Colombian paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso, who has admitted to ordering his forces to commit four different massacres, was charged Tuesday for the murder of six people in 1997.
A prosecutor from Colombia’s special human rights unit charged Mancuso for the deaths of six people in the village of Pijiguay in the northern department of Sucre. Six people were killed by paramilitaries in the village who accused members of the village of supporting the guerrilla group ELN.
Mancuso was the military chief of the AUC, Colombia’s largest paramilitary group which formally disbanded in 2006. Mancuso has admitted to ordering attacks on four villages which resulted in the murder of at least 90 civilians.
The former paramilitary is currently in the U.S. after he was suddenly extradited there in 2008 on drug charges. Mancuso has accused many politicians, including ex-President Alvaro Uribe, of benefiting from paramilitary support to win elections.
Mancuso led paramilitaries in seven different departments, including Sucre, Bolívar, Magdalena, Cesar, Santander, North Santander and Guajira.