Former paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso claimed that the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) dumped the bodies of around 200 victims on the Venezuelan side of the border after destroying the “crematory oven” where hundreds of people had disappeared. He also revealed that on the Venezuelan side of the border there are at least “200 or more than 200 people” buried, victims of the murders perpetrated by the Self-Defense Forces of the Catatumbo Bloc.
The Governments of Colombia and Venezuela agreed to establish “rapid and efficient institutional mechanisms” to locate the mortal remains of the victims of the Colombian armed conflict in the border area.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry reported this Sunday, May 14, about this agreement in response to the revelations made by the former paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancusowho claimed that the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) dumped the bodies of around 200 victims on the Venezuelan side of the border after destroying the “crematory oven” where hundreds of people had disappeared.
“We agree to provide prompt and effective institutional mechanisms that allow the location of the mortal remains of Colombian nationals reported missing in the border area, buried in Venezuelan territory according to statements by Mr. Salvatore Mancuso,” the information added.
Disappeared at the border
Mancuso, who is serving a sentence for drug trafficking in the United States, made these revelations during a virtual hearing before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), where he explained that they decided to “destroy the oven” in which the Fronteras Front, a unit of the Catatumbo Bloc of the AUC, cremated its victims.
“Then a different practice began that was to throw all the victims into Venezuelan territory. Some were next to the river (Táchira) so that the river would take them and leave them on the side of Venezuela, and others in which some members of the Self-Defense Forces entered Venezuela to leave them in pits,” Mancuso said.
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The former paramilitary chief also revealed that on the Venezuelan side of the border there are at least “200 or more than 200 people” buried, victims of the murders perpetrated by the Self-Defense Forces of the Catatumbo Bloc.
Last week, the Government held an act in memory and recognition of the victims of forced disappearance, in which Mancuso participated virtually and spoke about the activities carried out in the crematoriums.
The act took place in a wasteland in Juan Frío, belonging to the municipality of Villa del Rosario, in the department of Norte de Santander.
In that place, at the beginning of this century, the AUC established an operations center against the guerrillas and burned hundreds of their victims in improvised crematory ovens to erase any trace of their murders.
Victims’ organizations estimate that the paramilitaries of the Fronteras Front incinerated around 500 people in these ovens, in order to make them disappear and eliminate any evidence of their crimes under the command of Jorge Iván Laverde, alias “El Iguano.”
With information from EFE
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