This Holy Thursday, The Washington Postone of the most prestigious newspapers in the United States, dedicated the opening of its printed edition to an extensive report dedicated to the feared Clan del Golfoor Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia AGC.
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The report, accompanied by unpublished photographs, focuses on exclusive interviews with members of the group that this criminal organization granted to a group of reporters from the newspaper who traveled to northern Colombia to meet with them.
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Among them, aka Jeromewhom they identify as political leader of the groupand another of his commanders.
Although the text describes the Clan as the largest drug trafficking group in the country that is accused of murders, forced displacement and other crimes, it also presents them as an organization that operates as a State within the State bringing some benefits to the population.
If we continue with this same rhetoric of abandonment, corruption, persecution, and repression by the State, we will continue to defend ourselves.
Both Jerome and the others describe themselves as a “political organization” that wants a seat in the negotiations for a Total Peace that the government of President Gustavo Petro is advancing and that eventually aspires to become a party with legislative representation.
They also warn that any agreement with the government must guarantee his non-extradition to the United States because otherwise “another conflict would break out” and they threaten to continue in their fight and even spread if they are not taken into account.
“If we continue with this same rhetoric of abandonment, corruption, persecution, and repression by the State, we will continue to defend ourselves. And to the extent that we can transcend and expand the territory, we will get there”, says alias Jerónimo.
In another of his asides, the so-called political chief of the AGC says that they decided to speak to the post so that the public would understand that in reality their mission is political and that they are not the criminal group that this government and previous ones have sold to the country. and to the world. He also says that he hopes that the negotiations with the government will offer them “international recognition.”
The Post, in its printed edition, headlines the article “The Colombian drug gang that wants a voice in the construction of the state”.
It also includes a special edition on the web containing multiple photographs of group members in uniformswith logos and flags, as well as images of the towns where they operate.
“Regardless of the government’s position, it will not be easy for it to defeat or push aside the AGC: its influence and money are everywhere. In a town in northern Antioquia, an AGC banner hangs over a paved road, Considered a rare luxury in this part of the country, leaders in the region say it was paid for in part by the group, along with lights for the soccer field, home team jerseys and a new dam that the community hopes will bolster their water supply. The AGCs sponsor community parties for Mother’s Day, family events at school and bring toys for all the children at Christmas,” the Post says in the article.
It also presents testimonies from inhabitants of the area according to which they have opened their doors to the ACG because they are the only state there is.
“If the State at this moment arrives and offers us help, glory to God, we would be with them,” said a town leader. “But the State has not arrived,” says one of them.
“In a small community on the outskirts of Belén de Bajirá, in the Chocó region, the group has stood in for an absentee government. There is a small health center, but there is no doctor. There is a school, but there are no school buses. The AGCs are working to find a doctor and transport for the children to school, local leaders say. When a resident needed urgent tests before kidney surgery last year, she turned to the local council for help. He turned to the AGC, who gave him about $150 to pay for the medical exams.“, says another of the asides.
Colombia does not consider that the AGCs are “political”, because their objective is not “to subvert the constitutional order
The report also contains statements by the Government’s High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, in which he maintains that “Colombia does not consider the AGC to be ‘political’, because their objective is not to ‘subvert the constitutional order’.
In a statement, he described the group’s influence as a kind of criminal “governance” for social control and the “protection and generation of wealth.” But governance, he said, does not classify it as a political entity.
Also from the Minister of Justice, Néstor Osuna, according to which “the Government has suggested that the members of the AGC turn themselves in voluntarily to the judicial system through a bill that would make them an “attractive offer”, including lighter sentences” .
According to the newspaper, “Colombian authorities and human rights defenders say that the AGC have exercised their control through forced displacement, extortion, the murder of police officers and the recruitment of minors. In addition, they benefit from mining illegal and dominate the country’s drug distribution networks by supplying cocaine to Mexican cartels. Jerónimo said the group only makes money by taxing cartels that operate in their territory.”
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
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