International
Ex-paramilitary Salvatore Mancuso: “I got out of prison with a sentence served; I don’t owe anything to Justice”
The former head of the paramilitary United Self-Defense of Colombia (AUC) Salvatore Mancuso, who left the La Picota prison in Bogotá on Wednesday, assured on Thursday that he owes nothing to Justice, despite the trials for the thousands of crimes committed by that group during the armed conflict, and said that he has already served his sentence.
“I was released from prison with the sentence served,” Mancuso said at a press conference in which he insisted: “I don’t owe anything to Colombian justice or any country in the world.”
Mancuso received the release order and left La Picota on Wednesday, where he had been detained since he arrived in Colombia last February after being deported from the United States where he served a sentence of 15 years and 10 months for drug trafficking.
However, since he arrived deported to Colombia on February 27, his status is in doubt, since there are several justices – the ordinary, Justice and Peace (created after the demobilization of the AUC) and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (created with the peace agreement with the FARC) – that debate who should deal with the ex-paramilitary.
Finally, on Wednesday Justicia y Paz gave the green light for his release and the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec), after sending 31 letters to several judicial offices to find out if there were security measures against him, also gave viability to the release of the ex-paramilitary.
Therefore, Mancuso added that now that he has “recovered freedom” the “peace management” entrusted to him by the Government of President Gustavo Petro will begin and today he is going to meet with the commissioner of the peace adviser, Otty Patiño, “to be able to program and organize everything that has to do with the agenda that I must develop in the country.”
The AUC is the group to which the most homicides are attributed during the Colombian conflict, war crimes for which Mancuso has not yet been tried, since the penalty paid in the United States is for drug trafficking.
However, the Government considers that as a “peace manager” it can help repair some of those wounds and, for example, help in the recovery of bodies of disappeared by paramilitaries in both Colombia and Venezuela.
“I want to tell the victims of the violence of the armed conflict, for which I am responsible, that there is no justification for the immense pain and suffering that we cause them, the atrocities committed,” Mancuso said.
And he continued: “My return to Colombia will not heal those wounds, there are pains that are irreparable, but I will do everything in my power to help heal those wounds.”
In addition, Mancuso assured that he will not act driven by revenge or retaliation, making an apparent indirect allusion to former President Álvaro Uribe, who is said to be his former “ally” and who later signed his extradition to the United States.
“For tricks of some, I was deprived of liberty much longer than it should be,” said Mancuso, who criticized that he was deprived of liberty for 17 years and 11 months in the United States and that he did not leave before “because there were pressures.”
Uribe was the one who negotiated the demobilization of the AUC, which have been accused on numerous occasions of working in alliance with the State forces to fight the guerrillas.
But today, the former paramilitary head called on him to be “allies” again to work for the peace of the country.
International
Mexican authorities bust Meth Lab and seize tons of drugs and chemicals in multiple states
Mexican authorities dismantled a clandestine laboratory containing 2.5 tons of methamphetamine in the southeastern state of Chiapas, seized a warehouse with more than four tons of chemical precursors in Guerrero (south), and intercepted a trailer in Tijuana attempting to cross into the United States with 2.7 tons of drugs.
Omar García Harfuch, head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), reported on Saturday via social media that agents from the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), along with representatives from the Defense Secretariat, Navy (Semar), National Guard (GN), and SSPC, disabled the methamphetamine production lab in Chiapas and confiscated 2.5 tons of the drug.
A statement specified that the agents secured 2.5 tons of methamphetamine, barrels containing substances used to manufacture synthetic drugs, a firearm, and four trucks. In another operation in Guerrero, authorities located over four tons of chemical substances.
The discovery took place on a property in the community of Margarita Maza, Juárez, used to store materials for synthetic drug production. Sufficient evidence was collected and presented to a control judge who authorized the intervention of the property.
In Chiapas, authorities also seized more than 300 barrels and containers with chemicals for making synthetic drugs, as well as various metal containers and devices.
International
Maduro gains support from Venezuelan Assembly amid U.S. drug trafficking accusations
The National Assembly of Venezuela expressed its support this Saturday for President Nicolás Maduro, condemning the United States’ increase in the reward offered for his capture as an “act of aggression.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday that Washington had doubled the reward to $50 million for Maduro’s capture, labeling him as one of the “world’s largest drug traffickers.”
“We reject the absurd and desperate actions announced by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, which are clearly illegal and lack any real basis, beyond being a delirious attempt of aggression against the president (…) and against our rebellious and brave people,” said the Assembly leader, Jorge Rodríguez, while reading a letter he said was unanimously approved by the deputies.
“It is precisely President Nicolás Maduro (…) the protector of the strong democracy that shelters us and the leader who firmly upholds the rule of law and justice,” Rodríguez continued. He is also Venezuela’s chief negotiator in talks with Washington.
Bondi accused Maduro of using “terrorist organizations like the Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa cartel, and the Cartel of the Suns to introduce lethal drugs and violence” into the United States.
“In 25 years of revolution, we have resisted and advanced despite constant imperialist aggressions. They have not succeeded, and will not succeed, with crude sanctions, criminal blockades, or senseless threats in diverting the noble path the Venezuelan people charted in the free elections of July 28, 2024, in which Nicolás Maduro was elected President of the Republic,” the statement read.
The Venezuelan opposition alleges fraud in those elections and claims victory, and as a result, has boycotted the 2025 legislative, regional, and municipal elections.
International
U.S. doubles bounty on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to $50 million
In February, the United States designated eight Latin American criminal organizations as “global terrorist” groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, and the MS-13 gang. In July, it added the Cartel of the Suns to the list — a group Washington claims is led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Last Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, raising it from $25 million to $50 million, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on social media platform X.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that labeling the Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist organization allows for a strategic shift in dealing with the Venezuelan regime, as it is now also considered a direct threat to U.S. national security, according to El Espectador.
In an interview with The World Over on EWTN, Rubio said the designation enables the U.S. to “use intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, or any other element of American power to go after them.” He stressed this is no longer just a law enforcement matter, but a national security operation.
When asked at the White House whether he believes it is worth sending the military to combat Latin American drug cartels, Trump responded:
“Latin America has many cartels, a lot of drug trafficking, so, you know, we want to protect our country. We have to protect it.”
Mexican authorities bust Meth Lab and seize tons of drugs and chemicals in multiple states
Maduro gains support from Venezuelan Assembly amid U.S. drug trafficking accusations
U.S. doubles bounty on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to $50 million
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