“The bells of peace are ringing across Colombia, and heard in every nation, represented in this room,” said President Juan Manuel Santos, Wednesday, during an emotional speech to the heads of state gathered at 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Just hours before Santos addressed the international community and explained the final accord reached with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), more than a dozen former commanders of the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) sent the president a formal letter in which they: “ratified their disposition and commitment to work towards peace and reconciliation.” The commanders, currently serving time in maximum-security prisons across the U.S and Colombia, also called upon Colombians to vote “yes” in the upcoming October 2 peace plebiscite.
Among the ex-paras who signed the letter are Carlos Mario Jiménez “Macaco”, Diego Fernando Murillo “Don Berna,” Ramiro “Cuco” Vanoy, Rodrigo Pérez Alzate alias “Julián Bolívar”, Guillermo Pérez Alzate alias “Pablo Sevillano”, Ramon Isaza and Iván Roberto Duque, alias “Ernesto Baez.”
The presence of paramilitary activity in Colombia dates back to the mid-1980s and the rise of the Medellín cocaine cartel. During much of the 1990s, criminal groups involved in drugs trafficking with other “super cartels” – Norte del Valle and Cali – formed a criminal coalition to wage all-out war against the Marxist FARC guerrilla. During the height of their activities they committed notorious massacres across Colombia and executed hundreds of human right activists and union leaders. Towards the end of president Álvaro Uribe’s first term (2000-2004), the government forged a tenuous “peace” with the AUC and some 30,000 combatants handed-over their weapons.
Many AUC commanders admitted to massacres and extra-judicial killings, receiving reduced prison terms at home in exchange. Fourteen others, including Salvatore Mancuso and Diego Fernando Murillo “Don Berna” were extradited to the U.S. Mancuso is currently serving a 15-year sentence in a District of Columbia prison. “Don Berna” pleaded guilty to multi-ton cocaine trafficking and is serving 31 years in a New York state “supermax” facility.
In their signed letter to Santos, the former AUC commanders claim that despite demobilizing “the result was extradition and long sentences in the United States.” Yet they publicly criticize the opposition by former President Álvaro Uribe to the peace process with FARC. “We do not harbor any rancor nor retaliation to Colombia’s guerrillas.” The communique concludes: “We extend a hand and heart ready to contribute to the peace of Colombia.”
