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The imminent deportation of former paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso to Italy has generated indignation and protests among those who claim that he has not been allowed to say what he knows about the armed conflict and his accomplices in politics, the private sector and the Public Force.
In this regard, EL TIEMPO established that the Government has just finished a consolidated statement that indicates that Mancuso – accused of ordering more than 136 massacres with hundreds of deaths – has been summoned to 263 open version hearings to tell the truth.
(We invite you to read: What Salvatore Mancuso confessed about the El Aro massacre)
Of these, 188 have been fulfilled thanks to judicial cooperation with the United States government, which requested him in extradition in 2008 and sentenced him to 12 years in prison for drug trafficking.
However, 75 versions were canceled for reasons ranging from logistical and cooperation problems to requests for postponement by Mancuso’s defense.
In addition, although in practice he has already paid 8 years in prison for all his crimes – in light of the peace agreement with the Uribe government – he has yet to be convicted of 50 percent of the crimes for which he is accused. For this reason, the Government assures that it will do everything possible to extradite him to Colombia.
(Also read: What Salvatore Mancuso will tell if the US returns him to Colombia)
And, although their collaboration has been recognized in the United States, there are still chapters pending in Colombia. EL TIEMPO revealed this Thursday that Mancuso is a witness to massacres such as that of El Aro (1997), which he revived after the call for a free version of former President Álvaro Uribe, by the Court, on September 15.
The ‘paraeconomics’ is a pending chapter. Mancuso says he is willing to provide evidence and names of powerful businessmen who fueled the Auc’s death machine.
Mancuso revealed that they were very close to achieving the loss of ‘Iván Márquez’, but that due to a confusion with the helicopters that flew over the area to facilitate the massacre, the then guerrilla leader managed to escape.
(Also: This is the Court’s investigation of Álvaro Uribe for the El Aro massacre)
“I even went to the area to bring the helicopter, to carry ammunition. Commander Castaño sent me to bring him some ammunition and I went to bring him ammunition, because they were running out of ammunition according to the intensity of the fighting. There was a helicopter that picked up the commander ‘Iván Márquez’, from the FARC, who was there in that area. They thought it was the helicopter that we had sent, ”said Mancuso.
Mancuso is accused of ordering at least 136 paramilitary massacres.
Efraín Patiño / AFP Archive
What counts offers
In his application to join the JEP (which was denied in the first instance), he offered to refer to the operation to attempt to liberate Charles Applegate and Tommy Tyrving – Urrá dam engineers -, in which he was transported in helicopters from the Brigade 11 and slept armed and camouflaged in battalions. Officially, the operation was carried out under the command of then-Colonel Julio Eduardo Charry Solano.
Another chapter that he offered is that of the emergence of the bloody North block, with more than 300 dead on top. According to Mancuso, his power was consolidated with the complicity of Police and Army officers who have gone undefeated in court.
(Also: US Mail says Mancuso will be deported on September 4)
But the ‘para-economy’ is perhaps the episode that arouses the most expectations. The former paramilitary says he is willing to provide evidence and names of powerful businessmen who fueled the Auc’s death machine.
Formally, his defense says that he will speak of charcoal, logging, shrimp, car dealers and oil companies that irrigated resources to the paramilitaries.
EL TIEMPO accessed documents that Mancuso sent to the JEP and, in one, dated October 25, 2018, he stated: “I would like us to talk about members of the Farc, the Auc and the government of that time; on the attack on El Nogal in the city of Bogotá; or from Ecopetrol’s financial support to the Auc and the guerrillas ”.
And, in another one, on August 31, 2018, he assured that he had already confessed that, “as happened in the case of Carlos Mattos, several national and multinational firms have benefited from our actions, and from the negligent attitude of officials from the prosecution”.
“It’s false. Carlos Mattos’ businesses are legal today and forever. There is no employer concern for any claims Mancuso may make. I don’t think it is convenient for you to lie to the country, ”said Iván Cancino, Mattos’s lawyer.
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