The 8,000 Process (from the Spanish: Proceso 8.000) is the unofficial name of the legal investigation for the events surrounding accusations about the Colombian Liberal Party candidate Ernesto Samper's 1994 campaign for President of Colombia being partially funded with drug money. 8,000 Process was the case number issued by the Prosecutor General's Office.
The Financing of the Presidential Campaign and the Proceso 8000
The first thing to clarify is that the infiltration of illegal funds into Ernesto Samper Pizano’s presidential campaign is distinct from the so-called “Proceso 8000,” which took place in the same year Samper assumed the presidency. It was the media that, in their effort to pressure the new president to resign and subject him to both media and judicial condemnation, attributed the same case number to the investigation conducted by the Commission of Accusations against Samper. Ultimately, this led to the stigmatization of his government and overshadowed the social and economic policies he implemented during his administration.
Context of Ernesto Samper’s Presidency
It is important to understand the context in which Ernesto Samper became president. He was the first progressive candidate to win the presidency in the 1990s. At the time, drug traffickers had infiltrated multiple spheres of public life, including politics, with the aim of negotiating their interests. From the outset of his presidency, Samper had disagreements with the United States, as he had previously advocated for the legalization of marijuana in the 1980s. As president, he favored a version of Plan Colombia that prioritized social crop substitution rather than forced eradication, which was a key strategy in the failed War on Drugs.
The revelation of illegal money entering his campaign came as a shock to Samper after his electoral victory. While already serving as President of the Republic, he learned through the media and the infamous “narco-cassettes” that drug lords Migueland Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela claimed that the Cali Cartel had financed both his campaign and that of his opponent, Andrés Pastrana Arango. Upon hearing the recordings, Samper immediately instructed Prosecutor Gustavo de Greiff to initiate an investigation.
The release of these recordings to Colombian journalists was orchestrated by Andrés Pastrana, the opposition politician whom Samper had defeated in the 1994 presidential election. The recordings had been obtained and edited by a team led by the DEA (Drung Enforcement Administration), with the approval of then-Minister of Defense Rafael Pardo. Initially, the tapes were intended to gather intelligence on both presidential candidates, but the focus was ultimately placed on possible winner, Ernesto Samper, whom they sought to link to the Cali Cartel from the outset.
The origin of the recordings remains uncertain, as they had already been edited bythe time Samper received them. To ensure transparency, he asked Pastrana—since they were both central figures in the matter—to demand that the Attorney General’s Office investigate the recordings. However, Pastrana refused to allow the control body to authenticate the tapes, hindering the investigative process. At that time, Prosecutor General Gustavo de Greiff could only investigate the recordings and the financing of Samper’s campaign, ultimately deeming the “narco-cassettes” inadmissible as evidence due to a lack of proper custody and signs of manipulation.
Campaign Financing
Regarding the financing of his campaign, Ernesto Samper learned about various irregularities through an extensive investigation conducted by his late brother, Juan Francisco Samper. Juan Francisco reconstructed financial records that had been under the control of campaign administrators Fernando Botero (campaign manager) and Santiago Medina (treasurer). His findings revealed the entry of suspicious funds and unregistered contributions that were absent from the official campaign accounts.
Investigations showed that Botero and Medina exploited a legal donation made by businessman Julio Mario Santo Domingo during Samper’s second-round campaign. Santo Domingo and Samper had agreed that, to ensure the legality of the contribution—which exceeded six million dollars—part of the funds would be deposited in the United States in an account belonging to Fernando Botero Angulo, the renowned Colombian painter and father of Fernando Botero Zea, the campaign manager.
The arrangement required that the donated dollars be converted into pesos for campaign use. Consequently, Samper was not surprised by funds entering through Panama, as this aligned with the agreement with Santo Domingo. However, in reality, the funds entering the campaign were illegal, sourced from a deal that Botero Zea and Medina had made with the Cali Cartel.
The scheme worked as follows: illegal funds from the Cali Cartel entered Colombia through one channel, while the legal dollars donated by Santo Domingo remained in the personal accounts of Fernando Botero Angulo, managed by his son, thecampaign manager. Ultimately, it was discovered that more money was withdrawn than was deposited—meaning that the funds provided by the Cali Cartel did not create a financial imbalance in the campaign, as the administrators embezzled more than they received.
The investigation also confirmed that there was never a formal agreement between the campaign and the Cali Cartel in exchange for contributions. Only the campaign administrators were aware of the funds, and Samper himself only learned of these facts alongside the rest of the country as the investigations unfolded. In 1996, Prosecutor Alfonso Valdivieso filed a complaint against Samper before the Commission of Accusations, following a change in testimony by Fernando Botero Zea. This complaint led to a formal charge, although the Prosecutor’s Office was not the competent body to judge the president. As a result, Valdivieso failed to uphold Samper’s presumption of innocence. Another procedural irregularity occurred during the House of Representatives’ investigation, where Samper’s lawyer was denied entry to the Commission of Accusations on the day of his trial, while the prosecutor continued acting as the accuser.
Following investigations by the Commission of Accusations, which, according to the National Constitution, is the proper judicial body for trying a sitting president, the House of Representatives acquitted Samper on June 12, 1996, with 111 votes in favor and 43 against. The records show that each congressman voted individually, without party or movement interference. Before reaching this decision, representatives had been threatened with charges of malfeasance, yet they proceeded with the vote, and the verdict was upheld by the High Courts.
Despite Samper’s acquittal, the media did not publicize the outcome with the same intensity as they had reported on the scandal. This allowed the bias against him—fueled from the outset by a media campaign—to persist. After his acquittal, an improved relationship with the United States was expected.However, diplomatic cables between the U.S. Embassy and the DEA suggest that they sought to maintain pressure on Samper, particularly because he continued to oppose the failed War on Drugs between 1996 and 1997.
The most severe U.S. retaliation came in June 1996 when they revoked Samper’s visa. The State Department spokesperson announced that it was a personal sanction due to the “entry of drug money into his campaign,” disregarding the Colombian Congress’s acquittal—an act that appeared politically motivated to further destabilize Samper’s government.
With the findings from judicial investigations, in his accountability speech before Congress on July 20, 1998, former President Samper acknowledged that the Cali Cartel had managed to infiltrate his campaign due to the complicity—judicially proven years later—of his campaign administrators, Fernando Botero and Santiago Medina.
The judicial system carried out its work, and in 2001, Botero was charged with aggravated theft and breach of trust. Sentence No. 22412, issued on January 24, 2007, confirmed Fernando Botero Zea’s conviction for aggravated theft with intent and breach of trust. Both cases demonstrated how the campaign funds had been criminally diverted for his own benefit.
In 2021, Andrés Pastrana also appeared before the Truth Commission to present his testimony. However, he provided no new information. He brought a letter from the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers—one he had already presented a decade earlier. This time, however, the brothers responded immediately, stating that Pastrana “seeks to portray himself as a victim of corruption while failing to acknowledge his own involvement in it.” They further asserted that the letter incriminating Samper was the result of coercion, in exchange for avoiding extradition.
Media Involvement
From the beginning of the scandal, journalists played a key role in disseminating evidence that the judiciary had not even deemed valid. Without allowing any defense, columnists and reporters launched a campaign to delegitimize Samper’s government, demand his resignation, and publish subjective opinions without professional ethics.
The most vocal opposition came from Revista Semana, which, according to journalist Elvia Acevedo, dedicated four out of five covers that year to “Proceso 8000”. Similarly, El Tiempo published 721 articles about the case against Samper.
In 1995, Alfonso Valdivieso reopened the campaign financing case and assigned it the now-infamous number 8000, despite the fact that it was originally linked to a separate investigation involving regional leaders who had received money from the Cali Cartel. However, Valdivieso decided to label it “8000,” allegedly based on documents he found during a raid on the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, which he claimed contained evidence against Samper. From that moment on, both cases became conflated in the eyes of public opinion, as if they were one and the same.
The proceso 8000
This case number was assigned to the investigation into the regional political ties between politicians in Valle del Cauca and the Cali Cartel. The inquiries revealed a series of payments made by Guillermo Pallomari, the cartel’s accountant, to regional leaders and Liberal Party parliamentarians. Upon learning of these connections, Ernesto Samper ordered that the cases be transferred to the Attorney General’s Office.
Had there been any form of commitment between Samper and the Cali Cartel, as president, he would not have acted with such urgency in demanding an investigation from the Attorney General’s Office, nor would he have pursued and dismantled the Cali Cartel during his administration.
At the time, investigations were launched, but only Liberal Party parliamentarians linked to Samper’s campaign were implicated. There was no significant evidence linking Conservative Party candidates. However, years later, it was revealed that conservatives had also been involved. As the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers stated: “For the last 50 years of the past century, we helped both Liberals and Conservatives.”
The Proceso 8000 introduced the concept of negotiated justice, which at the time operated without clear legal boundaries. It relied heavily on securing plea bargains, leaking case files, validating anonymous accusations, and presenting selective or out-of-context information to create political, media, and judicial pressure—often at the expense of due process and the presumption of innocence.
Despite a lack of conclusive evidence and the fact that Congress—the legitimate body responsible for judging a sitting president—had declared Ernesto Samper innocent, Colombian media turned the case into what they called “the biggest political scandal in the country’s history.” In doing so, they disregarded ethical standards, prioritizing sensationalism over factual reporting.
Lawfare
The Proceso 8000 marked the first instance in Latin America of what is now known in Anglo-American law as lawfare—the use of judicial mechanisms and actors to wage legal wars aimed at stigmatizing, discrediting, and convicting prominent figures, particularly progressive leaders. It represents the politicization of justice and the use of law as a political weapon.
Timeline
June 1994
June 15: Defeated Conservative candidate Andrés Pastrana claims to have received tape recordings from an unnamed man while he was visiting the city of Cali. These tapes, the so-called "narco-cassettes", contained hours of discussions between members of the Colombian Liberal Party and a man speaking on behalf of the Cali cartel.[1] Many of the conversations were about the contribution of huge amounts of money for the political campaign "Samper for President", and details of amounts and purposes, also discussed.
June 16: Pastrana meets the President of Colombia, César Gaviria, to give him a copy of these recordings.
June 17: President Gaviria hands the tapes to the Attorney General, Gustavo de Greiff. On that same day, Pastrana made public a letter to Samper in which he challenged the latter to renounce his recent electoral victory if evidence is found of drug money supporting his campaign.
June 21: Samper rejects such proposition, denies allegations of drug money entering his campaign, and requests a formal investigation of the charges.
June 22: Pastrana releases a statement clarifying how he obtained the narco-cassettes and again demands that Samper promises to resign his position if there is proof of drug money entering his presidential campaign.
June 24: The Prosecutor General's Office calls some of the people mentioned in the narco-cassettes, who allegedly benefited from this drug money; among these people are former presidential candidate Miguel Maza Márquez (also former General and Director of Colombia's Intelligence Service, DAS), Hernán Beltz Peralta, Álvaro Pava, César Villegas, Santiago Medina (former treasurer of the "Samper for President" campaign), Alberto Giraldo, Carlos Oviedo and Eduardo Mestre.[2]
July 1994
July 9: Several international news agencies claim the existence of yet another "narco-cassette".
July 13: The Procuraduria General de la Nacion (Attorney General's Office) states that the narco-cassettes had been edited and manipulated to highlight specific conversations. The Attorney General also reveals that a letter signed by the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers (leaders of the Cali Cartel), stated that neither Samper's nor Pastrana's campaign had received any money from them.
July 14: Guillermo Pallomari (a prominent member of the Cali Cartel) is arrested in the city of Cali and admits to having been an accountant for the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers.
July 15: The US Senate approves a law by which any future aid to Colombia in the fight against drugs is conditioned by a certificate granted yearly by the US president.
August 7: Ernesto Samper takes office as president.
August 13: Local news media reveal that the Cali Search Bloc (a specialized task force of Colombian police dedicated to investigating the Cali Cartel) found a list of people allegedly paid by drug traffickers. This list named local police officers and a former senator, Eduardo Mestre.
August 16: Attorney General de Greiff orders that the case based on the narco-cassettes be suspended due to lack of evidence.
August 18: Alfonso Valdivieso is appointed Colombia's new Attorney General.
August 19: The Procuraduria General de la Nacion (Attorney General's Office) supports de Greiff's decision.
September 1994
September 30: Joe Toft, former DEA director for Colombia, in an interview for local media defines Colombia as a narcodemocracy, and states that Samper's campaign was partially financed by drug money from the Cali Cartel.
December 1994
December 7: President Samper and the Secretary of Defense, Fernando Botero (former campaign manager of Samper's presidential campaign), publicly reprimand General Camilo Hernando Zúñiga (top general of the Colombian Armed Forces). The reason for this claimed that the Cali Search Bloc had interrupted a party for Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela's daughter who was celebrating her first communion.
December 8: Attorney General Valdivieso denies Samper's and Botero's claims.
December 19: Valdivieso states that he is looking into reopening the case of the narco-cassettes.
January 1995
January 27: Myles Frechette, United States Ambassador to Colombia, suggests the possibility that President Clinton will not certify Colombia's effort on the War on Drugs.
January 30: A report in the local Revista Cambio 16 magazine says that the Cali Cartel had given "Samper for President" T-shirts to several political leaders.
March 1: The United States issues Colombia a conditional certification.
March 2: The Dallas Morning News publishes an article with the testimony of a woman named María. She is an alleged witness of conversations between the Cali Cartel and Samper during the 1989 presidential campaign.
March 17: Jorge Eliécer Rodríguez Orejuela, the youngest of the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, is captured in the city of Cali.
March 28: The newspaper La Prensa publishes a list of some 200 army and police officers that allegedly received money from the Cali Cartel.
April 1995
April 4: Misael Pastrana, former president of Colombia and father of the defeated Conservative candidate, publicly asks that the elected president "swear that he did not receive any money from the drug cartels and that he never knew that his campaign received any such money".
President Samper, in a press conference, asks that he should be accused based on facts and not based on lies and rumors. He states that his life is "an open book".[This quote needs a citation]
April 21: Former senator Eduardo Mestre is arrested in connection with an investigation of illicit money.
Valdivieso requests that the Supreme Court investigate David Turbay, the Comptroller General, and orders a reopening of the case against former "Samper for President" campaign treasurer Santiago Medina.
April 22: The Colombian Liberal Party suspends the nine present and former members of congress accused by Valdivieso.
April 25: The Attorney General's Office sends a document filed under the number "8,000" to the Supreme Court of Justice. This document is in reference to the nine congressional members and two others accused of receiving money from the Cali Cartel.
May 25: Journalist Alberto Giraldo (aka "El Loco") surrenders to police authorities.
June 1995
June 4: The nation's Procurador General, Orlando Vásquez, is called by the Supreme Court to answer questions about allegations of illicit increases in his wealth.
June 9: Gilberto Rodríguez, the Cali Cartel's number one boss is captured. Prosecutor General issues an arrest warrant for the journalist Alberto Giraldo.
June 13: A priest and former mayor of the city of Barranquilla, Bernardo Hoyos says he spoke with members of the Cali Cartel. He claims that he listened to recordings and read documents that implicate several politicians with money received from the Cali Cartel. Hoyos also claims that Miguel Rodríguez wanted to surrender under "appropriate conditions".
June 20: Henry Loaiza, a.k.a. "El Alacrán", surrenders to police in Bogotá.
June 24: Víctor Patiño, number six in the Cali Cartel organization, surrenders in Bogotá.
June 27: Fr. Hoyos testifies before the Attorney General's Office about the documents and checks that were allegedly shown to him by Miguel Rodríguez.
July 1995
July 4: José Santacruz, number three in the Cali Cartel, is captured in Bogotá.
July 7: Phanor Arizabaleta, fifth man on the Cali Cartel, surrenders to authorities.
July 17: Santiago Medina testifies to the Attorney General's Office that a check for 40 million pesos (US$32,000 at the time) issued by the Cali Cartel was sent to the Samper campaign's manager in the Valle del Cauca Department, Jorge Herrera.
July 20: The former consul of Colombia in Miami, Andrés Talero, testifies before the Prosecutor General's Office about secret documents in Santiago Medina's possession, which could prove links between the "Samper for President" presidential campaign and the Cali Cartel.
July 21: Jorge Herrera denies Medina's story and states that he was never asked to investigate the origin of the 40 million pesos check.
July 24: Several journalists reveal an alleged payoff list of Miguel Rodríguez. In the list there were the names of several congressmen, political figures and athletes. This list was in a briefcase abandoned when Rodríguez was almost captured during a raid by the Cali Search Bloc.
July 26: Santiago Medina is imprisoned for having received drug money. He is also charged with lying under oath.
July 27: In a televised address to the nation, President Samper states that if drug money made its way into his campaign's finances, it happened "behind his back". He requested that the Accusation Commission of the Colombian Chamber of Representatives investigate him.
July 28: Secretary of Interior Horacio Serpa censors the Under-prosecutor General Adolfo Salamanca, and accused him of giving reserved information to journalists, particularly information related to the so-called "8,000 process".
July 31: In a press conference, the Secretary of Defense Fernando Botero and the Secretary of Interior Horacio Serpa say that they know parts of Santiago Medina's statements given to the Prosecutor. When asked how they obtained what was supposed to be a reserved document, Botero stated that "the government knows of this information...", only to hesitantly look to Serpa for an answer. Serpa was caught off guard, but rapidly answered, "The government knows of this reserved document ... through an anonymous source!", and quickly added, "because we live in the country of anonymous sources!". According to both men, Medina's statements "turn on a fan with the sole intent of tarnishing the President". Both gave assurances that they would accept responsibility for any wrongdoing during the presidential campaign.
August 1995
August 1: The Prosecutor General's Office is asked to initiate appropriate inquiries against Botero and Benedetti.
August 2: Fernando Botero resigns as Secretary of Defense. He states that he did so in order to face accusations made by Santiago Medina. Medina's complete testimony is published. The Prosecutor General's Office initiates an investigations for the apparent release of reserved documents by Fernando Botero.
August 3: Andrés Talero announces that his apartment was ransacked. Additionally, warehouses and apartments of key witnesses in the "8,000 process" have been ransacked.
August 4: The Commission of the House of Representatives officially receives copies of the evidence against President Samper in the "8,000 process".
August 6: Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela is captured in Cali.
August 8: The weekly magazine "Semana" reveals a new tape in which President Samper is recorded speaking to Elizabeth Montoya de Sarria, the wife of a convicted drug dealer. In this tape, Samper refers to her as "Monita Retrechera" in what appears to be very friendly terms. In the same issue, Semana reveals that former Secretary of Defense Botero ordered the transfer of Víctor Patiño from a prison near Cali to a prison in Bogotá in an irregular manner.
August 9: President Samper asks attorney Antonio José Cancino to represent him before the Commission of the House of Representatives.
August 10: Cancino states before the commission that he possesses irrefutable evidence to vindicate Samper. Former Conservative candidate Andrés Pastrana states in the news program CM& that different stories about alleged checks from drug lords to his campaign are unfounded and requests 15 minutes of airtime on national TV to present his case.
August 15: Former Defense Secretary Botero is arrested and he is added to the "8,000 process". During a heated debate of the "8,000 process" in the House of Representatives, Secretary of Interior Serpa makes a strong defense of the President and ferverously states, "Is the President going to quit? Mamola!!" (Colombian slang for "No Way").
August 17: In a televised address, Andrés Pastrana suggests that the President should take a leave of absence until the investigations are completed.
August 22: Publicist Mauricio Montejo testifies that journalist Alberto Giraldo delivered to him 300 million pesos (approximately US$240,000 at the time) on behalf of the "Samper for President" campaign, as payment for publicity.
August 24: Jacquin Strouss, Colombia's First lady, testifies before the Prosecutor General's Office.
August 28: Secretary of Interior Serpa appears before the Prosecutor General's Office to give his version of how the reserved statements made by former campaign treasurer Santiago Medina ended in the government's possession (see the July 31, 1995 entry).
August 31: The Ethics Committee of the Liberal Party decides to temporarily suspend former Secretary Botero and former campaign treasurer Medina.
September 1995
September 4: Several news media reveal that Elizabeth Montoya de Sarria (see entry: August 8, 1995) donated 32 million pesos (US$26,000) in cash to the "Samper for President" campaign.
September 5: The President's defense attorney states that during the presidential campaign, certain individuals illegally benefited themselves by appropriating some of the donated money.
September 6: Santiago Medina gives further details to the Prosecutor General's Office.
September 19: The public is informed that former accountant to the Cali Cartel, Guillermo Pallomari, has struck a deal with the DEA and is surrendering to them.
September 22: In a letter to Santiago Medina, Miguel Rodríguez states that the check for 40 million pesos was in regards to the purchase of some artworks and this money had nothing to do with the campaign.
September 26: President Samper testifies for nine hours before the President of the Accusation Committee of the House of Representatives, Heine Mogollón. As he leaves, Samper states, "I found myself in a complex and artificial mesh filled with lies". Heine Mogollón admits that he received a loan from Finagro for 19 million pesos to finance his own campaign for representative. The Supreme Court investigates Rodrigo Garavito for allegedly receiving illicit money.
September 27: The President's attorney, Antonio José Cancino, is shot by unknown assailants in Bogotá. Cancino survives and is treated in the Central Military Hospital. The head director of the DAS (Colombia's Intelligence Service), Ramiro Bejarano, claims that national and foreign organisations are behind this attack. Secretary of Interior Serpa suggests that the idea of the DEA being involved in this attack is not far-fetched.
September 28: Chancellor Rodrigo Pardo, while on an official visit to the US, quickly repudiates Serpa's comments. The US government emphatically rejects these accusations and holds the Colombian government responsible for the security of its nationals in Colombia. Under Prosecutor General, Adolfo Salamanca, states during an interview to CM& news that the Liberal Party received drug money for its campaign. He adds that it is now time for his office to determine those responsible and directly involved.
Mary Matheson (1996-04-30). "Colombia elite back away from besieged president". Christian Science Monitor. Vol.88, no.108.
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