Latinnews Daily - 22 December 2006

 Significance: Mancuso's statement will make the Christmas holiday an uncomfortable one for many Colombian politicians. The Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), the paramilitary group, once boasted that it controlled a third of congress; the recent spate of revelations over congressmen and senators linked to the group has shown there was substance behind this claim. Many of those currently under investigation are allies of President Alvaro Uribe.

“All the names will be revealed, the times, the places, the acts, with all the clarity the country needs," Mancuso said. “The only way of building peace in the country is to tell the truth, I know it is hard, difficult, but it is the only way." Mancuso is one of 59 paramilitary chiefs due to testify under the peace and justice legislation which has allowed for the demobilisation of around 31,000 paramilitaries. Although Mancuso has been sentenced to 40 years for his involvement in massacres and the forced displacement of people, his sentence will be reduced to between five and eight years under the terms of the legislation.

Separately, on 21 December the Colombian army announced it had captured the supposed head of a paramilitary group which has refused to demobilise, the Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles). Máximo Cuesta was captured during a gun fight in the north-eastern department of Norte de Santander.

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