Colombia: Gustavo Petro opens the possibility of meeting with former leaders of the AUC paramilitaries

The Colombian President, Gustavo Petrosaid this Sunday that he is willing to meet with the former heads of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries who sent him a letter at the end of March asking for a hearing to discuss the law that allowed his demobilization.

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“Former paramilitary leaders who have served their sentences also say publicly that they are willing to meet with me. I believe that this meeting should take place”, expressed Petro during an act to commemorate the National Day of Remembrance and Solidarity with the Victims.

The AUC demobilized in 2006 after a negotiation process with the government of then Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.

As part of the agreement, the ex-paramilitaries availed themselves of the Justice and Peace Lawwhich contemplated sentences of a maximum of eight years in prison in exchange for collaboration to clarify crimes, but some of the leaders lost those benefits.

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In this sense, Petro assured this Sunday that he sees it necessary for the Government and the paramilitaries benefited by this law “meet to establish in black and white what happened to the assetsevaluate what happened with the law, to what extent that peace process was truncated or can be finished and terminated”.

Statements and response

It all began on March 22 when Petro criticized the Justice and Peace Law because he believes that the victims have not been repared and that the perpetrators should tell the country the truth.

“It was a law of impunity for the armed drug traffickers of Colombia”, the president pointed out then and added that the paramilitaries “believed they were making a deal” by fighting the guerrillas and “perhaps they thought that they were really cleaning the country of what they considered inferior, but they were hoisted from power.”

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Seven days later, a group of 16 former paramilitary leaders, including former AUC commander Salvatore Mancuso, They requested an audience with the Government to “expose in great detail what their” judicial and extrajudicial contributions to peace and reconciliation in Colombia have been..

In the letter they said that 4,902 demobilized members of the AUC have been assassinated since 2006 and they stated that they hope that total peace, the flagship plan of the Petro government, will mean “the end of structural violence.”

“We consider that a public debate on the results of the demobilization of the Self-Defense Groups is pertinent and necessary (…) Today it is possible to make a true and objective balance, which responds to the call that you make to us”, said the former AUC chiefs.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.