Inside Colombia’s Emerald Battle
BOGOTA, Colombia – A gunshot to the neck ended the life of 64-year-old Pedro Ortegon as he handed money to a homeless person on a busy street in downtown Bogota. His teenage assassin was apprehended half a block away as he attempted to escape on foot.
But this was not just another incidence of the street crime that plagues Colombia’s capital city. The July 25 homicide not only ended the life of one of the nation’s most prominent emerald barons — one of the nation’s handful of magnates who trade in the precious gems — but also dented hopes for a lasting peace among his allies and rivals.
It was the second broad-daylight assassination in Bogota of someone connected to the emerald trade in under a month, after Ortegon’s lawyer was gunned down in the west of the city at the beginning of July.
Read more. [Image: Eliana Aponte/Reuters]