by Austin Galt
During the late 1980s, Yair Klein, an Israeli mercenary, was brought in to train the Medellín Cartel’s assassins along with these right-wing paramilitaries. The pretext of the training, which was financed largely by the drug traffickers in conjunction with ACDEGAM, was to be able to fight back against the left-wing guerrillas. Klein would later state that the training was undertaken with the support of government security forces and politicians, adding, ‘The army was afraid of the guerrillas who were gaining more territory’.
The recruits were instructed by Klein at a farm owned by Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, located next to the Magdalena River in the municipality of Puerto Boyacá which was known as the ‘Anti-Subversive Capital of Colombia’. The men were trained to become experts in explosives, including arming and disarming car bombs, assault tactics and murder techniques.
One of Klein’s best recruits was Alonso de Jesús Baquero, known as ‘Vladimir’. He began his criminal life as a FARC guerrilla but deserted them after they demanded his five-year-old daughter also join the group. He went on to lead the paramilitary group Frente Gavilanes del Magdalena Medio or Hawks of Middle Magdalena Front which authored some of the worst massacres of the 1980s.
One of those attacks occurred in Puerto Araújo in Santander state, resulting in the deaths of 19 contraband merchants. On 5 October 1987, as 17 of the merchants travelled in a convoy from the Venezuelan border to Medellín, they were stopped and diverted to the farm El Diamante or The Diamond which was owned by the leader of ACDEGAM, Henry Pérez. After being accused of selling weapons to the guerrillas and not paying extortion fees, they were tied up and tortured before being shot dead. Their bodies were then cut up with a chainsaw and disposed of in a tributary of the Magdalena River. Another two merchants, who went to search for their missing partners a couple of weeks later, were also killed.
The other paramilitary groups also sought out the guerrillas and those who allegedly provided them with assistance. On 3 April 1988, as the townspeople of La Mejor Esquina in Córdoba celebrated Domingo de Resurrección or Easter Sunday, about 15 paramilitaries from Los Magnificos arrived and began firing on the crowd, leaving 27 men, women and children dead. A few days earlier, graffiti had been painted on several houses warning, ‘Los Magnificos are coming to clean the zone of guerrillas’.
This limpieza or cleaning was a phenomenon that had gained traction at that time and originally involved eliminating ‘undesirables’ such as vagabonds, drug addicts, homosexuals, prostitutes and common criminals. Several groups sprung up throughout the major cities of Colombia in the mid-1980s, with names such as KanKil, Terminator, Los Justicieros or The Avengers, Mano Negra or Black Hand and Muerte a jaladores de carros or Death to Carjackers. The introduction of foreign mercenaries took these private death squads to the next level.
Another massacre took place in the Antioquian goldmining town of Segovia. The Patriotic Union had recently won elections in the region including Segovia which now had its first communist mayor, Rita Ivonne Tobón. In the days leading up to the attack, an intimidating notice had been circulated around town, threatening the leaders and members of the Patriotic Union. The notice, which was signed by MRN, ended with a warning, ‘Out communists and guerrillas’.
Mayor Tobón also received death threats saying she would be killed if she didn’t leave the country within 72 hours. The countdown was on. Even the Colombian army’s General Farouk Yanine Díaz arrived by helicopter and, upon seeing her once the countdown had ended, remarked, ‘Hey Rita Tobón, you’re still alive! That’s weird.’
Described as the ‘Pacificador del Magdalena’ or ‘Peacemaker of the Magdalena’ due to the violent offensive he commanded against the guerrillas in the region, General Farouk Yanine Díaz was considered one the finest military officers of his generation. He was the son of a Palestinian soldier who fought alongside Lawrence of Arabia and who arrived in Colombia after fleeing his homeland. Yanine Díaz was alleged to be intimately involved with the right-wing paramilitaries and was even charged over these connections, spending a couple of months in jail in 1996. He was later absolved of all charges but the people of Segovia might not have agreed with that decision.
On 11 November 1988, under orders from Fidel Castaño, about two dozen paramilitaries entered the town under cover of darkness after receiving no resistance from any of the three military checkpoints in the area. It was a Friday night about 7 pm with many people out drinking and chatting around the main plaza. As music played over the speakers in bars packed with revellers, the first burst of machine-gun fire came as a surprise. The paramilitaries continued firing indiscriminately on the townspeople who were screaming and running in all directions. Many were caught in the hail of bullets that rained down on them, dropping to the ground dead or severely injured.
The paramilitaries then targeted the mayor’s office killing most of her staff, although Tobón managed to escape. Just over an hour later, the paramilitaries left the town in a sea of blood with over 40 dead and another 60 injured. The Liberal Party politician César Pérez was accused of having been the intellectual author of the attack. The town had previously been under Liberal Party control and he resented losing power. It would take another 24 years before he was brought to justice. In 2013, he was sentenced to 30 years in jail for his role in the massacre.
The La Rochela massacre took place on 18 January 1989 and was ordered by Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha who didn’t want any judicial officers finding some small cocaine laboratories he operated in the area. Vladimir paid off the local police not to escort the 15 officials before ambushing them, killing 12 of them. Their bodies were left on the main highway as a warning to other officials not to return.
Fidel and Carlos eventually drifted towards the money – Medellín. While Carlos enjoyed the bright lights of the big city, Fidel linked back up with Pablo Escobar, who had previously sent him to Bolivia to sort out coca paste supply issues. He quickly became a major player in the cocaine business and sent his brother Vicente, known as ‘El Profe’ or ‘The Professor’, to Los Angeles to handle distribution for him.
As Fidel built his cocaine empire, Carlos continued his war against the left. Not to be outdone by Pablo Escobar’s efforts, he planned and had carried out the assassinations of two left-wing presidential candidates, Bernardo Jaramillo and Carlos Pizarro, in 1990.
Bernardo Jaramillo was the leader of the Patriotic Union which was accused of being the political arm of the FARC. On 22 March 1990, as he entered Bogotá airport’s Terminal Puente Aéreo, a young paramilitary assassin opened fire with a submachine gun. As he lay dying in the arms of his partner, he said to her, ‘My Love, I can’t feel my legs. Those sons of bitches got me. Hold me. Protect me. I’m going to die.’
Carlos Pizarro was the commander of the M-19 and had just negotiated a peace settlement with the Colombian government. As part of the deal, the guerrillas were given the right to form a political party, Alianza Democrática M-19 (AD M-19) or M-19 Democratic Alliance, and Pizarro was announced as its presidential candidate. On 26 April 1990, during an Avianca airlines flight from Bogotá to Barranquilla, he was assassinated by another young paramilitary using a gun that had been secreted in the plane’s bathroom. Despite being restrained, the assassin was then shot dead by the DAS agent assigned to protect Pizarro, thereby leaving no evidence linking the crime back to Carlos Castaño.
The murders of Jaramillo and Pizarro were planned and celebrated at Montecasino, the Castaño’s mansion in El Poblado, Medellín. The expansive 31,000 square metre estate was bought by Fidel in the mid-1980s and no bigger party was held there than the one following news of Carlos Pizarro’s death. Gallons of whiskey, served on Ming Dynasty plates, kept the 200-odd gangsters in attendance partying until dawn. Montecasino was also where summits for the top drug traffickers were held as well as serving as the headquarters for Los Pepes.
Los Pepes was wound down upon Escobar’s death and Fidel and Carlos went back to doing what they did best – killing guerrillas. They forme
d the Autodefensas Campesinas de Córdoba y Urabá (ACCU) or the Peasant Self-Defence Forces of Córdoba y Urabá. This new paramilitary outfit worked alongside other illegal paramilitary groups, such as MAS, and controlled important drug-trafficking corridors. It also worked alongside the military and provided them with key intelligence on guerrilla movements. The paramilitaries were dubbed the ‘Sexta División’ or ‘Sixth Division’ to denote their close links with the army – the Colombian Armed Forces is made up of five divisions.
The Colombian military were no strangers to right-wing paramilitary groups and were allegedly linked to the creation of the Alianza Americana Anticomunista (AAA) or American Anticommunist Alliance which operated in the late 1970s. It was responsible for attacks against left-wing groups, such as the bombing of PCC headquarters in December 1978.
The ACCU was formed in conjunction with a national program of cooperative neighbourhood watch groups responding to the growing guerrilla threat, known as CONVIVIR which means ‘to live in harmony’. It was created in 1994 by a decree of Colombia’s Ministry of National Defence and a law passed by the Colombian Congress.
Fidel didn’t last long, disappearing from the scene in early 1994. Carlos claimed he was killed in a firefight with the EPL guerrillas, however, others have suggested Carlos ordered the death of his brother in a dispute over a girl they had both been involved with romantically. Fidel had killed the girl after finding out about her involvement with Carlos, and Carlos feared he would be next.
With Fidel gone, Vicente, who had returned from the United States, took a more prominent role in the new paramilitary organisation set up by Carlos. Fidel’s right-hand man, Carlos García known as ‘Doble Cero’ or ‘Double Zero’, also stepped into a leadership role. He was an ex-soldier and former member of Los Pepes as well as one of the founders of the death squad Death to Carjackers.
Carlos Castaño was the group’s leader and also in charge of politics, but it was his brother Vicente who was considered the real power behind the throne and the true boss of the paramilitaries, although he preferred to remain out of the public view. He controlled the finances and logistics, while Doble Cero controlled the military. The group received many calls for help from politicians and businessmen in Urabá, the north-western region of Colombia near Panama. They were fed up with being extorted and kidnapped by the FARC guerrillas who dominated the area.
The ACCU headed to the region and immediately engaged with the guerrillas located in the mountains. Their initial forays were not very successful and they lost several fighters in battle. They changed tactics so that instead of fighting the guerrillas on their home turf in the mountains they waited for the guerrillas to come into town.
The paramilitaries began to employ the same successful strategy used by Los Pepes in attacking the support base. Anyone who provided help to the FARC, or was even suspected of doing so, was killed. With the guerrillas now unable to come into town to purchase supplies, they relied on people to bring those supplies to the mountains. Anyone caught doing so by the ACCU would pay with their life. Bodies started piling up across the region. The FARC had met their match!
The paramilitaries also began playing the guerrillas at their own game. Carlos Castaño once stated, ‘The guerrillas can act outside the law, so the battle is uneven, and we realised that we could use the same guerrilla strategies and adopt their combat methods.’ In 1996, they kidnapped the family members of some important FARC leaders, including the brother of Alfonso Cano, the sister of Iván Márquez and the sister of Simón Trinidad. This was in retaliation for those kidnapped by the guerrillas. Carlos Castaño wanted the FARC leaders to feel the same pain as the families of their kidnapping victims. He released his hostages the following year on the condition the FARC stop kidnapping. They didn’t and the war continued.
Within two years, the ACCU had expelled the FARC from Urabá and demand for their services exploded. In response, an umbrella organisation – Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) or United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia – was set up in 1997.
At the same time, however, CONVIVIR had become very controversial after it was revealed that members were committing abuses against civilians. Despite enthusiastic support for the program by then governor of Antioquia, Álvaro Uribe, it was declared unconstitutional later that same year.
The AUC began setting up various blocs around the country, with each bloc responsible for protecting their benefactors’ economic, social and political interests against the left-wing guerrillas. Doble Cero trained new recruits who were then sent to various destinations chosen by Vicente, who would also sell AUC franchises to drug traffickers. Carlos was never very interested in the drugs side of the operation and instead yearned for a political career in a guerrilla-free country.
Not only did the AUC protect local businesses, farms, drug crops and laboratories, they also became involved with international corporations that had investments in the country. The most well-known of these cases involved the American producer and distributer of bananas, Chiquita.
Chiquita Brands International, in a settlement with the US Justice Department in 2007, admitted to paying $1.7 million to the AUC between 1997 and 2004 for the protection of their operations based in Urabá and Santa Marta. Similar payments had also been made to the FARC and ELN before the AUC had arrived in each region. All three groups are listed as Foreign Terrorist Organisations by the US State Department. Chiquita was fined $25 million.
Further testimony about how payments were made by the banana exporters was later given by one of Urabá’s biggest landowners who also became a paramilitary leader – Raúl Hasbún known as ‘Pedro Bonito’. He stated that he was paid three cents for every box of bananas exported and would receive around $200,000 per month. This lucrative arrangement went on for 10 years.
As the AUC expanded, massacres became more frequent and ferocious. Their first massacre of real consequence took place in the town of Mapiripán in Meta state. On 15 July 1997, about 200 paramilitaries, led by Salvatore Mancuso, entered the town which was known to be under the control of the FARC. The guerrillas grew a lot of coca in the surrounding countryside and, as the dominant force in the area, the local population really didn’t have a choice about whether or not to cooperate with them.
The paramilitaries, known colloquially as paras or paracos, had flown into the town of San José del Guaviare on two aircraft before making their way to Mapiripán, a 50 kilometre journey which took a few days. They passed through military checkpoints unchecked, suggesting complicity in the plan, before spending the next five days slaughtering their way through the town. Locals who didn’t manage to escape were dismembered, disembowelled and beheaded, converting the town into a human abattoir.
While those able to escape raised the alarm, the military chose to stay away. The number of victims was estimated to be around 50, although it is likely more as many bodies were thrown into the Guaviare River with their bellies cut open so that they wouldn’t float. Two military officers, a colonel and a general, were subsequently convicted for failing to take any action and each was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Justice would also eventually reach the paramilitary leaders involved.
Salvatore Mancuso had just been extorted by the EPL guerrillas when he decided he had to fight back. In 1992, Mancuso, the son of an Italian immigrant father and Colombian mother, returned from studying in Bogotá and began managing various farms owned by his wife’s family. He discreetly followed the guerrillas and upon finding out where their camp was located, he informed the army who then launched a raid. The army was grateful for his tip-off and he would continue to inform them whenever he came across relevant information.
Through his military dealings, Mancuso soon met an army major who also happened to be an Italian descendant and recently transferred to the region in the south of Córdoba having previously been stationed in Antioquia under the command of General Farouk Yanine Díaz. They formed a close friendship and his new friend told him he would have to fight if he
wanted to stay on his land, as the guerrillas were becoming too powerful for the government forces to handle by themselves. Mancuso subsequently got together with many other ranchers in the region and they agreed to form a paramilitary unit to protect their land holdings.
When one of the ranchers was kidnapped by the EPL guerrillas in 1993, Mancuso mounted a retaliatory raid, killing three guerrillas. His reputation began to grow throughout the region and he was eventually invited to Casa Castaño or House Castaño, as the brothers were known collectively, where he was asked to join the ACCU. This he did, becoming one of the Castaño’s key deputies.
Carlos Castaño wanted to duplicate the success of the right-wing paramilitaries in Middle Magdalena which had been completely cleared of left-wing guerrillas in the 1980s. He needed respected landowners in each region to lead the various factions and Salvatore Mancuso fitted the bill. Mancuso helped to set up the region’s legal CONVIVIR vigilante groups which would coordinate with the ACCU. These groups, such as Nuevo Horizonte or New Horizon and Nuevo Amanecer or New Dawn, would eventually become the AUC’s Córdoba Bloc after CONVIVIR was shut down.
The AUC expanded by forming alliances with other independent paramilitary groups, such as those around the Caribbean coast. They would rely on the help of prominent drug traffickers, ranchers and other power players. Mancuso knew an influential figure in the Caribbean region from his days in Bogotá – Rodrigo Tovar. Tovar would eventually join the organisation becoming known as Jorge 40, the leader of the AUC’s Bloque Norte or Northern Bloc. Mancuso was then sent to the border region in Norte Santander state with the intention of setting up the Catatumbo Bloc which covered the strategic drug-trafficking territory between Cúcuta on the border with Venezuela up to Tibú.
