A Curious Retirement

When General Jose Guillermo Medina Sanchez, 53, retired as head of Colombia's 80,000-member National Police last month, the country's law-enforcement officials turned out in full dress uniform, complete with ceremonial gilt swords. But Medina's departure was not quite so honorable as it seemed. Colombian police officials have told TIME that Medina was fired on orders from President Virgilio Barco Vargas after the general came under suspicion of being on the payroll of Pablo Escobar Gaviria, patriarch of one of the leading families of the Medellin drug cartel.

After Escobar narrowly escaped capture in an army raid on one of his estates last year, Colombian officials suspected that he might have been tipped off by Medina. A military surveillance team subsequently was assigned to tail the general. The spying operation reportedly established ties between Medina and both Escobar and another drug baron, Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, nicknamed "El Mexicano." Apparently not certain that the evidence would hold up in court, the government allowed Medina to retire. Two days after Medina's successor, General Miguel Antonio Gomez Padilla, took over, the National Police launched Operation Primavera, the most successful strike against cocaine producers in Colombian history.