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- WORLD, Page 33World NotesCOLOMBIAThe Politics Of Pardons
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- After 15 years of terrorist activity, Colombia's notorious
- M-19 guerrilla group signed a pact with the government last
- year and stepped back into civilian life. Former leaders Carlos
- Pizarro Leon-Gomez and Antonio Navarro Wolf now want to run for
- office in the country's March 15 municipal elections. Pizarro
- Leon-Gomez hopes to become mayor of Bogota; Navarro Wolf mayor
- of Cali. But they face a serious obstacle: impending trials for
- crimes that include the spectacular 1985 takeover of Bogota's
- Palace of Justice and the 1988 kidnaping of former presidential
- candidate Alvaro Gomez Hurtado. Gomez was released unharmed
- eight weeks later.
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- Last week the former rebels received pardons from the
- Superior Tribunal of Bogota for the two incidents, and the
- panel promised similar documents for 33 other M-19 members.
- Still, neither rebel leader stands much chance of winning
- election.
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