Judges, Court Workers Strike Over Killings in Colombia
BOGOTA, Colombia — Judges and court workers began a series of nationwide strikes Thursday after a judge and a congressman were murdered, apparently by drug traffickers.
In Medellin, where the judge was killed, federal justices walked off the job indefinitely until they receive more protection. It is the third time that judges have gone on strike in the last three months to protest assassinations.
In the latest slayings, federal Judge Mariela Espinoza was killed by submachine gun fire from two speeding cars as she arrived at her Medellin home Wednesday night with two guards. A guard and a bystander were wounded.
Espinoza, 43, was one of 42 federal appellate judges in Medellin, the cocaine capital of Colombia. It was not immediately known if she had handled drug cases.
In the capital of Bogota, federal Rep. Luis Francisco Madero, 62, was killed with a pistol shot to the head Wednesday night by a man outside his apartment.
Madero, a 27-year veteran in Colombia’s House of Representatives and a former ambassador to the United Nations, had supported extradition of Colombians to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges.
No one claimed responsibility for either slaying, but security forces blamed drug traffickers.
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