Ex-paramilitary commander demands immunity in US .
Ex-paramilitary commander demands immunity in US .
Wednesday, 25 July 2012 11:45 Olle Ohlsen Pettersson
Lawyers of the ex-AUC commander “Macaco” said Monday their client would not continue collaborating with Colombia’s Justice and Peace process without guarantees of legal immunity in the United States.
Macaco, whose real name is Carlos Mario Jimenez Naranjo, is currently serving a 33 year prison sentence in the United States for drug trafficking realized during his time as commander of the Central Bolivar Bloc, a subdivision of the larger paramilitary organization AUC.
Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office's Justice and Peace unit, a branch of the judiciary specialized in Colombia’s paramilitary demobilization process, is currently in the process of recreating the history of the Central Bolivar Bloc, for which reason they need testimonies from former commanders and members.
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The Bloc left between 14,000 and 22,000 victims during its 10 years of existence. Under the Justice and Peace Law, victims are defined as those assassinated, displaced and disappeared due to violence by armed actors.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/25247-paramilitary-commander-demands-immunity.html
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Narco-Trafficker and Human Rights Abuser
Leading this group of united paramilitary forces gave Macaco a considerable degree of territorial control and influence, especially over large cocaine-producing regions. According to U.S. federal indictments, Macaco’s organization is "responsible for exporting thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Central America, Mexico and the United States." [1]
Macaco’s criminal conspiracy operated from around December 1997 through at least September 2007. His illegal financial network involved numerous known criminals and operated via several businesses that served as front organizations for money laundering and drug trafficking. [2]
In 2001, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control recognized Macaco as “among the most dangerous Colombian narcotics traffickers today.” [3] As a further step to dismantle his organization, a joint investigation of the Colombian National Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized $75 million worth of illegally obtained property belonging to Macaco. [4]
At the same time, Macaco’s organization is known to have been involved in mass human rights violations, including the perpetration of war crimes and crimes against humanity. As commander of the Bloque Central Bolívar (BCB), Macaco led his forces on multiple violent campaigns that resulted in the perpetration of massacres, forced disappearances, torture, sexual abuse, murders, lethal threats, and mass forced displacement of urban neighborhoods. [5]
More:
http://www.cja.org/article.php?id=787
