Drug Cartel Renounces Terrorism

BOGOTA, Colombia —  The Medellin drug cartel announced Wednesday it is disbanding its military organization and ending its bloody terrorist campaign against the government because of a new constitutional ban on extraditing drug suspects.

The announcement came two weeks after the cartel’s leader, Pablo Escobar, surrendered to authorities shortly after legislators rewriting Colombia’s constitution voted to ban the extradition of drug suspects to the United States.

“In light of the determination (to end extradition) by the national constitutional assembly, we have decided to dismantle our entire military organization,” said a statement from cartel members.

The Constituent Assembly this week is putting the finishing touches on the new constitution, which is to take effect on Friday.

Drug traffickers have fought for years to guarantee that those who are captured will face trial only in Colombia, where they frequently are able to bribe, threaten or kill judges.

Attacks by the cartel’s terrorists have killed hundreds of judges, journalists, police and other government officials in recent years.

Wednesday’s statement said such attacks will now end. “We are stopping all types of action against those that we consider our enemies” because they supported extradition, it said.