Ex-paramilitary and beneficiary of the Justice and Peace law Luis
Adrián ‘Diomedes’ Palacio, said he personally killed 150 people and
participated in over 50 ‘false positives‘.
‘Diomedes’ said that he joined paramilitary group the AUC in 1998 and was sent to work as an informant in the armed forces.
He was eventually arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit a crime on April 26 2002.
On October 14, 2005,
‘Diomedes’ was sentenced by a Medellin Criminal Court to 18 years in prison for the crimes of extortion,
trafficking, carrying of firearms, and intent to commit an offense.
Despite his criminal
record, ‘Diomedes’ requested to demobilize and become a beneficiary of the Justice and Peace law.
‘Diomedes’ first denounced General Montoya’s dealings with paramilitaries to a Justice and Peace prosecutor.
In an interview with El Espectador ‘Diomedes’ reiterated his allegations against Montoya, claiming that he worked twice with the General to traffick arms from the Choco department in northern Colombia to Medellin.
‘Diomedes’ alleged that Montoya had a working relationship with former AUC paramilitary leader ‘Doble Cero’. He also said that Montoya collaborated with demobilized and extradited paramilitary leader ‘Don Berna‘.
Montoya, now ambassador to the Dominican Republic, was the former head of the army. He was forced to resign following the ‘false positives’ scandal. He denied all of ‘Diomedes’ accusations at a press conference in the Dominican Republic. The General said ‘Diomedes’ held a grudge against him because he had put the ex-paramilitary in jail.
“He’s crazy,” Montoya said. He stressed that he had denounced ‘Diomedes’ for slander.
‘Diomedes’ also told El Espectador that he had participated in 50 to 60 ‘false positives’ during his time in the armed forces.
“We buried a lot of them in the garbage dump in Comuna 13 [a zone in Medellin],” he said.
‘Diomedes’ confessed to the murder of around 150 people, including two of his own cousins. “If you don’t follow orders, you get thrown to the fish,” he said. “We would take it in turns to go out [in Medellin] to do ‘cleaning’,” he said.
“We were the executioners of society”.