Former paramilitary leader convicted of plotting Mapiripan massacre

[Judi Lynn]

Former paramilitary leader convicted of plotting Mapiripan massacre
Friday, 17 February 2012 14:57
Charles Parkinson

Former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso has been convicted of plotting the murder of 77 in the 1997 Mapiripan Massacre.

Appearing via video link from a U.S. prison in Virginia where he is currently serving time for drug trafficking, Mancuso pleaded guilty to charges of terrorism, kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

The incident, in the central department of Meta, saw paramilitaries slaughter villagers with chainsaws and machetes, leaving bodies strewn around the streets and more than 70 people missing. Many of the bodies were chopped up and disposed of in a river, making it impossible to determine the exact death toll.

Following questions of the victims' attorney, Luis Guillermo Perez, Mancuso refused to answer whether then-governor of Antioquia, former President Alvaro Uribe, was involved in the paramilitary expansion from Antioquia to Meta where the massacre took place.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/22274-former-paramilitary-leader-convicted-of-plotting-mapiripan-massacre.html

(My emphasis)

[Judi Lynn]

1. A quote from Mancuso you might want to note, if you've watched Colombian President Uribe:

They have killed 3,000 demobilized. They have removed the security measures for my family so that this truth doesn't come out. (There is) a lack of security for my family and the members of the AUC. It has become an unbearable pressure. Each time we were to make a statement about the head of the former government or persons linked to the government they would take the security away from my family," said Mancuso.

This is the President (Alvaro Uribe) the U.S. pResident gave the U.S. Medal of Freedom. His supporters are clamoring for the Colombian Senate to make another amendment to their constitution so he can run another time. The last time they did this, there were arrests, and some prison time when it was learned his supporters bribed some Senators to get that amendment.