(16 Aug 1995) Natural Sound
The Colombian government declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, one day after the arrest of a former defence minister on charges of using drug money to finance President Ernesto Samper's 1994 election campaign.
But the government said the 90 day emergency had nothing to do with the arrest of Fernando Botero and was aimed at combatting recent attacks by armed guerillas.
Botero underwent a second day of questioning on Wednesday as authorities probed the widening scandal.
Colombia's biggest drug scandal reached new heights with the arrest of Fernando Botero Tuesday.
He was taken into custody by Colombian police over allegations he used Cali drug cartel money to help finance President Ernesto Samper's presidential campaign in 1994.
The former defence minister, who had resigned earlier this month, was Samper's campaign director.
He is the second member of Samper's inner circle to be detained in less than three weeks .
The presidential campaign treasurer, Santiago Medina, was arrested in July and told prosecutors that Botero plotted to have the Cali cartel contribute at least six (m) million U-S dollars to the Samper campaign.
Botero turned himself in after officials signed his arrest warrant.
He said he was surrendering to defend Samper's actions and his own during the election campaign.
After more than five hours in prosecutors' offices Tuesday, Botero was driven in a bulletproof sedan, escorted by soldiers to an army troop cavalry school in northern Bogota.
He will be detained for ten days while they decide if they have a case against him.
Samper denies any knowledge of drug money being used in his campaign but he is being investigated by a congressional commission at his own request.
Ironically, it was under Botero's leadership as defence minister that the government put six of the seven leaders of the Cali cartel behind bars.
Botero was quick to claim credit for the success of the crackdown.
In June, he flew to Washington, D-C to be congratulated by the director of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Lee Brown for leading the fight against drug trafficking from his country.
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