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LatinNews Daily - 9 September 2008

Another general sacked in Colombia

Development: On 8 September General Jesús Antonio Gómez Mendez Valle was sacked as regional police chief.

Significance: Gómez Mendez is the latest high-level official to be forced out due to his alleged links to Don Mario, one of the country's most powerful drug-traffickers. The fact that the scandal continues to spread keeps up the pressure on the interior minister, Fabio Valencia Cossio, whose brother has also been sacked from his job as chief prosecutor of Medellín after being linked to Don Mario.

The scale of Don Mario's infiltration of the police force is impressive. Before his dismissal Gómez Mendez was in charge of the police in the three southwestern departments of Valle, Cauca and Nariño (Region 4). On 26 August General Marco Antonio Pedreros was forced out after he too was tied to Don Mario. Pedreros was in charge of the police in the northwestern departments of Córdoba, Antioquia, Urabá, and Chocó (Region 6).

Both Gómez Mendez and Pedreros were named during phone calls recorded by the authorities during an anti-narcotics operation. The operation has already led to the arrest of Juan Felipe Sierra, a businessman in Antioquia, and Don Mario's second-in-command, known as 'El Indio'.

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