84 A BRIEF HISTORY OF COLOMBIA
Gaviria supported the writing of a new more democratic constitution — mayors
and governors are now elected rather than appointed, and the voting system
changed to favor the formation of third parties. Although the Liberal and
Conservative parties still exist, they no longer play a dominant role in Colombian
politics. The new constitution also ended extradition; when this measure was
adopted by the constituent assembly, Pablo Escobar immediately turned himself
in; he stayed in his own specially-designed facility outside of Medellín, from
which he pretty much continued to direct his cartel. By this time, however,
Escobar had earned many enemies among narcotraffickers and their
paramilitary supporters. A hunted Escobar left his "jail" in July 1992, and was
gunned down by the Colombian police on a rooftop in his hometown in
December 1993. His dramatic death, however, did nothing to weaken the
lucrative cocaine trade.
The Gaviria administration also opened up Colombia to free trade, and a
commercial-led boom lasted in Colombia through the mid-1990s. In 1994,
Liberal Ernesto Samper was elected president, promising to socialize the
economic boom to a degree. Instead, his administration was dogged by
allegations that he had received campaign contributions from the Cali cocaine
cartel. Samper spent most of his administration defending himself from the
charges, successfully avoiding impeachment by the Colombian congress. During
this time, however, the boom went bust and the economy was suffering —
Colombian industrial products, such as textiles from Medellín, were not
competing well in international markets and free trade had even broken the
international coffee pact, which sent the price per pound to its lowest level in
decades. Meanwhile, impoverished farmers found a new lucrative crop: coca.
Successful U.S. — led efforts to suppress coca cultivation in the highlands of
Peru and Bolivia led to the development of coca species that could grow in the
Colombian jungles and lowlands. This change also provided new revenues to the
FARC, since coca was now being grown in areas that had been under their
control since the 1960s. A reinvigorated FARC began to attack government forces
in the jungles and in the llanos, capturing dozens of soldiers at a time.