East Colombia neo-paramilitaries admit to cannibalism

Former members of demobilized neo-paramilitary group ERPAC have admitted to eating alleged members of rival neo-paramilitary groups, weekly Semana reported on Monday.

According to Semana, the admitted cannibals are not in prison, but free as they became government witnesses and are testifying against other members of their neo-paramilitary group.

The horrific practices are part of a war that broke out between different factions of ERPAC after the group’s official demobilization in 2011. Mid-level commanders of the group decided against demobilization and began a bloody war in the Meta, Guaviare and Vichada states over ERPAC’s control over drug trafficking routes to Venezuela.

Three members of the “Bloque Meta” testified that they had captured two alleged members of the rival “Libertadores de Vichada.” One of them, a driver, admitted after torture to having worked with the neo-paramilitaries. The two men were subsequently stabbed to death, cooked and eaten by the men who now enjoy state protection.

“We killed these guys, we chopped them up and cooked them in a pot with onions and tomatoes.”

One of the killers used his cell phone to record how the victims were murdered and dismembered while the killers insulted their victims and made jokes. The video — partially released by the magazine — reportedly also showed body parts being cooked in a pot.

The warring neo-paramilitary groups are the third generation of drug-trafficking paramilitary forces active in the troubled jungles and plains southeast of Bogota — known as the Eastern Plains — that has long been disputed because of its access to the Venezuelan border.

The area was the scene of bloody warfare between member groups of paramilitary umbrella organization AUC in the 1990s and became the home of ERPAC after the demobilization of the AUC between 2003 and 2006. When ERPAC also demobilized, the neo-paramilitary organization with close ties to arrested drug lord “El Loco” Barrera split in two and formed the Bloque Meta and the Libertadores de Vichada.

MORE: ‘Los Rudos’ emerge as ‘major players’ in east Colombia drug war

Area of Operations of the Bloque Meta and Libertadores de Vichada

Sources

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