Bogota - Colombia's military was placed on maximum alert yesterday ahead of a government deadline on whether to extend the status of a rebel safe haven and amid heavy fighting between government and leftist guerrilla troops.
All Colombian garrisons were to remain on top alert for the immediate future, with brigade and division commanders told to stay in position as fighting continued in the north following the discovery of the body of the attorney general's wife, Ms Consuelo Araujonoguera, who was kidnapped last week.
The government blamed the killing of Ms Araujonoguera (61), a popular former culture minister and wife of the Colombian Attorney General, Mr Edgardo Maya, on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). President Andres Pastrana, considered a close friend of the former minister, made it clear in a brief, nationally broadcast address on Sunday that the government held FARC responsible for what he called the "cowardly" act.