World Notes COLOMBIA

Carlos Pizarro Leon-Gomez, a former chief of the M-19 terrorist group, abandoned the revolution two months ago to run for President in the May 27 elections. Last Thursday his campaign was cut short. While flying from Bogota to Barranquilla, Pizarro was gunned down by an assailant wielding a 9-mm Ingram automatic pistol.

Pizarro was the third presidential candidate assassinated in the past nine months. Colombian authorities say the wholesale slaughter of politicians is part of the desperate strategy of Pablo Escobar Gaviria, the Medellin drug cartel chieftain who is wanted in the U.S. Army and police officials believe they have Escobar trapped in Envigado, a satellite of Medellin. To prevent his escape, Envigado's mayor has been replaced by an army colonel, and an extra 900 national police have been assigned to Medellin. A person authorized to speak for the cartel told TIME that Escobar has assigned his top hit men specific targets for assassination if he is killed or captured.