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
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.
The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.
An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.
Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.
Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.
Internacionales
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.
In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.
Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
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