The mini-war that has broken out between groups of paramilitary organisations has thrown up evidence of their involvement in drug trafficking and persisting connections with the military. At the same time, the decision to prosecute top Farc leaders on drug-trafficking charges has revealed the extent to which that organisation relies on drug-generated income, and the dismissal of a top army commander has drawn attention to the murky fringe between the narcos and those who are charged with combating them.
Paramilitary, drugs & military
The rump of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), hitherto the umbrella organisation of Colombia's constellation of paramilitary groups, has declared war on those autodefensas that have chosen not to accompany their peace negotiations with the government - groups that broke away last year after a US court indicted the two AUC leaders on drug-trafficking charges.
The government has been conducting 'exploratory negotiations' with three separate groups: the rump AUC led by Carlos Castaño and Salvatore Mancuso, the Autodefensas Campesinas del Casanare (ACC), whose leader calls himself Martín Llanos, and the Bloque Central Bolívar (BCB), whose leader goes by the nom-de-guerre Ernesto Báez. It has made it clear that it would prefer to consolidate the negotiations.
Aloof from the process is the Bloque Metro (BM), which operates in parts of Medellín and surrounding areas in Antioquia, led by a man known as Rodrigo or 00. Towards the end of May, Rodrigo informed the press that the AUC and BCB, acting jointly, had given him an ultimatum to join the negotiations at their side, failing which they would launch a 'war of annihilation'. Rodrigo refuses to comply because, as he puts it,
'What is taking place is a dialogue between the government and narco bosses who wish to salvage their personal situations and get immunity for their money, at the cost of surrendering the autodefensas movement.'
At about the same time, Llanos of the ACC (which operates in Colombia's eastern plains, in the south of the department of Meta and the jungle department of Guaviare) alleged that the AUC, in collusion with the army, had begun to attack his group.
In one such clash, the ACC found among the AUC casualties the bodies of an army captain and four soldiers. According to Llanos, they belonged to the 7th army brigade stationed at Villavicencio, whose officers, he said, received 'economic benefits' for colluding with the AUC. The commander of the brigade, General Luis Barbosa Hernández, acknowledged the deaths of the four in what he described as a clash between troops and a paramilitary unit.
Far more international attention went to Rodrigo's delivery to the Washington Post of what purported to be the copy of a confidential study of the paramilitary scene commissioned by President Alvaro Uribe. Its main conclusion was that it had become 'impossible to differentiate between the self-defence groups and narco-trafficking organisations'; that the AUC, through a 'franchising' system, controls about 40% of Colombia's drugs trade, which provides about 80% of its revenue.
A second disturbing finding was that the armed forces had become 'the principal enemy to a peace process with the self-defence groups,' opposing their demobilisation on the grounds that the military lacked the capability to take over the areas they would vacate.
The Farc & drugs
On 4 July the chief prosecutor's office announced that it was preferring charges of drug trafficking against the top leaders of the Farc guerrillas, Manuel Marulanda (aka Tirofijo) and Jorge Briceño (aka Mono Jojoy). If captured and convicted they face prison terms of 8 to 20 years - and extradition to the US.
The investigation that led to this started with data from 'Operación Gato Negro' which uncovered the links between the Farc and Brazilian trafficker Fernandinho Beira Mar (captured and deported in 2001 to Brazil, where he now directs from prison Rio's most notorious criminal gang).
The export operation was run from the department of Guainia, which borers on Brazil and Venezuela, under the supervision of Farc commander Tomás Medina Caracas (aka Negro Acacia). Seized accounts showed the Farc receiving, in January-March 2001, Col$14bn (about US$5m today) from its drugs trade. Medina's extradition has been requested from the US.
The general and the cocaine
On 6 June the defence ministry ordered into retirement the commander of the army's second brigade, stationed in Barranquilla, General Gabriel Ramón Díaz Ortiz. No explanation was offered, save that the decision was 'within the government's discretion'.
General Díaz came out claiming that two of three informants he had put in touch with the DEA had appeared murdered, after having provided information that led to the seizure of two tonnes of cocaine by the national police. He was contradicted by the director of the national police, General Teodoro Campo, who said that the biggest cocaine seizure last year in Barranquilla had been of 1.2t, and that Díaz's informants had been responsible for helping the army (not the police) seize just over half a tonne of cocaine. Campo also said that earlier this year Díaz had asked him to sort out the issue of DEA compensation for the informants' services.
The mismatching seizure tallies has prompted much speculation about 'vanishing cocaine.' There was even more speculation in the wake of the 24 June extradition to the US, to face charges of drug-trafficking and money-laundering, of Omar Fakid Hassan, a merchant operating out of the smuggling emporium of Maicao, near the border with Venezuela.
The press reported that the authorities had obtained recordings in which Hassan discusses with Díaz the provision of safeconducts, gun permits and permits for polarised car windows.
Through his lawyer, Díaz has admitted having made purchases at Hassan's store in Maicao, but denied any knowledge of his illegal activities. Hassan was arrested in October last year as a result of Operación Conquista, a joint effort by the Colombian police and the DEA, which also netted a former senator and 14 more people.
Eleven other people were handed over to US marshals together with Hassan. This takes the total of extraditions approved by Uribe since last August to 64, more than his predecessor Andrés Pastrana in the previous four years.
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