The 8,000 Process (from the Spanish: Proceso 8.000) is the unofficial name of the legal investigation for the events surrounding accusations about the Colombian Liberal Party candidate Ernesto Samper's 1994 campaign for President of Colombia being partially funded with drug money.
While already serving as President of the Republic, he learned through the media and the infamous “narco-cassettes” that drug lords Migueland Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela claimed that the Cali Cartel had financed both his campaign and that of his opponent, Andrés Pastrana Arango.
Initially, the tapes were intended to gather intelligence on both presidential candidates, but the focus was ultimately placed on possible winner, Ernesto Samper, whom they sought to link to the Cali Cartel from the outset.
At that time, Prosecutor General Gustavo de Greiff could only investigate the recordings and the financing of Samper’s campaign, ultimately deeming the “narco-cassettes” inadmissible as evidence due to a lack of proper custody and signs of manipulation.
Investigations showed that Botero and Medina exploited a legal donation made by businessman Julio Mario Santo Domingo during Samper’s second-round campaign.
Following investigations by the Commission of Accusations, which, according to the National Constitution, is the proper judicial body for trying a sitting president, the House of Representatives acquitted Samper on June 12, 1996, with 111 votes in favor and 43 against.
After his acquittal, an improved relationship with the United States was expected.However, diplomatic cables between the U.S. Embassy and the DEA suggest that they sought to maintain pressure on Samper, particularly because he continued to oppose the failed War on Drugs between 1996 and 1997.
The State Department spokesperson announced that it was a personal sanction due to the “entry of drug money into his campaign,” disregarding the Colombian Congress’s acquittal—an act that appeared politically motivated to further destabilize Samper’s government.
This time, however, the brothers responded immediately, stating that Pastrana “seeks to portray himself as a victim of corruption while failing to acknowledge his own involvement in it.” They further asserted that the letter incriminating Samper was the result of coercion, in exchange for avoiding extradition.
In 1995, Alfonso Valdivieso reopened the campaign financing case and assigned it the now-infamous number 8000, despite the fact that it was originally linked to a separate investigation involving regional leaders who had received money from the Cali Cartel.
As the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers stated: “For the last 50 years of the past century, we helped both Liberals and Conservatives.” The Proceso 8000 introduced the concept of negotiated justice, which at the time operated without clear legal boundaries.
It relied heavily on securing plea bargains, leaking case files, validating anonymous accusations, and presenting selective or out-of-context information to create political, media, and judicial pressure—often at the expense of due process and the presumption of innocence.
Despite a lack of conclusive evidence and the fact that Congress—the legitimate body responsible for judging a sitting president—had declared Ernesto Samper innocent, Colombian media turned the case into what they called “the biggest political scandal in the country’s history.” In doing so, they disregarded ethical standards, prioritizing sensationalism over factual reporting.
The Proceso 8000 marked the first instance in Latin America of what is now known in Anglo-American law as lawfare—the use of judicial mechanisms and actors to wage legal wars aimed at stigmatizing, discrediting, and convicting prominent figures, particularly progressive leaders.