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The United Self-Defences of Colombia was a Colombian far right paramilitary and drug trafficking group which was an active belligerent in the Colombian armed conflict during the period from 1997 to 2006. The AUC was responsible for retaliations against the FARC and ELN rebel groups as well as numerous attacks against civilians beginning in 1997 with the Mapiripán Massacre.
Carlos Castaño Gil was a Colombian paramilitary leader and drug trafficker who was a founder of the Peasant Self-Defenders of Córdoba and Urabá (ACCU), a far-right paramilitary organization in Colombia and a former member of the Medellin Cartel. Castaño and his brothers Fidel and Vicente founded the ACCU after their father was kidnapped and killed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in association with other enemies or victims of the guerrillas. The ACCU later became one of the founding members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
Los Pepes, a name derived from the Spanish phrase "Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar", was a vigilante group composed of enemies of Pablo Escobar. They waged a small-scale war against the Medellín Cartel in the early 1990s, which ended in 1993 following the death of Escobar. This group was financed by the Cali Cartel and was led by the Castaño brothers.
The Search Bloc is the name of three different ad hoc special operations units of the National Police of Colombia. They were originally organized with a focus on capturing or killing highly dangerous individuals or groups of individuals.
Right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia are paramilitary groups acting in opposition to revolutionary Marxist-Leninist guerrilla forces and their allies among the civilian population. These paramilitary groups control a large majority of the illegal drug trade of cocaine and other substances. According to several international human rights and governmental organizations, right-wing paramilitary groups were responsible for at least 70 to 80% of political murders in Colombia per year. The remaining political murders are often committed by leftist guerrillas and government forces.
This article covers national and international security issues in Colombia.
Salvatore Mancuso Gómez, also known as "el Mono Mancuso","Santander Lozada" or "Triple Cero", among other names is a Colombian paramilitary leader, once second in command of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary group. The paramilitary groups commanded by Mancuso fought the guerrillas, and financed their activities by receiving donations from land owners, drug trafficking, extortions and robbery.
Diego Fernando Murillo Bejarano, also known as Don Berna or Adolfo Paz, is a former leader of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia paramilitary group, as well as the leader of The Office of Envigado cartel.
Villanueva is a town and municipality located in the northern Department of La Guajira, Colombia. Villanueva is known in Colombia for being the cradle of many vallenato singers and composers. The economy of the town relies heavily on agriculture and farming.
Álvaro Araújo Castro is a Colombian economist and former actor and Senator of Colombia. A Liberal politician, and leader of the ALAS-Team Colombia political movement, he was arrested and jailed in 2007 for participating in parapolitics. Prior to serving in the Senate, he was also a Member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia from 1994 to 2001.
The Colombian parapolitics scandal or "parapolítica" in Spanish refers to the 2006–present Colombian congressional scandal in which several congressmen and other politicians have been indicted for colluding with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a paramilitary group which is responsible for killing thousands of Colombian civilians.
Black Eagles was a term describing a series of Colombian drug trafficking, right-wing, counter-revolutionary, paramilitary organizations made up of new and preexisting paramilitary forces, who emerged from the failures of the demobilization process between 2004 and 2006, which aimed to disarm the United Self-Defense Units of Colombia (AUC).
Illegal drug trade in Colombia refers to a practice of Colombian criminal groups producing and distributing illegal drugs. Colombia has had four major drug trafficking cartels and several bandas criminales, or BACRIMs which eventually created a new social class and influenced several aspects of Colombian culture and politics.
Iván Roberto Duque Gaviria aka Ernesto Báez was a Colombian paramilitary leader and onetime member of the demobilized United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). Duque-Gaviria graduated as a lawyer from the Universidad de Caldas.
Luis Humberto Gómez Gallo was a Colombian industrial engineer specialized in business administration and constitutional law. A Conservative politician, he served as President of the Senate of Colombia where he had been a Senator from 1994 until 2008 when he was charged and arrested as part of a wider parapolitica scandal. He died of a heart attack at the age of 51 on 25 December 2013 in Ibague, Tolima.
José Miguel Arroyave Ruiz aka "Arcángel" or also "the Chemist" was one of the top paramilitary leaders and commander of the Centaurs bloc of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a 5,000-strong private militia active in the sparsely populated grasslands of eastern Colombia. He was also a powerful figure within the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), an umbrella organization bringing together right-wing paramilitary groups from all over the country. He was well known for being a ruthless fighter against guerrilla groups, and for being able to evict these rebel groups and take control of their territories. The Centaurs bloc was one of the largest and most powerful groups within the AUC, and was very well organized, to the point that they even had a running web page that is no longer in service (www.bloquecentauros.org).
The Bahía Portete massacre was a massacre in the Colombian town of Bahía Portete, in the Department of La Guajira on April 16, 2004. It was perpetrated by paramilitary groups of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) Wayuu Counter-Insurgency Bloc led by alias "Jorge 40" killing 12 people and the disappearance of one. Some 600 people were displaced against their will and took refuge in neighboring Venezuela.
Carlos Mario Jiménez Naranjo aka "Macaco" is a Colombian former drug lord and paramilitary leader. Jimenez was a member of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary group which demobilized between 2005 and 2007. Jimenez ordered the assassination of numerous people in the region of the Santander and North Santander specially in the city of Barrancabermeja where his organization confronted and defeated the National Liberation Army (ELN) for the control of the territory. Jimenez was the commander in chief of the Central Bolívar Bloc of the AUC.
The Clan del Golfo, self-referred to as Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia, and formerly called Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, is a Colombian drug cartel and right-wing neo-paramilitary group involved in the Colombian armed conflict. It is considered one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Colombia, having some 3,000 members in the inner circle of the organization in 2016. Their main source of income is drug trafficking. In late 2011 Los Urabeños declared war on Los Rastrojos over the control of the drug trade in Medellín. Los Urabeños is one of the organizations that appeared after the demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.
The Justice and Peace Law of Colombia or Law 975 of 2005 is a legal framework promoted by the government of Alvaro Uribe Velez and approved by Congress to facilitate the demobilization of paramilitaries in Colombia and eventually could be used in the demobilization of guerrilla groups.
References
- ↑ "Colombia". U.S. Department of State . February 25, 2004. Retrieved 2017-01-02.
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In an article in the Colombian newspaper ADN on December 1, 2013, journalist Ortiz Juan Diego Jimenez writes that the origins of the Dawn (Alborada) celebration in Medellin when fireworks are set off on the last day of November in anticipation of December, can be traced to November 25, 2003 when 849 members of the Cacique Nutivara Bloc demobilized. The writer claims the motive for the pyrotechnics was to celebrate the group's return to civil life. The 'tradition' has taken hold and is celebrated to this day.