Colombian paramilitaries rearming after peace deal
By Hugh Bronstein
BOGOTA, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Former right-wing Colombian warlords say junior members of their ranks are re-arming to take over the criminal networks they left behind, a trend that would put the country's paramilitary peace process at risk.
Pedro "The Knife" Guerrero, former paramilitary chief of the southern jungle province of Guaviare, said in a letter published by local media on Saturday that he fears this new generation of militia will assassinate him if he turns himself over to authorities as part of a deal promising reduced jail time.
"I am hiding in order to preserve my life," says the letter to the government from Guerrero, who authorities say earned his alias by using a knife to kill and mutilate peasants suspected of supporting left-wing rebels.
The letter followed a statement last week from former paramilitary boss Salvatore Mancuso saying that 5,000 former militia fighters have taken up arms again, backed by politicians and drug smugglers in what promises to be a "disastrous" turf war over cocaine-producing land.
More than 31,000 paramilitaries were disarmed over the last three years as part of President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed plan for ending Colombia's 40-year-old conflict.
But that plan has been criticized by human rights groups as not doing enough to ensure that militia criminal networks are dismantled and victims of paramilitary violence are compensated.
The militias were formed in the 1980s to help fight rebels who are still waging war against the state. Both groups, labeled terrorists by Washington, are funded by the Andean country's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade.
"Groups of paramilitaries that were unhappy with the demobilization deal are rearming," said Mauricio Romero, a member of the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation, which is overseeing the peace process.
"It's very serious and Guerrero is probably right that if he came out of hiding he would be targeted," Romero said.
Paramilitary chiefs are coming to trial for crimes ranging from massacre to torture but they face no more than eight years in jail under the demobilization deal they negotiated with the government.
Colombia is also contending with allegations that paramilitaries continue killing peasants who exercise their right under the deal to seek compensation for abuses they suffered under the militias.
BOGOTA, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Former right-wing Colombian warlords say junior members of their ranks are re-arming to take over the criminal networks they left behind, a trend that would put the country's paramilitary peace process at risk.
Pedro "The Knife" Guerrero, former paramilitary chief of the southern jungle province of Guaviare, said in a letter published by local media on Saturday that he fears this new generation of militia will assassinate him if he turns himself over to authorities as part of a deal promising reduced jail time.
"I am hiding in order to preserve my life," says the letter to the government from Guerrero, who authorities say earned his alias by using a knife to kill and mutilate peasants suspected of supporting left-wing rebels.
The letter followed a statement last week from former paramilitary boss Salvatore Mancuso saying that 5,000 former militia fighters have taken up arms again, backed by politicians and drug smugglers in what promises to be a "disastrous" turf war over cocaine-producing land.
More than 31,000 paramilitaries were disarmed over the last three years as part of President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed plan for ending Colombia's 40-year-old conflict.
But that plan has been criticized by human rights groups as not doing enough to ensure that militia criminal networks are dismantled and victims of paramilitary violence are compensated.
The militias were formed in the 1980s to help fight rebels who are still waging war against the state. Both groups, labeled terrorists by Washington, are funded by the Andean country's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade.
"Groups of paramilitaries that were unhappy with the demobilization deal are rearming," said Mauricio Romero, a member of the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation, which is overseeing the peace process.
"It's very serious and Guerrero is probably right that if he came out of hiding he would be targeted," Romero said.
Paramilitary chiefs are coming to trial for crimes ranging from massacre to torture but they face no more than eight years in jail under the demobilization deal they negotiated with the government.
Colombia is also contending with allegations that paramilitaries continue killing peasants who exercise their right under the deal to seek compensation for abuses they suffered under the militias.
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