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U.S. targets right-wing Colombian militia leader
By DAVID ADAMS and SIBYLLA BRODZINSKY Two top leaders of Colombia's feared paramilitary forces were indicted Tuesday in Washington on charges of smuggling 17 tons of cocaine in the last five years. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the United States would immediately seek the extradition of the two men, Carlos Castano and Salvatore Mancuso, from Colombia, along with a third indicted paramilitary member. Describing the Colombian warlords as violent drug traffickers who "threaten our national security," Ashcroft said the indictment was a double blow for law enforcement in its efforts to target terrorism and its links to the drug trade. But there were conflicting reports from Colombia Tuesday as to the whereabouts of the three men. Some paramilitary sources said Castano was preparing to surrender after addressing his troops. Angry over accusations that his paramilitary activities are drug-financed, Castano last month said publicly he was willing to stand trial in the United States. But by Tuesday night none of the three was reported to be in police custody. Castano's Miami lawyer, Joaquin Perez, said he could not discuss his client's plans. But he confirmed that Castano was interested in clearing his name in a U.S. court. "He has been very forthright in his desire to submit to justice," Perez said. U.S. officials were ready to receive him, Ashcroft said. "Today, we call upon Carlos Castano to stand by his statement and surrender" to U.S. authorities, he said. As the leader of the outlawed United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish initials, AUC, Castano has operated with virtual impunity for more than a decade from a mountain headquarters in northwestern Colombia. Wanted in his own country in at least 26 cases ranging from murder, kidnapping and terrorism, Castano has notoriously evaded capture for years. He has never been accused of drug trafficking in Colombia. Despite being a fugitive, he frequently issues public statements and occasionally receives visits from journalists. Last year he published a book that became an instant bestseller in Colombia. In recent years the AUC has battled left-wing guerrillas for control of the country's drug trade. Numbering about 10,000-15,000 heavily armed men, the AUC is accused by human rights groups of being behind a majority of the killings in Colombia's brutal 40-year-old conflict. The indictment came as a surprise to Colombia observers who have long questioned the inability or seeming unwillingness of Colombian authorities to capture Castano. Colombian military officers have been accused of providing tacit and sometimes active support to the AUC in some of Colombia's most lawless regions. Human rights groups, who are often critical of U.S. policy in Colombia as being too lenient toward the AUC, were encouraged by the news. The U.S. group Human Rights Watch hailed the indictment as "an extremely promising development for human rights." Some analysts were more skeptical, noting that the announcement came on the eve of a White House meeting today between President Bush and Colombia's hard-line new president, Alvaro Uribe. "This all looks like a publicity stunt," said Sanho Tree, a drug expert at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. "They can get rid of Carlos Castano but the organization remains and the ties to the military remain also." Ashcroft said Colombian cooperation in building the case was a sign that the Uribe government intended "to proceed vigorously against drug traffickers and terrorists wherever they are found." Colombia has lately shown no lack of willingness to unload its most-wanted citizens on the United States. After banning extradition for many years due to a campaign of bombs and assassination by the drug barons, it was reinstated in 1997. Since then more than 50 people have been extradited to the United States. According to Ashcroft, Castano "directed cocaine production and distribution activities in AUC-controlled regions of Colombia, including protecting coca processing laboratories, setting quality and price controls for cocaine, and arranging for and protecting cocaine shipments." Although the charges were brought in Washington, the case involves nine Colombian cocaine shipments using vessels on routes in the Pacific and Caribbean, destined for the United States and Spain. The three accused men "used violence, force and intimidation" to run their operations. Castano is accused of ordering "a member of the AUC" on two occasions this February to threaten an unnamed person in Miami-Dade County. The indictment alleges that one drug trafficker was decapitated for failing to fully repay a debt to Mancuso for a shipment of cocaine to the United States. The history between the paramilitaries and drug traffickers is long. Many of the first self-defense groups were funded by drug traffickers to keep tax-charging guerrillas at bay. Castano is a former Colombian army scout whose father was kidnapped and killed by guerrillas in 1980. His brother, Fidel Castano, was a former right-hand man of Medellin cartel drug lord Pablo Escobar. But Castano had lately been trying to clean up the AUC's image, ordering an end to the massacres that had become the hallmark of paramilitary operations. At the same time he tried to steer his group away from the drug trafficking. The cleanup effort led to a schism in the loose federation in July. Castano announced a newly restructured AUC early this month, which, he said "condemns drug trafficking and its corruptive power." In a Sept. 4 letter to U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Castano said the group had decided to "abolish the practice of drug trafficking that served as a source of funding for our organization." But if he does ever face trial Castano may have a hard time explaining his own words. In his book My Confession, Castano admitted exacting taxes from drug producers to finance some paramilitary units, netting $100-million to $200-million a year. He justified the drug tax as the only way to find enough money to combat left-wing guerrillas who were already financing large weapons purchases with drug money. "I'm fairly puritan and I confess it wasn't an easy decision to take," he wrote. But he said he banned his units from operating jungle drug labs or exporting cocaine. "I have always been an enemy of drug trafficking," he wrote. -- Times Latin America correspondent David Adams reported from Miami; Times correspondent Sibylla Brodzinsky reported from Bogota, Colombia.
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