Bogotá, Colombia – A former strongman has wrapped up testimony before Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) tribunal this week, offering a harrowing look into paramilitary assassination programmes orchestrated during the country’s decades-long internal conflict.Salvatore Mancuso, who used the nom de guerre “Triple Zero”, was one of the primary leaders of paramilitary forces in the country in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Over four days of testimony, ending Tuesday, Mancuso offered insight into groups that Colombia’s Peace Commission has since described as “death squads”.
As the erstwhile commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a coalition of right-wing paramilitary groups, Mancuso described the murder and forced disappearances of political activists and other individuals seen as sympathetic to left-wing groups and causes.
“These were assassinations,” he said on the first day of testimony, May 10. “There is no other word for it.”
Salvatore Mancuso has previously offered testimony before Colombia’s Truth Commission, as the country contends with the legacy of a nearly 60-year-long internal conflict [File: Nathalia Angarita/Reuters]
Mancuso has previously admitted to thousands of counts of various crimes before the JEP, in an attempt to earn leniency and avoid further legal proceedings in Colombia. He gave this week’s testimony by video from the United States, where he previously served 12 years on drug trafficking charges.
“We weren’t told just to kill. We were told to hide the bodies and ensure they were never found,” Mancuso said from a screen before the court.
To cover up their crimes, Mancuso explained his forces built crematoriums to burn the bodies of those killed. Other victims were disposed of in the Catatumbo River, which separates Colombia and Venezuela in the Catatumbo region.
His testimony also corroborated longstanding accusations that paramilitary groups planned their attacks in direct coordination with …

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Mancuso has previously admitted to thousands of counts of various crimes before the JEP, in an attempt to earn leniency and avoid further legal proceedings in Colombia. He gave this week’s testimony by video from the United States, where he previously served 12 years on drug trafficking charges.
“We weren’t told just to kill. We were told to hide the bodies and ensure they were never found,” Mancuso said from a screen before the court.
To cover up their crimes, Mancuso explained his forces built crematoriums to burn the bodies of those killed. Other victims were disposed of in the Catatumbo River, which separates Colombia and Venezuela in the Catatumbo region.
His testimony also corroborated longstanding accusations that paramilitary groups planned their attacks in direct coordination with …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]

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