December
3, 2006: The AUC amnesty deal is unraveling as it becomes known how many
of the AUC members only went through the motions of surrendering, and have
remained active in the drug business. The AUC was formed in the 1980s, by
middle and upper class Colombians, as a defense against the FARC and ELN. But
the AUC soon went into the drug business, which FARC and the other leftist
rebels had done, to finance their growing numbers of full time gunmen. The AUC made
a disarmament deal with the government. But, there remains the problem of
punishment, or amnesty, for past crimes, and trusting that the AUC were really
quitting their criminal enterprises. A similar problem is expected if the
leftist rebels (FARC and ELN) negotiate an amnesty deal. Such a deal will be
more difficult to work out, because the leftist groups were, before they were
thoroughly corrupted by their criminal enterprises, were seeking the
establishment of a socialist dictatorship in Colombia. Many FARC and ELN
members still want their socialist paradise, but even more want to hang on to
all the money they're making in the cocaine business.
December
1, 2006: Fearing a jail break, 58 arrested AUC leaders were transferred to
a high security prison.
November
30, 2006: Meanwhile, in the northeast, 17 soldiers were killed when they
were ambushed by FARC rebels in the northeast.
November
29, 2006: On paper, some 30,000 AUC gunmen have demobilized, but the
threat of jail time for many of the leaders has led to murders of potential
witnesses (especially if they are former AUC members.)
November
26, 2006: While sixty leader of the AUC await trial for crimes committed
during their war against FARC, and other leftist rebels, it came to light that,
in 2001, forty politicians, mainly from the northeast, signed loyalty oaths to
the AUC.
