Bogota, Colombia – Colombia witnessed the largest disarmament ceremony in its violent history Friday with a weapons handover by more than 2,800 right-wing militia fighters led by a man wanted on drug charges in the United States.
Wearing fatigues, the fighters from the Miners Bloc of the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, handed over the weapons to government Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo on a ranch near Taraza, 220 miles northwest of Bogota.
Paramilitary factions have been disarming since 2003 as part of a peace deal brokered by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe that seeks to dismantle the AUC.
Friday’s ceremony was the 14th demobilization in the past three years. About 17,000 AUC fighters have now disarmed, with just 3,000 left.
The leader of the retiring group, Ramiro Vanoy, has faced accusations of ties to drug trafficking going back to the days of cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, who was slain in 1993. Vanoy is sought by prosecutors in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on drug charges.
But by demobilizing Friday, he will avoid extradition provided he doesn’t return to crime, the government has said.
Rank-and-file fighters turning in their weapons were given a full pardon for previous crimes, $180 a month for two years and job training to help them re-enter society.
As part of the peace agreement, leaders like Vanoy could face up to eight years in prison in Colombia if prosecutors find evidence that they were directly responsible for massacres or other heinous crimes.
The peace commissioner urged the fighters disarming Friday not only to stay out of trouble, but also to cooperate with the law “to maintain the peace.” The paramilitaries were created in the 1980s by wealthy ranchers and drug traffickers as an outlawed force to attack leftist rebels who have fought the government for 41 years. Their tactics quickly grew to resemble those of the rebel groups they were battling.
The United Nations and several rights groups warned that the government did not include enough safeguards in the peace deal to prevent the militias from reorganizing under different names and continuing illegal operations, including drug trafficking.
In December, nearly 2,000 AUC fighters from the central Bolivar Bloc demobilized in a ceremony interrupted by celebratory gunfire, while surrendering arms that included two helicopter gunships.
Despite the dismantling of the AUC, Colombia’s rebel conflict continues, as the country’s two main leftist guerrilla groups have so far refused to talk peace with the Uribe administration.
