The Attorney General of Colombia has reported that there are more than 50,000 victims of criminal activities by paramilitary groups in the country. The report is based on confessions given by ex members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

According to the report, which was publicised by RCN Radio, 25,083 of those victims were murdered, 10,925 were the subjected to forced displacement, 3,459 were forcibly disappeared, and 1,589 were illegaly recruited by AUC.

The Attorney General has exhumed 3,806 common graves within the last five years, finding 4,792 bodies. The province of Antioquia has the highest number of bodies discovered, though only 376 out of 823 found were given back to families.

Director of the Legal Medical Institute, Carlos Eduardo Valdes, told RCN that the number of bodies in mass graves could end up being a much higher figure. “We have around 68,000 cases, of which 15,000 are related forced disappearances, so by those calculations the bodies in graves could total more than 50,000,” added Valdes.

The Attorney General has legal proceedings against 1,126 persons related with the forced disappearances. So far only 14 ex paramilitaries have been convicted.

One of the reasons for such a low number is that AUC agreed to demobilise in 2005 in exchange for legal benefits such as lower prison sentences (a maximum of eight years).

Two alleged leaders of the Colombian rightwing paramilitary organisation AUC have been arrested in Venezuela, according to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.

Hector Buitrago Parada, ‘Martin Llanos’, and his brother Nelson Orlando Buitrago Parada ‘Caballo’ (Horse), were captured within hours of each other this past weekend, and will face charges of kidnapping, murder and drug trafficking.

The two were among the most wanted drug lords in the region, and are expected to be extradited to Colombia Thursday.

Llanos has evaded persecution since 2003, migrating to Costa Rica, Ecuador and Bolivia before settling in Venezuela. Masquerading as wealthy ranchers, the brothers ran their businesses from the neighbouring country.

The drug lords are said to be responsible for dozens of deaths. According to Colombian newspaper Vanguardia, charges against Llanos include:

• The murder of a judicial commission in San Carlos de Guaroa in 1997
• Crimes of conspiracy and forced disappearance
• The disappearances of Luis Eduardo Santoyo, Carlos Alberto Ramirez, Edinson Martinez, Luis Ramiro Colmenares and Santos Moreno, residents of Tauramena in Casanare, all residents of Tauramena in Casanare, between 1999 and 2004
• The assassination of Richard Ramirez, a fellow drug trafficker in Casanare.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos credited collaboration efforts between Colombia and Venezuela for the arrest, and said he hopes the capture sends a message to other criminal refugees outside the country.

“When we work together
in the fight against transnational crime, its effects and results are faster and effective,” he told the Vanguardia. “It is a signal to all criminals
that crime does not pay, and that sooner or later [they] will fall.”

In a statement that relayed a phone call between Santos and Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president echoed Santos’ sentiments, and expressed confidence in future collaboration.

The statement says that both presidents “welcomed the successful recovery of relations in all fields.”

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has apologised for the massacre that saw 50 people being murdered by the paramilitary 13 years ago.

The attack happened in the village of El Tigre in January 1999, when members of the United Self-Defences of Colombia (AUC) tortured and killed those suspected of supporting leftist guerrillas.

In a public statement made this Monday in Mocoa, the capital of Putumayo province where El Tigre is, Santos said: “I want to take the opportunity today, [...] to offer you my apologies as the president of the republic to all the victims. This massacre should have never happened.”

Later he added: “One shudders saying: how is it possible that a human being could do unto another such things?”

The president talked about the importance of recognising the victims as such, being that part of the healing process.

He explained that all the 140 thousand victims of violence in Putumayo will have access to financial compensation and the services of the Transitional Justice Committee, which was set up to give them assistance.

In July last year, Santos also apologised to other victims of massacres in different part of the country.