BOGOTA- Victims and relatives of victims of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), expressed their rejection of the imminent release of the former leader of this paramilitary group, Salvatore Mancuso, by decision of the Justice and Peace Chamber of Bogotá.
Juan David Díaz, son of Eudaldo Díaz, mayor of the municipality of El Roble, Sucre, murdered in 2003, recalled that Mancuso is accused of more than 35,000 crimes. “We are not talking about a person who accidentally ran over someone and took their life. He is a man who committed all kinds of crimes such as massacres and displacements. He did a lot of damage to the citizens,” he lamented.
Díaz expressed that he agrees with Mancuso telling the truth and being a peace agent, but believes that “these warlords never give anything away and do everything for convenience.”
Likewise, Díaz assured “I am sure that he is not going to say anything or tell us the truth. He is going to make fun of him like all these bosses have done.” paramilitaries that today they are free and enjoying the riches”.
For his part, Álvaro Álvarez, a relative of Luis Francisco Hernández and Freddy Hernández, assured that, although “each victim has his own way of seeing things,” he considers that Mancuso’s freedom is more convenient for him than the fact that he is in prison.
With Mancuso free, he hopes they will have “the opportunity to sit face to face and face to face with him, to really tell us why they did it.” However, he said he does not know if Mancuso is sorry for what he did. “I think he is willing to make up for the damage caused and that is what we hope for,” he said.
Freedom
On May 11, the Justice and Peace Chamber of Bogotá sent Mancuso’s release order to La Picota prison after he was granted that benefit.
The only thing that remains now for the freedom of the former commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) to be effective is that the execution of three sentences that remain to be resolved be suspended, cases in the hands of ordinary judges and related to crimes committed within the framework of the armed conflict.
Mancuso returned to Colombia on February 27 to report before the Justice and Peace chambers created within the framework of the peace agreements signed with the guerrilla after being deported from the United States where he served a sentence for drug trafficking.
Deportation from the US
Salvatore Mancuso, who was one of the most feared paramilitary leaders in Colombia, was deported by the United States after serving a sentence for drug trafficking, to face pending charges with the Colombian justice system.
The 59-year-old former paramilitary finished paying his sentence in the United States in 2020 and remained waiting to resolve his immigration situation. Until the last moment, his lawyers asked the courts to postpone his expulsion to Colombia, where Mancuso alleged that his life would be at risk.
Paramilitary groups are accused of more than 205,000 homicides, 63,000 forced disappearances and 9,500 kidnappings, according to the Truth Commission, an entity without judicial functions that had the mission of helping to clarify the long conflict in Colombia.
“Manipulation of the truth”
The Colombian congressman for the Democratic Center, Hernán Cadavid, months ago warned that the president’s government Gustavo Petro could use the extradition of former paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso to “manipulate the truth”, after he was appointed as peace manager.
Cadavid assured that the extradition of Mancuso seeks to discredit former President Álvaro Uribe and that the former paramilitary chief will be “instrumented” to say what (the government) wants.
Mancuso was appointed by the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, as a “peace manager”, a figure that allows him to collaborate in rapprochements with active armed groups to help in the government policy “total peace”.
Source: EUROPA PRESS/FOR
