Far-right group Aguilas Negras sent out a death threat to senators of Colombia’s opposition, journalists and the organizers of anti-government protests on Thursday.
The mysterious group, which is believed to be associated with the security forces, reiterated its support for far-right former President Alvaro Uribe.
The Supreme Court, which is investigating Uribe for his alleged role in a plot to rig the 2018 elections, “wants to destabilize the country” at the orders of opposition Senator Ivan Cepeda and demobilized guerrilla group FARC, according to the Aguilas Negras.
Aguilas Negras
All senators are members of the opposition, which has been critical of the government and Uribe, the president’s controversial political patron and former associate of the Medellin Cartel.
Lawmakers of the FARC, the political party of former guerrillas who demobilized in 2017, were not explicitly threatened.
Threatened lawmakers
- Senator Gustavo Petro (Colombia Humana)
- Senator Feliciano Valencia (Alternative Social and Indigenous Movement)
- Senator Gustavo Bolivar (Colombia Humana)
- Senator Antonio Sanguino (Green Alliance)
- Senator Ivan Cepeda (Democratic Pole)
The far right group explicitly threatened the organization of student and union leaders that has been organizing anti-government protests last year and indigenous leaders who have been holding their own protests.
Social leaders
- Joe Sauca (indigenous leader)
- Hermes Tete (indigenous leader)
- Luis Alfonso Castillo (human rights defender)
- Luis Emil Sanabria (peace activist)
- Juan Manuel “Arango” (presumed student leader)
The threatened journalists and independent media allegedly “serve as an echo chamber” for aforementioned “political guerrillas and their armed wings.”
Journalists
- Julian Martinez
- Jose Luis Mayorga
- William Parra
- Ignacio Gomez
- Jorge Enrique Botero
- Hollman Morris
- Guillermo Rico
Independent media
- Contagio Radio
- Agencia Prensa Rural
Unlike paramilitary groups like the AGC and “Los Caparrapos,” the Aguilas Negras are not a paramilitary group, but a far-right group with presumed ties to an intelligence agency and the National Army.
The group additionally is believed to work with regional elites and businesses.
Because authorities have denied the existence of the Aguilas Negras and their name may have been used by others to instill fear, it is impossible to determine if the group is responsible for the political violence that has marred Colombia’s peace process that began after a deal between former President Juan Manuel Santos and demobilized FARC guerrillas in 2016.