Why former paramilitary leader is making people in Colombia uneasy

[Judi Lynn]

by Adriaan Alsema August 17, 2020

The former leader of Colombia’s AUC paramilitaries knows exactly which politicians and security officials are trying to get away with murder, like the country’s ambassador to Washington DC.

Human Rights Watch Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco explained already that bungling the extradition of Salvatore Mancuso would be a “slap in the face of victims” and “guarantee impunity.”

The entire purpose of demobilizing the paramilitaries and extraditing Mancuso may have been to grant impunity as, according to the former rancher, he took up arms in 1989 and knows exactly which politicians, businesses, ranchers and members of the military collaborated with the paramilitaries without doing time.

Mancuso’s explosive paramilitary might

Mancuso founded the Horizonte Ltda. which was formally dedicated to “the retail of a variety of products, mainly beverages and tobacco while providing community participation and security” in Tierralta, Cordoba, in 1995, but was really part of the illegal ACCU paramilitary group formed by the Castaño family and Medellin crime lord “Don Berna.”

In 1997, Mancuso founded Guaymaral Ltda with Jorge Gnecco, the late brother-in-law of journalist Vicky Davila, who spent most his life trafficking drugs.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/why-former-paramilitary-leader-is-making-people-in-colombia-uneasy/