A former commander of defunct paramilitary group AUC, alias “El Aleman,” will be charged with the crime of forcibly displacing Colombians from their land and property.
El Aleman, whose real name is Freddy Rendon Herrera, is already serving 20 years in a maximum security prison in the city of Itagui in the Antioquia state for the disappearance and subsequent homicide of a farmer, but will now be charged for forced displacement.
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The former commander of the Elmer Cardenas Bloc of the AUC has been linked to the army / paramilitary operation Genesis, during which more than 4,000 residents of the Riosucio municipality in the northwestern state of Choco were forced to leave their land and homes between February and March of 2007 while the Colombian army was engaged in an offensive to clear the area of leftist guerrillas.
El Aleman pled guilty to instances of kidnapping when he was initially sentenced in March. He has also implicated politicians whom had worked with including two senators and an army general who were ultimately jailed.
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The Elmer Cardenas paramilitary group was part of paramilitary umbrella organization AUC until its demobilization in 2006.
El Aleman’s brother, Daniel Rendon alias “Don Mario,” inherited most of the drug routes managed by the Elmer Cardenas Bloc and converted the officially demobilized organization into the still active “Los Urabeños.”
PROFILE: Los Urabeños