Paramilitary umbrella organization AUC helped the development of the Magdalena department, extradited paramilitary warlord ‘Jorge 40’ told Colombia’s Supreme Court during his first hearing from a U.S. prison.
Rodrigo Escobar Pupo, alias ‘Jorge 40’ spoke for the first time to the country’s highest court through video conferencing. Dressed in an orange U.S. prison uniform, the former chief of the AUC’s Northern Bloc defended his actions in the north of Colombia.
According to the warlord, the AUC ended the corruption and malfunctioning of the local politicians. Local politicians used to buy votes with bags of cement or money. The AUC forbade that practice, he told the court.