United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia were 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 communist organization as well as numerous attacks against civilians beginning in 1997 with the Mapiripán massacre.
The militia had its roots in the 1980s when militias were established by drug lords to combat rebel kidnappings and extortion by communist guerrillas. In April 1997 the AUC was formed through a merger, orchestrated by the ACCU, of local right-wing militias, each intending to protect different local economic, social and political interests by fighting left-wing insurgents in their areas.
The organization was believed to have links to some local military commanders in the Colombian Armed Forces. According to Human Rights Watch, the paramilitary groups and the armed forces of Colombia share a very close connection and due to which paramilitary groups are also perceived as an extension, more commonly called sixth-division, of the Colombia's armed forces which has five official divisions.
The AUC had about 20,000 members and was heavily financed through the drug trade and through support from local landowners, cattle ranchers, mining or petroleum companies, and other companies such as Chiquita Brands International, and politicians.
The Colombian military has been accused of delegating to AUC paramilitaries the task of murdering peasants and labor union leaders, amongst others suspected of supporting the rebel movements and the AUC publicly and explicitly singled out 'political and trade union operatives of the extreme left' as legitimate targets. No definitive proof of direct links to the Colombian government has been established. The AUC was designated as a terrorist organization by many countries and organizations, including the United States, Canada and the European Union.
The bulk of the AUC's blocs demobilized by early 2006 and its former top leadership was extradited to the U.S. in 2008. However, local successors such as the Black Eagles continue to exist and death threats have been made using its name. On May 8, 2008, employees of a community radio station received a message stating: "For the wellbeing of you and your loved ones, do not meddle in subjects that do not concern the radio station. AUC, Arauca". A few days later the letters AUC were daubed on the front of their office. This threat was made due to their participation in a public meeting attended by members of a Congressional Human Rights Commission on 27 September 2007. Here, members of the public denounced human rights abuses committed in Arauca Department by different parties to the armed conflict, including the AUC.
Activities
The AUC's main enemies were the leftist insurgency groups Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army. The AUC was designated as a terrorist organization by many countries and organizations, including the United States, Canada and the European Union. The U.S. State Department added the AUC to the list in 2001, condemning it for massacres, torture, and other human rights abuses against civilians.According to the Colombian National Police, in the first ten months of 2000 the AUC conducted 804 assassinations, 203 kidnappings, and 75 massacres with 507 victims. The AUC claims the victims were mostly guerrillas or sympathizers. Combat tactics consist of conventional and guerrilla operations against main force insurgent units. AUC clashes with military and police units gradually increased, although the group has traditionally been friendly with government security forces.
A February 2005 report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that, during 2004, "the AUC was responsible for 342 cases of violations of the cessation of hostilities. These include the presumed reincorporation of demobilized persons into its ranks, massacres, forced displacements, selective and systematic homicides, kidnappings, rape, disappearances, threats, intimidation and lootings. These actions took place in 11 departments and targeted the civilian population, in many cases indigenous communities."
Human Rights Watch reports allege that numerous elements within the Colombian military and police have collaborated with or continue to tolerate local AUC paramilitary groups.
Under the leadership of Salvatore Mancuso, son of Italian immigrants, the AUC maintained close links with the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta concerning cocaine trafficking.
One of the AUC's targets has been Colombian trade unions. Carlos Castaño said that "We kill trade unionists because they interfere with people working."
Links to corporations
In March 2007, the international fruit corporation, Chiquita, admitted to having paid the AUC from 1997 to 2004 US$1.7 million ostensibly in order to protect its workers and operations, in Urabá and Santa Marta, of which at least US$825,000 came after the AUC was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US State Department in 2001. These payments were often made through a group belonging to the Convivir network, a government-sponsored program of rural security cooperatives. The payments were arranged during a 1997 meeting between Carlos Castaño, Veloza and Delio Agudelo with officials from Banadex, a subsidiary of Chiquita. Chiquita subsequently made a plea bargain with the United States Department of Justice, and agreed to pay a $25 million fine. Colombia's attorney general, Mario Iguarán, also opened a case on Chiquita. He stated that he will request the extradition of eight Chiquita officials connected to the case. He has also charged Chiquita of using one of their ships to smuggle weapons for the AUC. These charges were first brought ahead in a 2003 report from the Organization of American States.Later, Attorney General Iguarán contradicted himself by claiming the extraditions could not be completed since the implicated persons had not been "identified and charged." Specifically, Iguarán asserted "there are indeed some Chiquita Brands directors, but we are not able to ask for them in extradition, rather we have to have some information contained in the agreement reached with the U.S. court that includes a confidentiality agreement." Nonetheless, specific information on the identities of the Chiquita directors, executives, and senior employees – namely Cyrus Freid Heim Jr., Roderick M. Hills, Robert Olson, Morten Arzen, Jeffery D. Benjamin, Steven Stanbrook, Durk I. Jager, Jaime Serra, Robert F. Kistenberger, James B. Riley, Robert W. Fisher, Carl H. Linder, Keith Linder, and Steven Warshaw – have already been presented before the Attorney General's Office.
Israeli role
According to a 1989 Colombian Secret Police intelligence report, apart from training Carlos Castaño in 1983, Israeli trainers arrived in Colombia in 1987 to train him and other paramilitaries who would later make up the AUC. Fifty of the paramilitaries' "best" students were then sent on scholarships to Israel for further training according to a Colombian police intelligence report.2003–2004: Initial negotiation efforts
After a ceasefire was declared, the government of President Álvaro Uribe began talks with the group with the aim to eventually dismantle the organization and reintegrate its members to society. The stated deadline for completing the demobilization process was originally December 2005, but was later extended into February 2006. Between 2003 and February 2, 2006, about 17,000 of the AUC's 20,000 fighters surrendered their weapons. This is more than double the figure originally estimated by the government before negotiations began.A draft law was presented to the public which offered to pardon the members of any illegal armed group that declared a ceasefire and entered talks with the government, in return for, mainly, their verified demobilization, concentration within a specific geographic area and the symbolic reparation of the offenses committed against the victims of their actions. After much discussion and controversy over it, a further revised draft was distributed to the media and political circles. This new project was not officially submitted for approval by Congress and further public discussion on the matter continued.
The bill, among other details, called for the creation of a three to five member Truth Tribunal which would study each case brought before it, after the groups/individuals sign an agreement to respect international humanitarian laws and accept the authority of the Tribunal, in exchange for a minimum sentence of five to ten years for those guilty of the most serious crimes, the confession of the crimes which were committed in connection with the activities of the illegal armed group, and the completion of concrete acts of reparation towards the victims.
If the Tribunal were to deny the benefits to anyone, there would be no possibility of reconsideration. However, the president would be able to veto individuals who did receive a favorable sentence. This new draft version of the law would have been in effect only until 31 December 2006.
Human Rights Watch spokesman José Miguel Vivanco publicly stated, during one of the final audiences which were created to discuss aspects of the original bill, that the new proposition seemed to be considerably more in line with international standards, at first glance, but that more needed to be done in order to fully resolve the issue.
Salvatore Mancuso, one of the AUC's main commanders, publicly expressed that he was against both any potential extradition of either himself or his "comrades in arms" to the USA and refused "spending a single day in jail".
Also, there have been internal conflicts within the illegal organization, as other AUC leaders have mutually accused each other of being tainted with narcotrafficking and their troops have even met in combat. These different, regional and sometimes warring factions within the AUC make successfully concluding any peace initiative a considerably difficult task.
In mid-May 2004, the talks appeared to move forward as the government agreed to grant the AUC leaders and 400 of their bodyguards a 142 square mile safe haven in Santa Fe de Ralito, Córdoba, where, under OAS verification, further discussions will be held, for a trial period of 6 months. As long the AUC leaders remain in this area, they will not be subject to arrest warrants.
That condition and most of remaining legal framework invoked was previously implemented for the much larger San Vicente del Caguán area that former president Andrés Pastrana granted the FARC guerrillas as safe haven during the 1998–2002 peace process, but there are differences:
- the local, state and police authorities will not leave the zone, so Colombian laws will still be fully applicable within its limits
- the paramilitary leaders will require special permission to leave and re-enter the zone, and government prosecutors will be allowed to operate inside it in order to investigate criminal offenses.