Anti-Militarism: News & Updates

Right-wing death squads worked side by side with the country’s business, military and political elite to sow terror in the countryside and wipe out left-wing insurgencies.  Now on trial, a formed high-ranking paramilitary commander testifies that paramilitaries regularly took orders from state institutions as it became the state military's unofficial arm to fight the left-wing revolutionary forces. 

The armed conflict has been waged in Colombia for the past six decades.   The main actors in the armed struggle that has cost the lives of at least 450,000 people and displaced millions are: 1) left wing revolutionary forces (FARC, ELN), 2) Colombia's official military, and 3) paramilitaries (such as United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia , or AUC). Originally the AUC was founded as an effort to protect land owners  but turned into one of Colombia's most powerful drug cartels with a military force of 20,000 combatants in its height. In 2004 a controversial deal between the AUC and the Colombian government led to a large majority of fighters laying down their weapons and later the beginning of a process of prosecution of military leaders.

One of these high ranking AUC leaders now facing legal prosecution is Salvatore Mancuso, drug offender and former second in command of the AUC. In 2008 Mancuso was first arrested on drugs charges in the USA in 2008 and released in 2020. Today Mancuso is charged again by a Colombian court for his role in the Colombian civil war. Mancuso, in an effort to reduce his sentence, has agreed to give a testimony in the ongoing peace tribunal for the crimes committed by AUC forces during the their time of terror.

In his testimony Mancuso has revealed information on many of the crimes committed, as well as government and the AUC cooperation during the civil war. According to Mancuso's testimony, the AUC worked hand in hand with the Colombian business, political and military elite for years in an effort to wipe out leftist groups no matter if civilian or militant. Mancuso stated that over the years, the AUC regularly took orders from state institutions as it became the state military's unofficial arm to fight the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). During its most active years, the AUC committed hundreds of atrocities, including a number of massacres of civilians, torture, rape and kidnapping by order of the state. In the hearing, Mancuso admitted organizing thousands of crimes, including the killing of TV-comedian and activist Jaime Garzon in 1998, attacks on civilian communities, and an assassination attempt on Gustavo Petro, who was then a left-wing congressman and now the country’s president. During his time as second in command, Mancuso was deeply involved with corporate enterprises and Colombian politics.  At his height in 2004, Mancuso even gave a speech in the Colombian parliament which was applauded with standing ovations. But this high regard  didn't come out of nowhere. One year earlier in 2003, AUC forces killed Eudaldo Díaz, the mayor of El Roble; according to Mancuso, the assassination was ordered by the government. Shortly prior to this, Álvaro Uribe (then president of Colombia) removed security detail from the mayor, a move that allowed AUC mercenaries to attack, torture and eventually kill him.

Mancuso additionally stated in his testimony that former vice-president Francisco Santos requested the formation of a new AUC unit around the city of Bogotá to stop left-wing rebels from reaching the capital. Both Uribe and Santos deny the accusations made by Mancuso.

In his testimony Mancuso also talked about the financing, training and equipping of the AUC paramilitaries and the strategic cooperation with the Colombian military.  According to this, AUC forces were financed by international corporations like Coke and Drummond during the 1990s. Like Uribe and Santos, all companies deny these alligations. Mancuso avowed that AUC fighters were trained and equipped by the state military, as well as admitting the planning of two-front-offensives together.  Many of these offensives and attacks by AUC ended in massacres, which were regularly wiped under the carpet thanks to state attorneys warning the AUC about upcoming investigations, so bodies could be burned.

Mancuso has 30 days to present evidence for his accusations, which could lead to investigations into some of Colombia's most important political figures. Additionally these investigations could advance the search for truth and the goal of providing reparations for the victims. 

Today AUC lives on in a number of splinter groups and drug cartels and still bring terror over the country. The largest still active splinter group is the Gulf Clan (Clan del Golfo), Colombia's largest drug cartel.

In our eyes this struggle for justice is far from resolved but as unsettling as these allegations are, it does not come unexpected. We hope that this testimony will shed some light onto the dark web of war and violence. It is also important that Mancuso's testimony does not put him into a state of impunity. He should be duly punished for his human rights crimes.      

On behalf of IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) members, we wrote six letters this month to heads of state and other high-level officials in southern Colombia, Guatemala, and Honduras, urging their swift action in response to human rights abuses occurring in their countries.  We join with civil society groups in Latin America to: (1) protect people living under threat, (2) demand investigations into human rights crimes, (3) bring human rights criminals to justice.

IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) volunteers write six letters in response to urgent human rights cases each month. We send copies of these letters to US ambassadors, embassy human rights officers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, regional representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and desk officers at the US State Department. To read the letters, see https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/rrn , or ask us to mail you hard copies.

Worldwide Guatemala is known to be one of the most corrupt nations in existence. This corruption is deeply rooted in the entrenched economic and political power structure controlled by a ruling elite. Over the years, many ambitious state prosecutors and judges have tried to challenge this web of corruption; most have failed.

In Guatemala opposition to the internal power system is often met with heavy state repression. Human rights defenders, journalists and justice officials are victims of false alligations and persecutions, as the ruling class weaponizes the Guatemalan justice system against them. So far 35 justice officials have gone into exile, in fear to be criminalized for their anti-corruption work, and many more are imprisoned. 

One victim of the systematic misuse of justice against opposition is the former the public prosecutor Virginia Laparra. Before her detention, Laparra was known as her work as the chief prosecutor in the 'Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity' of Guatemala (FECI). In early 2022, Guatemalan security forces detained Laparra, charging her with "abuse of authority and violation of the duty of loyalty" after filing complaints against Judge Lesther Castellanos alleging acts of corruption within the judiciary. Initially Laparra was detained together with four other female prosecutors and anti-corruption lawyers. Now, on May 9, Laparra's sentence of four years in prison was reaffirmed after being convicted in an irregular trail. To ensure that Laparra stays in prison, she is under investigation a second time, a case that is being kept confidential by order of the court. This second investigation shows once more how the politically controlled justice system keeps Guatemala chained in corruption. Laparra's lawyer Claudia Gonzáles has criticized her detention in the military prison Matamoras. According to human rights groups and Gonzáles, Laparra needed a surgery while in prison. Leading up to this she was denied the freedom to choose a doctor and necessary medication. This act was later documented by international human rights organizations known for investigating corruption and human rights abuses.

Claudia Gonzáles is a well known anti-corruption fighter. Before her days as a lawyer, Gonzáles worked as a prosecutor at the UN backed 'International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala' (CICIG). Today Gonzáles works as a lawyer representing nine fellow lawyers criminalized for their anti-corruption work and challenging the power structure in the country.

In order to stop this corruption and illegal prosecutions, the international community must put pressure on the Guatemalan ruling class as well as the justice system.

IRTF stands in solidarity with Virginia Laparra and all other criminalized anti-corruption fighters in Guatemala.                  

El Salvador's human rights violations may have consequences after all. The human rights organization Humanitarian Legal Aid (SJH) is preparing to sue the Salvadoran state on behalf of families whose relatives have been unlawfully arrested and have died in custody or after release. In its lawsuit, the SJH demands that the government of President Bukele take responsibility for all deaths in prison and after release, requests moral and material reparations for families affected, and demands "to clear the name of the innocent people."   

In an effort to collect info for the lawsuit, SJH has published a social media form in which victims and their relatives can confidentially share their experiences and data to support the case. According to SJH, the lawsuit will first be filed with the Salvadoran Attorney General's Office and its Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (PDDH). SJH further said that if the Salvadoran institutions do not respond, the lawsuit will be brought in front of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), based in Washington, DC.     

El Salvador has been in a 'state of exception', which takes away constitutional rights and allows police to arrest anyone on site, for over a year now. This crack down policy is part of Bukele's violent war on gangs which has seen at least 65,000 detentions and hundreds of death's. SJH director Ingrid Escobar has criticized the law and anti-gang efforts, stating that "According to criminologists, investigators and  lawyers, only 8 percent of the people who died belonged to gangs. The rest were innocent citizens who were stigmatized as terrorists.”

We are hopeful that this lawsuit may bring a glimpse of justice to those who have lost their innocent family members to the violent anti-gang war, though we know that no reparations will bring back loved ones. 

A devastating event took place in Brownsville, Texas, on Sunday morning. Around 8:30 am, a truck ran into a crowd of immigrants sitting on a curbside waiting on a bus, killing eight and wounding 10. It is unclear if the crash, which occurred in front of Brownsville's only overnight immigrant shelter, was intentional or not. According to police reports the SUV ran a red light before hitting the group of mainly Venezuelan immigrants. According to witnesses who survived the incidence, the driver, George Alvarez, had shouted anti-immigrant phrases at them.

After the event Alvarez tried to flee the scene but was held up by some of the witnesses until the police arrived. Alvarez was brought to a hospital before being transported to a jail for questioning. He was later charged withy reckless driving, as well as manslaughter in eight cases. The judge set out a bond of $3.6 million

The event took place just four days before the anti-immigrant policy "Title 42" is set to run out. Only a few days prior, Homeland Security stated that authorities face "extremely challenging" circumstances. It is a fact, that the flow of migrants is causing immense challenges due to a fatal lack of support infrastructure. In Brownsville, the Ozanam Shelter has to manage the release of thousands of immigrants, providing shelter and transportation. In the last few months, the center had to handle 250-380 immigrants seeking shelter every day--an impossible task for a facility with a capacity of 250 individuals. 

Though it is unclear if the incident at the shelter was intentional, it happened at a time in which right-wing politicians and anti-immigrant groups stir up fear of immigration and try to play out working class US citizens against people fleeing violence, hunger and discrimination. This rhetoric of division and fear mongering, paired with the refusal to support immigrants, is an explosive mix leading to violent attacks and discrimination in the US population.      

On April 6, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), together with H0meland Security, arrested Roberto Antonio Garay Saravia. The former military commander is under investigation by Homeland Security for his participation in the Salvadoran El Mozote massacre in 1981, which saw the murder of at least a 1,000 people, including women and children. From 1981 to 1985 Garay Saravia was a section commander of a specialized counterinsurgency unit known as the Atlácatl Battalion. During his time as commander, Garay Saravia's unit committed numerous atrocities and was deployed in three further missions in which hundreds of civilians were killed. His arrest is surprising since the forces responsible for the massacre were trained by the US, and in most cases the perpetrators of these inhumane crimes are never persecuted.

After investigations by Homeland Security, Garay Saravia was charged with assisting or otherwise participating in extrajudicial killings and willfully misrepresenting this material fact in his immigration application. In a press release, DHS Deputy Secretary John K. Tien stated that “Individuals who have committed atrocities overseas will not find safe haven in the United States.”

Although we are deeply opposed to ICE, we welcome the fact that one of El Salvador's worst war criminals may finally be brought to justice.