Former paramilitary Salvatore Mancuso is imprisoned in Colombia after serving time in the USA.

Former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso He was arrested this Tuesday in Colombia after spending 16 years detained in U.S and commit to revealing the truth about the bloody far-right squads and their links to politicians.

“It will be located in the extraditable pavilion, which is located in the (prison) The Pelourinhoin an independent, isolated cell, you will not have communication with other inmates or guard agents“said the director of the penitentiary authority Inpec.

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In the afternoon, two helicopters left the airport Bogotá to La Picota. After 7:30 pm local time (00:30 GMT), Inpec confirmed to AFP that Macuso was already being held in that prison.

Considered one of the most powerful warlords of the 1990s and early 21st century, the Colombian-Italian arrived first, deported on a plane and was received by the immigration authority as “peace manager” by decision of the left-wing government Gustavo Pedro.

In images released by the entity, the 59-year-old former commander is seen leaving the aircraft handcuffed and wearing a bulletproof vest, but smiling.

He was then handed over to the police and boarded an institution vehicle guarded by a dozen uniformed police officers with shields, according to images released by the Interpol.

Known by the nickname “The monkey”, Mancuso still has outstanding bills before the Colombian justice system for hundreds of displacements, disappearances and homicides committed by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the association of squads that faced the left-wing guerrillas.

The Petro government designated him as “peace manager” in mid-2023, in the midst of conversations that the Executive maintains with several armed groups, including heirs of paramilitarism such as the Gulf Clanalso known as Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. At the time, the Ministry of Justice guaranteed that the appointment implied his release.

Mancuso’s defense said his lawyer would perform a “extraordinary risk”in the prison system Colombia.

“Banishment and submission”

During his arrest on charges of drug trafficking in USAMancuso tried to organize his deportation to Italy, where his father was born. But the Colombian government requested his extradition because they considered his testimony to be “essential”To solve hundreds of crimes.

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“After more than 15 years of exile and subjugation in the harshest conditions of deprivation of freedom, I return to Colombia, my homeland.“, said the former commander of CUA is a statement.

“Returning, despite the restrictive conditions imposed on me by the Colombian justice system, which I obey and respect, and the difficult and complex security circumstances that surround my presence in Colombia, is a way of being reborn.” he added.

After signing peace in 2006 with the then president, the right Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), the head of the AUC in the north and northeast of Colombia was surprisingly extradited in 2008, without providing his version of the details of the war or compensating the victims, as provided for in the agreement.

In his statement Mancuso says “available to justice” to give “definitive closure”to his demobilization and explains his role as a mediator in future dialogues to defuse the conflict.

“I place myself at the disposal of both the national government and the armed organizations that seek dialogue with it, such as the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and the Conquistador Self-Defense Forces of Serra, to accompany the peace talks that may be necessary, no matter how complex they may be. .”, he guaranteed.

Secrets

From prison, Mancuso discovered sensitive relationships between paramilitary and politicians. In November, during a videoconference statement before a Colombian court, he said Uribe was an accomplice in the massacre of 15 peasants in the city of El Aro in 1997, when he was governor of the department of Antioch.

The former president denies this accusation.

Raised in a wealthy family, Mancuso said his extradition to U.S It was ordered to avoid revelations about who sponsored the paramilitaries.

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On the eve of your arrival, Rodrigo Londonoformer commander of the extinct guerrilla FARC and once mortal enemy of Mancuso, invited him to “reconcile the country and bring to light all the responsibilities of the armed conflict”, in a message on X.

The paramilitaries sowed terror with massacres and persecuted those they believed had links to left-wing organizations. Among the victims of ‘El Mono’ are trade unionists, indigenous leaders, human rights defenders and mayors who opposed the AUC.

Over the course of six decades, the armed conflict in Colombia has faced guerrillas, drug dealer, paramilitaries It is state agentswith a toll of more than nine million victims, most of them displaced.

Source: Elcomercio

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