Colombian paramilitaries may end confessions

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The Colombian peace process hit a speed bump this week when dozens of paramilitary leaders threatened to cease all public confessions and reparations to victims, two of the three conditions that form the basis of the 2003 demobilization pact they signed with President Alvaro Uribe.

The militia leaders, most of whom are holed up in a Colombian prison, began confessing last year to their numerous crimes, including mass murder, election fraud and extortion, in expectation they would later receive lenient sentences. But now they are balking, claiming that the Uribe is imposing more stringent terms.

Critics say the paramilitaries have made limited confessions and paltry reparations to their victims. Four years into the process, only 5,000 acres of land have been surrendered, out of the hundreds of thousands of acres the paramilitiaries are alleged to have illegally appropriated, according to Bogota’s El Tiempo newspaper. In addition, an official reparation fund has received three cars, 152 head of cattle and two horses. The number of registered victims eligible to receive reparations now totals 70,000.

Posted by Chris Kraul in Bogota