Killings of demobilized paramilitaries in north central Colombia have been on the rise in recent weeks, which seems to have lead to hundreds of them dropping out of the presidential reintegration program.
Police from the department of Antioquia allege the paramilitary leader Daniel Rendón Herrera, known as ‘don Mario’, may be eliminating former paramilitaries who have refused offers to rearm as members of his narco-trafficking band, reported Caracol Radio.
The latest added to the list was Alejandro Enrique Sin, 30 years old, who had belonged to the Central Bolivar Block of the demobilized umbrella paramiltary group United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, known for its Spanish initials as AUC.
His death brings to twelve cases the number of violent death of former paramilitaries in the Bajo Cauca, as the lower region of Antioquia is known, killed in recent days. Eight others were murdered in northeast of the department, say police.
While some believe the killings have been carried out by those seeking personal revenge for the victim’s crimes as paramilitaries, the theory that Herrera is behind the wave of murders is gaining currency.
Coronel Luis Eduardo Martínez, an Antioquia police commander, says it is important to “synthesize the cases and search for the causes of each one of them, in order to see if they coincide and adopt strategies, plans and programs to do the most to minimize this class of deaths among the demobilized,” he said.