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August 23, 2006
Doing yard work for the cameras
Whenever you see pictures of powerful, widely feared, millionaire paramilitary leaders being forced to do yard work, you know you're not getting the entire story.
After months of reports of top paramilitaries - men wanted for murder and narcotrafficking - driving armored SUVs, going to discos and swanky restaurants, and shopping in upscale malls, President Uribe ordered last week that they be "conducted" to a facility in La Ceja, south of Medellín. There, they are to await investigation and sentencing to terms of up to eight years in confinement under the "Justice and Peace" law.
By posting these pictures to its website yesterday, the Colombian government's High Commissioner for Peace clearly intends to demonstrate that the eighteen paramilitary leaders so far assembled there are not living in the lap of luxury. Instead of the splendor that Pablo Escobar enjoyed (briefly) in his personal "La Catedral" prison in 1992-93, and instead of the very comfortable conditions that most narcotraffickers in Colombian jails have come to expect, we see pictures of weedy patios, lumpy beds, and unadorned walls. Warlords who have long decided who lives and dies in vast territories, we are told, must now share one computer, and must help to clean up the grounds.
Apparently, we're meant to think that the paramilitary leadership is truly going to spend the next several years in these conditions, doing penance for the thousands of murders that they ordered or committed. This should shake our certainty that the AUC leaders are in fact going to enjoy near-impunity, and should cause us to doubt that they still command powerful criminal networks and have extensive political clout in key regions of the country. In particular, it is no doubt hoped, pictures of paramilitaries roughing it in a penal colony might reduce U.S. pressure to extradite them for drug-trafficking.
Of course, these pictures are probably not accurate representations of the AUC leaders' daily routine. And we can expect their material conditions to improve rapidly, if they haven't already done so since these photos were taken. Nonetheless, let's enjoy these few images. Look at them and imagine what it would be like if some of Colombia's most ruthless and brutal criminals really did have to spend many long years wearing rubber boots, doing chores, sleeping in twin beds and jockeying for a few minutes of computer time...
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| Salvatore Mancuso of the Córdoba and Urabá paramilitary bloc (ACCU) hoists a log. |
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| Hernán Giraldo of the Tayrona Resistance Bloc (right, posing with High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo) in his assigned bedroom. Note the stylish Spider-Man sheets. |
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| Pedro Iván Laverde ("Pedro Frontera"), former head of the Catatumbo Bloc, in his bedroom. |
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| Iván Roberto Duque ("Ernesto Baez"), outspoken leader of the Central Bolívar Bloc, in the "library" / computer room. |
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| Carlos Mario Jiménez ("Macaco") and Rodrigo Pérez Alzate ("Julián Bolívar") of the Central Bolívar Bloc work a power-washer and broom. |
Posted by isacson at August 23, 2006 5:25 PM
Comments
The photos are clearly meant for the cameras, no question about it. They should be carefully considered as only part of the picture, indeed.
But, despite admitting this, I would caution against implying that their conditions will necessarily, even if they will later improve, reach La Catedral's levels of luxury, ridicule and abuse of trust.
That clearly remains to be seen and proved. I seriously doubt that even Uribe's nigh-invincible aura of popularity would survive such revelations intact, if that actually occured.
I would also question the implication that every single paramilitary leader currently in La Ceja can continue to actively command powerful criminal networks on a daily basis, or that all of them did so even before this recent episode. Perhaps a quarter, half or even three quarters of them are so implicated, who knows, but any estimate is open to debate.
I would definitely agree that their influences remain strong and that a number of their subordinates, both rogue and otherwise, continue to in fact command any remaining criminal structures and illegal businesses, either avoiding or simply subverting the much publicized demobilizations. Others, on the other hand, have not done so and have actually demobilized with a reasonable degree of honesty.
So what we do know, while it provides a very valid reason for generalized criticism and vigilance, especially when dealing with people such as these powerful criminals, doesn't say much about the specifics.
Posted by: jcg ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at August 23, 2006 9:43 PM
It is true, no one knows if the AUC leaers will ever build their own La Catedral. Nevertheless, these pictures are low-level propaganda.
Posted by: Doppiafila at August 24, 2006 9:09 AM
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