Colombian Paramilitaries Flex Their Power with Shutdown Order

Over 65 politicians in Colombia have been found guilty of aiding and abetting violent paramilitary activity in the country. | Photo: Reuters

Colombia's largest paramilitary group, "Los Urabeños," imposed a community shutdown on residents in at least five Colombian state-departments. The recent community shutdown by paramilitaries seems to reinforce fears of paramilitaries in Colombia.

Through pamphlets signed by the group, residents were ordered to stay indoors and suspend all economic, work and academic activities for 24 hours starting on March 31st. However that period of time was exceeded and the shutdown extended for at least 24 hours more with transportation, schools and businesses widely closed.

Colombia's Minister of Defence Luis Carlos Villegas admitted Friday the government is highly concerned about the situation, while urging citizens to not "let themselves be persuaded by the threats."

In the communities, those who tried to continue on with daily life were confronted with the violence of the "Urabeños" paramilitaries, who also identify themselves as the "Gaitanistas Self-Defence Forces of Colombia."

This was the case of Lorenzo Upegui, 60, a truck driver who was murdered Friday as he was driving from the city of Medellin to the municipality of Taraza, an area that was affected by the imposed shutdown. The murder triggered the reaction of Jorge Salazar, a leader of Colombia's truck drivers to say, "I call on my colleagues to strictly restrain from driving today in the departments where the Gaitanistas Self-Defence Paramilitary Forces are present."

"We have colleagues that have been for some 36 hours caught in the road, sleeping under the trucks without any food or water. By now there is a six-kilometer caravan of trucks stuck along the road, we hope we can soon start moving accompanied by the police," Salazar told Saturday teleSUR English.

On Friday, Colombia’s Minister of Defense said that 63 percent of the actions within the paramilitary shutdown have been against civilians, 27 percent against security forces and 10 percent targeting infrastructure. Over the course of 48 hours, the shutdown has claimed the lives of five civilians and six members of the security forces.

The heightening tensions together with rumours that the paramilitary group intends to extend the shutdown during the whole weekend, motivated the visit of Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos Friday to Cordoba, one of the departments under the shutdown, where he held an extraordinary security council meeting.

The president threatened to move with full force against the "Urabeños" and made it clear that they will not get any "political treatment." The group has been allegedly seeking political recognition in order to be included in negotiations with the government. In a pamphlet, the group called for a "dignified solution" for their members arguing that they have territorial control, a military command and the capability to carry out sustained military operations.

This is not the first time that the so-called "Urabeños" manage to enforce a shutdown. In 2012, the group paralyzed areas of six state-departments exposing the control and power that they have over an extensive part of the national territory. According to social organizations the latest shutdown has once again ratified the strength of paramilitarism that the Colombian government has persistently failed to tackle.

The government's insistence on denying the existence of paramilitaries by portraying these groups as merely criminal gangs, known in Colombia as “BACRIM,” has drawn widespread criticism.

Paramilitaries allegedly demobilized between 2003 and 2006 following negotiations between the government of former President Alvaro Uribe and the "United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia" or AUC, the largest paramilitary group in Colombia’s history.

Part of the AUC leadership was prosecuted and extradited to the United States, however mid-level commanders and local fighters took over the paramilitary structure and networks and began operating under different names among which are the widely known "Urabeños."

According to Human Rights defender Claudia Erazo, there was never a genuine negotiation process with the AUC. "The structure of the paramilitaries was never really targeted, neither their funders or political allies. The paramilitary alliances with military sectors were also left intact," Erazo told teleSUR English.

This latest paramilitary shutdown came as former President Uribe and his followers held demonstrations on Saturday against the current peace talks with the FARC and the ELN guerrillas. For many this is not merely a coincidence. "Both the political and the armed far right-wing are putting all efforts in jeopardize the ongoing peace efforts," Erazo said.

Even though organizers of the demonstration have denied any links with the shutdown, pamphlets signed by paramilitaries inviting people to take part in the protest could be seen. Local media has also reported on phone conversations intercepted by Colombia’s Prosecutor Office in which members of the "Urabeños" were allegedly heard saying that "everything is setup for the march."

At a moment when peace talks with both the ELN and the FARC guerrillas advance, many are wondering how the government is supposed to provide safety guarantees for those who lay down weapons in the event of a final peace deal. For many that would simply not be possible without tackling and dismantling paramilitarism, widely seen as the main threat to peace construction in Colombia. The recent paramilitary shutdown appears to legitimize these fears.

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