraged the news-paper to publish daily stories about him. It described how he'd played the system by having his case transferred to various courts and judges, and how all of his criminal records had disappeared. The exposure led to an investigation into the murders of the policemen who'd arrested him. A new arrest warrant was issued for Pablo, but the judge who'd granted it was murdered in his car.

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Lara obtained a recording of a DEA-assisted ABC News documentary about Colombia's biggest traffickers, including Pablo - who they claimed was worth $2 billion - and played it in Congress. While casting Lara a death stare, Pablo demanded proof of the allegations.

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Rebutting Lara's accusations in an interview, Pablo said his money came from construction. While denying that he was a trafficker, he extolled the benefits that trafficking had brought Colombia such as creating jobs and providing capital for numerous projects that had contributed to economic growth. Insisting that the allegations of trafficking were untrue, Pablo showed a visa he'd recently obtained from the US embassy. Within days, the embassy cancelled the visa. Pablo lambasted Lara for becoming an instrument of US foreign policy.

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Lara held his ground. He exposed how the traffickers had financed Colombia's main soccer teams. He tried to cancel the licenses for 300 small planes they owned. He attempted to confiscate Pablo's zoo animals and named thirty politicians he believed had taken drug money.

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On September 2, 1983, an arrest warrant for Carlos Lehder was issued after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of America. Having already disappeared, Lehder claimed he'd seen it coming, "because my friends in the Ministry of Justice alerted me regarding Lara Bonilla's intentions." He told reporters that the only way he would be extradited was over his dead body.

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On September 10, Pablo was asked by a senator to quit politics, give up his parliamentary immunity and answer the charges against him. On September 11, Pablo refused, stating that he'd entered politics because, "only inside the government could a man best serve the community."

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Within two weeks, a judge issued an arrest warrant for Pablo for conspiracy to murder the DAS agents who'd arrested him in 1976. Two had been executed in 1977. In 1981, hit men on motorbikes had assassinated the officer in charge.

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In October, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the extradition of two marijuana traffickers. Lara signed off on it, but the president refused to do so. He referred it to the Colombian courts. Lehder's extradition order remained unsigned.

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Lara demanded that Congress remove Pablo's immunity from extradition. The news-papers reported Pablo's 1974 car-theft indictment, while championing Lara. The biggest newspaper asked, "How is democracy going to continue in Colombia if it is managed and manipulated by these criminals?"

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On November 17, 1983, Pablo was fined 450,000 pesos for the illegal importation of eighty-five animals, including camels, elephants, elk and a large Amazonian rodent called a capybara.

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The evidence against Pablo was so overwhelming that there was nothing he could do to salvage his political career. He was forced out of the Colombian Liberal Party. He quit Congress in January 1984 and issued a statement: "The attitude of politicians is very far from the people's opinions and aspirations."

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His presidential plan had backfired so badly that the media was exposing his cocaine business and the police were trying to muscle in on it. Fighting back in the courts, he managed to get his extradition warrant withdrawn on February 13, 1984.

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