Presumed members of Colombia’s far-right group “Aguilas Negras” said on Saturday they were founded by “important national personalities” in a death threat sent to politicians, a unionist and a journalist.
In the death threat, the “reorganized” group clarified their elusive origins in a letter mailed to the men and woman they believed to be preparing peace talks with the country’s last-standing guerrilla group, the ELN.
The death threat did not have the Aguilas Negras’ logo, but called itself the “Capital Bloc (Reorganized),” making it impossible to check the veracity or estimate the seriousness of the threat.
Death threat recipients
- Senator Alexander Lopez (Democratic Pole)
- Former Labor Minister and ambassador Carlos Bula (democratic Pole)
- Union leader Hernando Hernandez (USO)
- Journalist Patricia Lara (El Espectador)
The Aguilas Negras long consisted of extremist groups within the security forces, specifically the 4th Brigade in Medellin, presumably tied with members of regional elites.
The group or collective have made it no secret they are admirers of President Ivan Duque’s political patron, former President Alvaro Uribe.
Everybody in Colombia can guess who the Aguilas Negras are, except the Aguilas Negras
The death threat’s claim they were formed by “important national personalities’ contradicts analysts’ presumptions the group has no hierarchy.
The death threat claimed, however, that “we are the military arm of a political apparatus and are squads with a military-political formation.”
The authors of the threat said “we dissolved ourselves when the communist offensive of the government of [former President Juan Manuel] Santos impeded our operations.”
This contradicts with the fact that death threats signed by the Aguilas Negras were also sent during the Santos administration
Lopez sent a letter to Duque and the prosecution, demanding an investigation into the group that has been threatening human rights defenders for years with absolute impunity.
Duque has so far neglected to meet his obligation to formulate legislation to dismantle paramilitary groups like the “Aguilas Negras” that traditionally form from alliances between the private sector and the security forces.