Colombian paramilitaries admits to killing 21,000

Jamaica Observer [AFP] - 14 Jul, 2009

Colombian right-wing paramilitaries have admitted to killing 21,000 people, prosecutors said yesterday.

"We are up to 21,000 murders that have been confessed to," Luis Gonzalez, of the public prosecutor's office, told local radio.

The confessions by the former fighters spanned a three-year period and are part of a peace deal that includes a drive to demobilise 31,000 former fighters, know as the United Colombian Self-Defence Forces, or Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC).

Gonzalez told Radio Caracol that the full extent of the "horrors" may be unknown "because there are still many murders to confess to".

"We have documented around 246,000 cases that occurred in the regions that had the Autodefensa forces," he said.

"The important thing is that we are learning the truth, who participated, who benefited from these killings."

In April, the government in Bogota declared that the AUC had ceased to exist.

Over 600 AUC leaders and members have agreed to subject themselves to controversial "justice and peace" laws that limit punishment for fighters found guilty of major crimes to eight years in prison.