Murder strains Colombia peace

Crowds gathered in Valledupar to mourn Araujo

The murder of the Colombian attorney general's wife has severely shaken the government's peace talks with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The body of Consuelo Araujo, a former culture minister, was found by soldiers late on Saturday with two gunshot wounds to the face, near her home town of Valledupar.

The government has been talking to FARC rebels to little avail

The killing of the 62-year-old Araujo, who was a friend of Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez and many other influential Colombians, has placed President Andres Pastrana in a tight spot.

He has been under growing pressure to produce results in three-year-old peace talks, or else not to renew the safe-haven status of the area controlled by the FARC when it expires at midnight on 7 October.

Mr Pastrana has renewed the demilitarised status of the area, which is about the size of Switzerland, (26,100 square kilometres or 16,200-square miles) several times, but has not said whether he will do so again.

Critics say rebels recruit new members, conduct military training and stash hostages in their area.

Kidnapped and killed

Witnesses and the authorities say the FARC kidnapped Araujo and about 20 other people on 24 September in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Valledupar.

Thirteen of the hostages were freed the next day.

Colonel Mahecha said troops on Saturday were combing the mountains and discovered Indian huts where fires were burning.

Some of the hostages who were freed in the clash told Colonel Mahecha that the rebels had dragged Araujo and other hostages on foot into the woods.

Car bombs and kidnappings are a feature of Colombia's unrest

They said Araujo was shot dead by the rebels after she fell down, exhausted from the trek, and refused to walk any further.

The 16,000-strong FARC, which the US government considers a terrorist organisation, has been waging a 37-year war against a succession of elected governments, which has claimed at least 3,000 lives every year.

President Pastrana cancelled a meeting with the rebels scheduled for Sunday when he was expected to announce the extension of the FARC-controlled enclave.

He also called a crisis meeting at the presidential palace, which was to be attended by the presidential candidates.

Culture promoter mourned

Araujo was culture minister in Mr Pastrana's cabinet from July 2000 until January this year, when she resigned after her husband, Edgardo Maya, was chosen to become the country's attorney general.

She gained fame for promoting Vallenato music, a popular accordion-based folk music.

Last year she led a visit to the White House by a group of young Vallenato musicians who played for President Bill Clinton.

On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered around her home in Valledupar, near Colombia's Caribbean coast.

Convoy halted

On Saturday, Horacio Serpa, the Liberal Party candidate for the May presidential elections, was blocked by the FARC at Balsillas, 200km (125 miles) south of the capital Bogota.

He had driven there with thousands of his supporters in a 112-bus convoy to try and step up the pressure on the FARC to make concessions and halt alleged human rights abuses in the area they control.

Mr Serpa is currently leading the polls ahead of next May's vote.

His Liberal Party is a traditional opponent of Mr Pastrana's Conservatives, although Mr Serpa had consistently backed the president's peace negotiations with the guerrillas.

However independent presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe has been gaining support with his call for a crackdown on the rebels.

Mr Serpa has now started to toughen his own position on the FARC.

Both candidates have made political capital from attacking the president's conciliatory approach.

Mr Pastrana is barred by the constitution from standing for reelection.