World Notes COLOMBIA

In the brutal war between the government of President Virgilio Barco Vargas and the Medellin cocaine cartel, the drug lords have scored the latest hit. Last week the cartel's paramilitary group, the "Extraditables," claimed responsibility for the Dec. 20 abduction of investment broker Alvaro Diego Montoya, 36, the son of Barco's closest political adviser, general secretary of the presidency German Montoya.

The Extraditables also said they had seized at least two dozen other prominent citizens. According to reports in two Bogota newspapers, the abductions were ordered by drug boss Pablo Escobar Gaviria, who is still on the run following a close escape from the law on Nov. 23.

For four months the Barco government has waged a campaign to shut down drug operations. Last week the government raised the reward for information leading to Escobar's capture to more than $500,000. Police read the kidnapings as a warning to Barco to halt the expropriations of kingpins' property and the extraditions of drug lords to the U.S. -- or pay the price.