1,400 Cede Arms in Colombia
The commander of Colombia’s paramilitary forces wept and apologized Friday as 1,400 fighters surrendered their weapons in the largest demobilization of an outlawed armed faction in the country’s history.
The fighters demobilized at a ranch in remote northeast jungles near the border with Venezuela, where the main road is marked by crosses, burned vehicles and blown-up bridges -- the scars of a protracted and bitter battle between the right-wing faction and leftist rebels for control of the local cocaine industry.
“With my soul flooded with humility, I ask forgiveness from the people of Colombia,” Salvatore Mancuso told government officials, representatives of the Organization of American States and heavily armed paramilitary fighters who stood in formation.
“I ask forgiveness from the nations of the world, including the United States of America, if by action or omission I offended,” Mancuso said, his voice cracking and tears streaming behind his sunglasses.
Mancuso, the chief of the paramilitary umbrella group known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, then handed his Beretta 9-millimeter pistol to government Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, beginning the formal demobilization of the AUC’s Catatumbo bloc.
Fighters snapped to attention and one by one handed M-60 machine guns, AK-47 rifles and grenades to Restrepo, under a peace process begun in July.
The government has not decided whether a general amnesty should be granted.
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