Ernesto Samper Pizano was a Colombian politician who served as the President of Colombia from 1994 till 1998.
He had an unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1990, in which he survived an assassination attempt by the Medellín cartel. His second presidential campaign in 1994 faced a severe cash shortage, which led his campaign manager to accept nearly $6 million from art collector Santiago Medina. Medina provided the funds from bank accounts linked to Cali cartel money launderer Franklin Jurado, in exchange for him negotiating a surrender deal for the four leaders of the cartel with Attorney-General Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento.
Before Valdivieso could complete the negotiations, Colonel Hugo Martinez of the Search Bloc arrested Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, the kingpin of the cartel. While several high ranking members of Samper's office recommended his release, Samper ordered Gilberto to remain behind bars. DEA agent Javier Peña uncovered the links between high ranking members of Samper's presidency and the Cali cartel, and leaked the information to the Colombian press, resulting in the Proceso 8000 political scandal. In order to safe face from the scandal after Botero fled the country, Samper had cartel leaders Gilberto and his brother Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela extradited to the United States.