BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) --Police said Sunday they arrested a suspected
rebel in connection with the April assassination attempt against President
Alvaro Uribe during his election campaign.

Police said Osvaldo Enrique Diaz was the brain behind the bombing of Uribe's
motorcade during a campaign stop in the Caribbean port of Barranquilla. Five people
were killed in the attack, but Uribe was unharmed.

The candidate managed to reach over his stunned driver and steer the car to safety,
fearing that rebel snipers might be waiting nearby if he got out.

Police said Diaz planned the attack, which caused Uribe to cancel all his planned
campaign trips. Diaz allegedly leads an urban militia of the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, known by the Spanish acronym FARC, the nation's largest
rebel group. Police arrested him recently but did not say on which day.

"This is the person responsible for all of the actions of the illegal group in this
region," said Col. Jose Daniel Toro, a police commander for the state of Bolivar.

Uribe was swept into power on promises he would take a hard line with the rebels
in hopes of ending Colombia's 38-year civil war. He has survived more than half a
dozen assassination attempts over the year.

  Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.