A pamphlet that was spread in Colombia on Sunday announced the rearmament of the AUC, the paramilitary organization that demobilized almost 15 years ago.
The announcement surprised; many former AUC commanders are taking an active part in the country’s peace process while others are in prison or dead.
Thousands of former AUC members rearmed more than a decade ago already and now make up the leadership of AUC dissident groups like the AGC, the Bloque Meta and the Libertadores de Vichada.
Why paramilitary groups still exist in Colombia
A defense ministry spokesperson told press that the pamphlet, which used jargon exclusively used by President Ivan Duque’s far-right Democratic Center party, was fake.
The pamphlet threatened to kill both demobilized and rearmed leaders of former guerrilla group FARC and all members of guerrilla group ELN.
Additionally, it declared “the illegitimate government of sister republic Venezuela led by Nicolas Maduro” a military objective.
AUC
In Colombia, the self-proclaimed leadership of the former paramilitary organization said “The AUC will enforce the constitution, the law and democracy that was broken by Mr. Juan Manuel Santos on October 2, 2016” when a coalition of conservative and far-right parties won a referendum in which a peace deal with the FARC was narrowly rejected.
Since the paramilitaries’ demobilization, multiple threats signed by the AUC have appeared without any apparent support from the now-defunct organization’s former leadership.
The pamphlet appeared two days before the Supreme Court hearing of former President Alvaro Uribe, who is accused of ties to paramilitaries, and three weeks before local elections are held in the country.