New Colombia Law grants concessions to paramilitaries

Colombia's Congress on last Wednesday approved a law governing the disarmament of the country's death squads, which permits the demobilization of thousands of fighters but grants generous concessions to paramilitary commanders accused of atrocities and cocaine trafficking.

The Justice and Peace Law, an underpinning of President Álvaro Uribe's goal of pacifying Colombia, was hailed by government officials as a way to lay the groundwork for removing one of the three illegal armed groups battling in Colombia. "We are proud of this instrument," said Luis Carlos Restrepo, the country's peace commissioner.

But congressional leaders say that in exchange for disarming up to 20,000 fighters, paramilitary commanders are shielded from serious punishment or extradition on drug charges to the United States. The law, passed by Congress on Tuesday and by bicameral committees on Wednesday, will be signed into law by Mr. Uribe within days.

"This is a law that brings no justice, no peace," said Senator Jimmy Chamorro. "It should be called what it really is, a law of impunity and immunity."

Washington has listed 18 paramilitary commanders as among Colombia's top cocaine kingpins, and American counternarcotics officials say the paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces, is responsible for trafficking most of the cocaine reaching American cities. The group, founded by landowners and drug traffickers to battle Marxist rebels, is also blacklisted by the State Department as a terrorist organization accused of assassinating politicians and killing thousands of peasants.

"This gives benefits to people who have committed the worst crimes, and we get nothing in return," said Gina Parody, a leading congresswoman and ally of Mr. Uribe who nevertheless proposed much tougher legislation. "The message we are sending to Colombian society is that crime does pay."

The law highlights the contradictory nature of United States policy in Colombia, which has received more than $3 billion in mostly military aid since 2000 to destroy drug crops and weaken guerrillas.

The law shields the paramilitary commanders from extradition on drug charges by allowing them to confess to trafficking, giving them double-jeopardy protection. It also categorizes "paramilitarism" and related crimes as political crimes, which under the Constitution would safeguard the commanders from extradition on the related crime of trafficking.

(Published: The New York Times, June 23, 2005)
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