Colombia: Salvatore Mancuso, ex-paramilitary leader, will be extradited to Italy

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4 min

The former paramilitary leader of the AUC, a Colombian paramilitary group, will be extradited to Italy in early September, a decision by the federal court in Washington. Salvatore Mancuso is currently in the United States.

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The argument advanced by Salvatore Mancuso and his lawyers to obtain his extradition to Italy is based on the fact that he is now illegally detained by the United States immigration services. The former paramilitary leader finished serving a 12-year prison sentence in the United States last April for drug trafficking. Salvatore Mancuso has dual Colombian and Italian nationality.

Colombia had declared a few days ago to wish the extradition of Salvatore Mancuso to Colombia after he had finished serving his sentence in the United States and made a request in this direction to the American justice. Mancuso has scores to settle with Colombian justice, had tweeted Colombian President Ivan Duque, "  his crimes will not go unpunished  " he added.

El futuro by Salvatore Mancuso in Colombia debe ser una cárcel. Ofrecerle caminos de ausencia de prisión y no extradición a cambio de supuesta “verdad” es una agresión a sus víctimas, que esperan sanciones ejemplarizantes.

56-year-old Salvatore Mancuso was one of the main paramilitary leaders of the AUC ( Autodefensas unidas de Colombia ), a far-right organization officially demobilized in 2006 under the presidency of Alvaro Uribe. He was extradited to the United States by the same government , under the charge of drug trafficking and sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison, his sentence will then be reduced for "good behavior". 

In 2005, these paramilitary leaders agreed to demobilize their militias in exchange for the promise of light sentences, recalled our correspondent in Bogota, Marie-Eve Detoeuf. They had made their way to prison, convinced that they would not spend more than eight years there and not be extradited. Why did Alvaro Uribe decide to break this pact? Because the paramilitaries did not keep their word and they continued to lead their mafia networks from prison, explained the head of state. But for some observers, Alvaro Uribe had chosen to extradite the paramilitary leaders to silence them. Their confessions were becoming very compromising for the Colombian political class and for those around the president.

Since Mancuso's extradition to the United States, human rights organizations and associations of victims of the Colombian conflict have continued to demand that he be returned to Colombia so that he can explain the crimes of its organization and its links with the political sphere and the business world. Miguel Ceballos, High Commissioner for Peace, said a few days ago that in the event of Mancuso's extradition to Italy, an appeal would be brought to the competent European legal bodies.

"Si por alguna razón Mancuso llegara a territorio italiano oa cualquier otro país del mundo, también tendrá que ser capturado por cuenta de las circulares rojas de Interpol", @ComisionadoPaz

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