By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Two mass graves were discovered last week containing over thirty peasants and rebel fighters.  Seventeen peasants were found in a grave on a ranch owned by the now dead, far-right militia leader Carlos Castano in Northwestern Colombia. Meanwhile, sixteen FARC rebels, thought to have been killed in combat, were found in La Uribe, in the southern jungles.

The peasants found in the ranch grave were dismembered and showed signs of torture.  Colombian prosecutors reported that the peasants were killed ten to twelve years ago by men commanded by Jesus Ignacio Roldan, known as “Monoleche.”

Castano, the owner of the ranch, was reportedly killed because he disagreed with the anti-guerrilla movement’s use of drug-trafficking mafias and because the paramilitaries were frightened that Castano would report them to U.S. drug agents.

The FARC fighters were killed in July and the bodies include the nephew of senior FARC Commander Jorge Bricero.  La Uribe, where the grave was found, has traditionally been a stronghold for the FARC.

Over 2,570 victims of right-wing paramilitaries have been unearthed in Colombia since the militias began demobilizing in 2005 pursuant to a peace agreement with the Colombian government.  The AUC was formed in 1997 as an umbrella group for the numerous paramilitary organizations created to protect drug lords’ territory and operations from attacks by leftists groups, such as the FARC.  The AUC is reportedly responsible for most of the drug related deaths in Colombia.

Both the FARC and the AUC have been designated terrorist groups.  While the AUC is no longer a formal organization, most of its past members have joined other criminal organizations.

Militias such as those that formally comprised the AUC often worked with members of the Colombian military in a “dirty war” killing and torturing people suspected to be leftist rebels or sympathizers. Prosecutors report that demobilized paramilitaries have confessed to over 25,000 murders.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Colombian Mass Graves Discovered – 26 September 2009

RTT News – Thirty-three Bodies Unearthed in Two Colombian Mass Graves – 26 September 2009

South America Policy Examiner – COLOMBIA: Two Mass Graves Discovered, Bodies Include Nephew of FARC Leader – 26 September 2009

AP – Colombia Finds 2 Mass Graves of Peasants, Rebels