2023-07-23 20:20:02
BOGOTÁ (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Sunday appointed a former leader of the country’s United Self-Defense Forces, Salvatore Mancuso, as peace manager.
The president considered that the dialogue process between the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and the government of President Álvaro Uribe, which was negotiated in 2003, “has not yet finished,” according to his Twitter account, regarding the anniversary of the demobilization agreement with these illegal militias.
To conclude it and “achieve complete peace” it is necessary, according to Petro, to know the truth regarding the fate of the assets delivered to the State “that have been lost” because they have been given to groups “that inherit paramilitarism,” as well as to locate “many bodies of victims that have not yet been found,” the president wrote in his message.
Petro did not give more details regarding the functions of the peace manager or how the announced appointment of Mancuso would operate, who is in the United States, where he served a sentence for drug trafficking, following being extradited in 2008 by the Uribe government (2002-2010).
It is known that the legal situation of the former paramilitary chief in the North American country will be resolved next month. If returned to Colombia, Mancuso might face legal proceedings for thousands of crimes during his operation, in addition to other crimes committed in the South American country.
Although he has also asked to be extradited to Italy, Mancuso seeks to take refuge in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in Colombia, which would favor him in the event of possible convictions. The JEP is a justice component of the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition created in the peace agreement with the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in 2016.
To this end, Mancuso appeared in a hearing before the JEP in March of this year, where he assured that the Colombian army and important politicians such as former presidents Álvaro Uribe and Andrés Pastrana (1998-2002) were linked to AUC paramilitary operations.
Faced with Petro’s announcement, Uribe reacted on Sunday on Twitter and stated: “I am waiting for the evidence of Mancuso’s slander.”
“That Pte. (President Petro) names him a peace manager does not matter, what is serious is that he lies and that there is discrimination,” Uribe added in his message, alluding to other former paramilitary leaders who should be “given the same status,” he said.
In 2003, the Uribe government and the AUC reached an agreement for the demobilization of some 35,000 men from these illegal militias that was to be fulfilled until 2005.
The Justice and Peace law and its regulations for the demobilization of paramilitaries contemplated the granting of an eight-year prison sentence for those who confessed their crimes, except those once morest humanity, which was criticized by several sectors that ensured impunity was encouraged.
According to the Uribe government, the subsequent extradition of Mancuso and other paramilitary leaders occurred for breach of the peace agreement and for recidivism.
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