U.S. Denies Involvement in Attack on Colombian President’s Lawyer

WASHINGTON —  Atty. Gen. Janet Reno on Thursday denied allegations from a high-level Colombian official that the United States might have been involved in an attack on an attorney for Colombian President Ernesto Samper.

Soon after the attack, in which gunmen wounded Antonio Cancino, 55, and killed two of his bodyguards Wednesday in Bogota, Colombian Interior Minister Horacio Serpa suggested that U.S. agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration might be linked to the attack. He also charged that the DEA is a subversive influence in Colombia.

In a sharply worded statement Thursday, Reno dismissed Serpa’s charges, saying no U.S. agency is “in any way responsible for the cowardly and regrettable attack.”

The DEA also issued a statement Thursday dismissing the allegations.

No one has been arrested in the attack although a previously unknown group called “Movement for a Dignified Colombia” claimed responsibility in a communique.

At the State Department, spokesman Nicholas Burns said U.S. officials were “outraged” at Serpa’s charges, which he said “can only have a negative effect on our bilateral relations.”

Other Colombian leaders, seeking to control the damage to U.S.-Colombian relations, sought to distance the Samper administration from Serpa’s remarks.

On Thursday, Serpa backtracked, denying that he accused the DEA of involvement in the attack or said that the U.S. government had plotted to destabilize the government.

However, when asked Wednesday whether the DEA was involved in a conspiracy, Serpa said: “It seems like that to me.”

The flap over Serpa’s comments underscores the growing tensions between the United States and Colombia over international drug trafficking and corruption in Colombia.

Ties have worsened recently amid an investigation into charges that Samper received up to $6 million in Cali drug cartel contributions to his 1994 presidential campaign.