Paramilitaries threaten to kill judges of Colombia's war crimes tribunal

AGC claims death threat sent by State officials

by Adriaan Alsema May 8, 2023

Alleged members of Colombia’s largest paramilitary organization AGC threatened to kill judges of the war crimes tribunal. According to the Special Jurisdiction of Peace (JEP), magistrate Alejandro Ramelli and his assistant Hugo Escobar were threatened with death.

In a WhatsApp message sent to Ramelli, the AGC allegedly declared the two magistrates a “military objective” for “digging up a past that is already buried.”

The JEP called on the prosecution to investigate the threat and urged on the government of President Gustavo Petro to make progress in the dismantling of illegal armed groups like the AGC.

The AGC denied responsibility and blamed Colombia’s intelligence services of sending the death threat.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/paramilitaries-threaten-to-kill-judges-of-colombias-war-crimes-tribunal/

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About the AGC, Colombian paramilitary narco-traffickers/death squad:

Gaitanistas - Gulf Clan
GAITANISTAS
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LATEST UPDATE NOVEMBER 8, 2022



The Gaitanistas, also known as the Gulf Clan, Urabeños, and Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC), emerged from the ashes of Colombia’s paramilitary movement to become the dominant criminal force in Colombia, with a reach that spread across the country. However, under pressure from authorities, the hold that leadership has over local cells that form this national network is getting weaker, and the group stands on the precipice of splintering into independent factions.

This process may only be further accelerated by the capture in October 2021 of the group's leader, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel,” by security forces in northern Colombia. While his control had been slipping for a few years under the pressure of a sustained manhunt, he remained an identifiable leader for the group, and his removal may trigger further fragmentation.

History
The Urabeños take their name from Urabá, a northwestern region of Colombia near the Panamanian border highly prized by drug traffickers as it offers access to the Caribbean and Pacific coasts from the departments of Antioquia and Chocó. The group also refers to itself as the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC) and are called the Gulf Clan (Clan del Golfo) by the Colombian government.

The AGC's origins can be traced to notorious paramilitary warlord Vicente Castaño, who in 2006 broke away from the demobilization process of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia – AUC), and rearmed a paramilitary unit with two of his lieutenants: the former commander of the AUC’s Calima Bloc, Ever Veloza Garcia, alias “HH,” and Daniel Rendón Herrera, alias “Don Mario,” the former finance chief of one of the wealthiest paramilitary factions, the Centauros Bloc.

More:
https://insightcrime.org/colombia-organized-crime-news/urabenos-profile/