World Notes Colombia

The Medellin cartel has not yet renounced the drug trade, but it does claim it is getting out of a subsidiary business: murder. The narcotics ring announced last week that it was ending its terrorist campaign, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of judges, journalists, police officers and other government officials during the past seven years. "We have decided to dismantle our entire military organization," said the cartel.

The syndicate's cease-fire pledge was prompted by a new constitution that went into effect last week prohibiting the extradition of suspects in drug crimes. It is hard to believe the narcotics lords will truly mend their ways. Yet in Colombia the truce brought a sense of relief, allowing President Cesar Gaviria Trujillo to lift a state of siege declared in 1984 after traffickers killed a government minister.