Today at 6:45 AM Alvaro Uribe’s government extradited to the United States 14 leaders of the paramilitaries (AUC, Autodefensas Campesinas de Colombia = Peasant Self-defense Forces), which together account for thousands of Colombian dead and disappeared, including a murderous campaign against trade unionists, and for land expropriation and drug trafficking, in the dirty war waged by Colombia’s oligarchy against all left-leaning opposition, under the guise of combating the FARC, and with the support and encouragement of Uribe’s government and Armed Forces. Of course these paramilitary forces, regardless of their name, had nothing to do with protecting peasants; instead, they account for close to 4 million peasants whose lands were illegally expropriated and that were displaced to Colombia’s main cities to add to the rolls of the poor and destitute that abound in Colombia. While in jail, the paramilitary leaders continued to manage their criminal enterprises, as well as to command their criminal organizations, who, after supposedly demobilizing, reappeared under new names to continue with their murderous activities.
Uribe’s decision of today was taken in a hurry, in the middle of an institutional crisis caused by the confessions of some of these paramilitaries, whom the government had promised to give amnesty and pardon in exchange for symbolic jail terms, as well as the complete confession of their crimes and the return of their ill-gotten wealth in order to indemnify the victims of paramilitary violence.
But the confessions seemingly went too far, and they began to implicate Uribe’s government. Indeed more than 63 Colombian congressmen/women are under investigation, half of them while in jail, as well as began to uncover the dealings between Uribe, the pro-Uribe political parties and the paramilitaries to take over the whole government. In a case that touched Uribe very close, his own cousin and political partner was jailed recently for dealings with the paramilitaries.
The Supreme Court, who administers the law under which the paramilitaries were being processed, ruled recently that one of the paramilitary leaders could not be extradited before a complete confession and before he returned his wealth in order to compensate his victims. Thrown out on a technicality, the decision allowed the first first paramilitary leader to be extradited a few days ago, before that decision could be contested. Taking advantage of the time taken by the court to discuss that decision, today Uribe decided to export most of his partners in crime to the United States, and with them , the possibility that his own guilt in the criminal activities of the paramilitaries will continue to be discovered.
Advocates of human rights and defenders of the victims of this gang of criminals argue that with this Uribe pretends to shift the weight of dealing with the greatest criminal enterprise ever to soil the name of Colombia, to the United States. An opportunity was lost, they argue, to ascertain the complete truth, because the United States will only be interested in crimes related to drug trafficking, and besides, the United States has been known to appropriate the wealth of any drug traffickers for themselves.
At the same time, showing that there’s no honor among thieves, Uribe had promised to the paramilitaries who surrendered that they would not be extradited. These criminals will no doubt will be dealt with harshly by American courts. But with this, Uribe undermines Colombia’s justice system, implicitly recognizing that it is not capable of dealing with the crimes of the paramilitaries. At the same time, Uribe pretends with this act to present himself as a defender of justice, escape further investigations about his own corruption, and furthermore, will soon try to capitalize out of it in order to pressure the American congress to approve his vaunted Free Trade Agreement, which has nothing to do with "free," nothing to do with "trade" but with enriching the Colombian oligarchy and their corporations, and with opening up the Colombian economy to American corporations in exchange for NOT much of anything.
[Note to Readers: In the note below I promise that I will publish a lenghtier diary "right afterwards". My memory failed me and I did not remember that only one diary can be published per day. Therefore, the second diary will have to wait until tomorrow... Thanks for your kind attention.]
Note: I have announced a diary providing some background on the "para-military scandal" that is involving the Uribe regime and to which today’s extraditions are the latest response. This diary will be published right after this one, after I finish formatting some attached sources.
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El Espectador "Massive Extradition of Paramilitary Chiefs".
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The New York Times "Colombia Extradites 14 Paramilitary Leaders."
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