US will extradite former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso to Colombia
The United States will extradite to Colombia on Tuesday the former commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC in Spanish), Salvatore Mancuso, a source familiar with the discussions between the two governments told EFE. The US government has not provided any public information about the extradition, nor have they responded to EFE’s inquiries about its timing or circumstances.
The AUC was a far-right paramilitary and drug-trafficking group that participated in the Colombian armed conflict from 1997 to 2006, ostensibly in self-defense against communist guerrillas.
It was the group responsible for the highest number of homicides and massacres during the armed conflict, according to Colombia’s Truth Commission, and demobilized in 2006 after a negotiation process with the government of former President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010).
As part of the agreement, the former paramilitaries received a maximum sentence of eight years in prison in exchange for their cooperation in the investigation of the crimes they committed.
However, a group of 14 high-ranking former AUC leaders, including Mancuso, who was known as ‘El Mono,’ or the Blond Guy, were extradited to the United States on May 13, 2008. A year after his extradition, Mancuso pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges brought against him by the United States, and in 2015 he was sentenced to 15 years and 10 months in prison.
