Colombian Warlord’s Remains Are Verified

Carlos Castano, who in the 1990s organized right-wing militias into a paramilitary force that terrorized Colombia, was murdered in 2004, police said Monday after DNA tests confirmed that recovered remains were his.

Guided by Castano’s confessed assassin, who says he acted on orders from the victim’s brother and fellow paramilitary founder Vicente Castano, Atty. Gen. Mario Iguaran told reporters he was “99.99% sure” that bones recovered in northern Colombia were those of the paramilitary leader.

The investigation is part of President Alvaro Uribe’s effort to end Colombia’s four-decade guerrilla war and could help pave the way for extradition of once-untouchable militia bosses to the U.S. on drug charges.

Prosecutors say Vicente Castano ordered the killing because he feared his brother was about to spill information to U.S. agents about paramilitary cocaine smuggling operations.

Vicente Castano, who since his brother’s death has helped negotiate the disbanding of more than 31,000 militia fighters in a deal offering reduced prison sentences, remains at large.

Also on Monday, Rodrigo Tovar, alias “Jorge 40,” another top paramilitary leader, turned himself in as part of the demobilization deal. Tovar is accused of massacring peasants suspected of cooperating with Marxist rebels and of plotting to kill Hugo Chavez, the leftist president of neighboring Venezuela.

The paramilitaries were organized to combat the rebels, who have been at war with the state since 1964.

Human rights groups have accused Uribe, a U.S. ally, of special treatment for the paramilitaries. Others say he is slowly negotiating them into a weaker position.

Tovar, Vicente Castano and other militia leaders are wanted by Washington for cocaine smuggling.