nment and rebel groups was announced in May 1984. The same month, Betancur launched a crackdown on Colombia's flourishing drug traffic. Through 1985, however, the guerrillas regained strength, and the antidrug crackdown lost momentum as the drug traffickers and rebels joined forces in some regions. In November government troops and guerrillas engaged in violent combat after the guerrillas seized the Palace of Justice in Bogot and took dozens of hostages. By the end of the siege, 100 were dead, including the president of the supreme court and 10 other justices. Later that month a volcanic mudslide resulted in 25,000 dead or missing.In the 1986 elections, the Liberals took parliament, and Virgilio Barco Vargas, their leader, became president on August 7. In August 1989, responding to a wave of killings in which Colombia's cocaine cartels were implicated, the government arrested more than 10,000 people and confiscated the property of suspected drug traffickers. After a campaign during which three presidential candidates were assassinated, the Liberal Party nominee, Csar Gaviria Trujillo, was elected in May 1990. He supported a new constitution that took effect in July 1991 and, among other provisions, prohibited extradition of Colombian citizens. Gaviria also lifted the state of siege and offered amnesty to drug traffickers who turned themselves in. Some did so, but the cocaine trade, along with guerrilla activity, continued to disrupt the country. In December 1993, Pablo Escobar, head of the Medelln cocaine cartel, was killed by government security forces when a gunfight ensued after they attempted to capture him.HSamper's Presidency In June 1994 Ernesto Samper Pizano of the Liberal Party was elected president. During 1994 the government and two guerrilla groups made progress towards peace, agreeing to talks aimed at the disarmament of and legislative representation for the guerrillas. Other groups stepped up attacks around the country, c...
