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| 1987, Oct |
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| Jaime Pardo Leal, 1986 presidential candidate of the Popular Union (UP)—the political arm of the FARC—was assassinated by a rightist death squad. During its first two years, over 1,000 Popular Union members were murdered by death squads. | 1 |
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| 1988 |
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| Colombia's population reached 30 million. | 2 |
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| 1989 |
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| Increasingly turning against the political elites whom they had once worked with in repressing peasant and worker groups, the drug cartels assassinated the governor of Antioquia, the attorney general, and the Medellín police chief. | 3 |
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| Aug. 18 |
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| Sen. Luis Carlos Galán, Liberal presidential candidate, was murdered by the drug lords. Thousands attended his funeral, calling for an end to narco-terrorism. Within days the Barco government launched a major crackdown on the drug lords. | 4 |
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