Bogota, Colombia – A founder of Colombia’s anti- rebel paramilitary movement laid down his weapon on Tuesday, ending nearly three decades of outlawed jungle warfare.
Ramon Isaza was joined by 990 fighters from his Medio Magdalena Bloc of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) handing over 754 weapons, 15 vehicles and abundant munitions.
The ceremony in Puerto Triunfo, 90 miles northwest of Bogota, brings to more than 22,000 the number of right-wing fighters to demobilize under a peace deal between the AUC and the government, Peace Commissioner Luis Restrepo said in a statement.
In exchange for promising never again to take up arms, each rank-and-file fighter will receive a monthly stipend of about $180 and amnesty from prosecution for rebellion and other minor crimes.
AUC leaders such as Isaza will serve a maximum of eight years in jail if found guilty of any heinous crimes, including massacres.
The 65-year-old Isaza’s life closely mirrors the evolution of Colombia’s paramilitary movement, from its origins as a loose federation of landholding, vigilante justice-seekers to its current disrepute as a major drug-trafficking and criminal organization.
Around 1980, he founded one of the first right-wing militias, allegedly with the backing of the military, to crush a leftist insurgency in the jungles of the Magdalena River valley.
By the end of that decade, Isaza and much of the paramilitary leadership allegedly was working closely with some of big drug cartels.
Today, Isaza is among a number of AUC leaders on a U.S. list of alleged top Colombian drug traffickers. Meanwhile, his forces have been blamed for several atrocities against civilians.
