Ex-paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso returns to Colombia exiled from US

(CNN Spanish) –– Former paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso returned to Colombia on an deportation flight from the United States this Tuesday, Migration Colombia reported through messages on his account on the social network X, formerly Twitter.

Mancuso was in federal custody in that country. He was extradited by Colombia in May 2008 and indicted by the US justice system for drug trafficking. He completed his sentence in 2020, but remained deprived of liberty while it was decided when and under what conditions he would return to Colombian territory.

After landing and completing the corresponding immigration procedures, Mancuso was placed at the disposal of the national police and signed a document accepting his appointment as peace manager, Migración Colombia detailed.

Mancuso’s appointment as peace manager was announced by President Gustavo Petro in July 2023, as part of actions to promote his “total peace” policy, which seeks to eliminate the armed conflicts that have plagued the country in its recent history. Mancuso was a rancher and head of the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

It is expected that Mancuso will be taken to a penitentiary center and face pending judicial processes in Colombia’s general justice, transitional justice and special justice for peace.

He is accused of several crimes. In April 2023 alone, an indictment linked him to 4,071 crimes involving more than 6,000 victims. Among the incidents attributed to them are 1,116 cases of murder, 2,023 cases of forced displacement and 371 cases of enforced disappearance.

According to the Petro government, Mancuso’s return and his appointment as peace manager are aimed at helping to ensure justice for victims of violence and progress on non-repetition commitments.

In various hearings, Mancuso has spoken about the killings and other crimes committed by him and other paramilitaries. In 2023, Petro announced that he would be peace manager, publishing a letter in which he said he was ready to “contribute to a comprehensive peace agenda”.

“I am ready and waiting to suggest the way to accomplish the tasks assigned to the National Government,” he wrote later.