The former head of the AUC’s Montes de Maria Bloc has been charged with the homicide of six people and the forced displacement of 300, local media reported.
Edwar Cobos Tellez, alias Diego Vecina, was put in custody without bail after his unit allegedly entered the northern Colombian municipality of Macayepo in October 2000 and killed six people for their suspected guerrilla sympathies. He was also charged with the displacement of 250 to 300 people in the area.
The incident is thought to be a part of the larger “Macayepo Massacre” which left 15 people dead, when the AUC allegedly tried to take over the area surrounding the Montes de Maria mountains.
The Colombian Supreme Court denied a U.S. extradition request for Tellez, wanted for drug trafficking charges, in 2008. The request was denied because Colombian authorities were conducting an ongoing investigation of Tellez at the time.
Tellez is being detained in a prison in the northern department of Cordoba.