Weekly Report - 22 July 2003

In record time the government of President Alvaro Uribe has reached an agreement with the paramilitary Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) and a couple of allied organisations, to begin a demobilisation process meant to dismantle these groups completely by the end of 2005. The venture is fraught with difficulties -not the least of which is 'selling' both at home and abroad the concessions -which include 'alternatives to prison'- made to secure this deal.

The process envisaged differs in several aspects from the one tried out by the Pastrana administration with the Farc guerrillas. There will be a concentration area where the paramilitary will congregate under firm security guarantees. The paracos, however, will not have the run of this area: from the very beginning there will be a strong 'security presence'.
Both in Bogotá and Washington what is being touted as the main benefit of the agreement is that it 'withdraws one big threat from the field'. Indeed, peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo argues that the disbanding of the paramilitary organisations will meet one of the guerrillas' demands, and may thus facilitate the initiation of a new peace process with them.

Another aspect has been buried in doublespeak. Restrepo has emphasised repeatedly that the agreement does not include a grant of impunity for 'atrocious crimes' (a legal term which technically includes murder). Those accused of such crimes will be tried and convicted -but the government will seek 'alternatives to prison' when it comes to sentencing.

These alternatives will involve 'actions of social reparation'. Exactly what this means has not been spelt
out. 'Atrocious crimes' have been a speciality of the AUC and other paramilitary groups. In Colombia's gruesome league tables they figure as the principal authors of massacres -events involving the killing of several people at once.

A major issue that has been skirted is that of the US extradition requests hanging over top AUC leaders Carlos Castaño and Salvatore Mancuso. According to Restrepo, this was not even touched upon when the demobilisation agreement was reached, because it was about 'particular affairs of some leaders'. However, he said, 'we will handle [this matter] with the greatest care and prudence [at] the appropriate time.'

Included in the deal are the AUC, the Bloque Central Bolí­var and the Alianza Oriente. Still aloof is the Bloque Metro, which operates in and around Medellí­n.