Cárdenas, 56, founder and general manager of Metro Radio
Estéreo in Dosquebradas, in the western department of Risaralda, received a
phone call at around noon from someone requesting a meeting near the station,
news reports
said. “He was walking to the prearranged meeting point when someone shot him,”
Col. Gonzalo Londoño, a police commander in the city of Pereira, the capital of
Risaralda, told reporters.
News reports said the gunman shot Cárdenas several times before fleeing on
foot.
Cárdenas served as mayor of Dosquebradas in 1997.
Alternating between journalism and politics, he ran unsuccessfully for
mayor in 2000 and served as secretary of public works for Dosquebradas and
Risaralda. The Colombian press group Foundation for the Freedom of the Press
said Cárdenas had pulled back from reporting at Metro Radio Estéreo and was
mainly involved in the station’s administrative and commercial sides.
On March 30, Jhon Alexánder Jaramillo García was convicted
of killing Cárdenas and was sentenced to 21 years in prison. Jaramillo
confessed to having committed the murder in exchange for 1 million pesos
(US$500), news reports
said. No information was released regarding the motive for the killing.