CARTAGENA DEL CHAIRÁ, Colombia — When Mayor Edilberto Molina strolled through this farm town in southern Colombia on a recent morning, some residents were astonished by the sight of him. Drug-trafficking guerrillas have threatened to kill Molina so many times that last year he fled for his life.
He now manages Cartagena del Chairá largely by phone and teleconference from a nearby town and comes here only sporadically. He flies in on an army helicopter, surrounds himself with bodyguards, crams in dozens of events and meetings, bunks down at night next to the police station, then flies out.
