AUC News
The Ghost Lives the High Life in Madrid
The Ghost, a paramilitary drug lord, has moved to Madrid with his millions of drug dollars. He has dodged the Colombian justice system and perhaps secured a pass from the United States after informing. He is free and...
AUC Profile
AUC
The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia - AUC) was a coalition of right-wing death squads that used the conflict to camouflage their illicit economic activities. These included drug trafficking, displacement, kidnapping, and extortion. The AUC once operated in two-thirds of the country with approximately 30,000...
More AUC News
Hunting the Ghost: a Face and a Name
The hunt for “Will the Ghost,” or “Memo Fantasma” had stalled once again. The name Guillermo Camacho did not register with anyone. Had The Ghost managed to...
‘The Invisibles’ of the Drug World
Drug traffickers today have realized that their best protection is not a private army, but rather total anonymity. We call these drug lords "the invisibles." This...
Analysis /
A Former Warlord is Back in Colombia, Will His Drug Trafficking Empire Follow?
Authorities in Colombia have arrested an infamous former paramilitary warlord after he returned to the Andean nation upon finishing his US prison sentence for drug...
Analysis /
Report Sheds Light on Private Sector Role in Colombia Conflict
A new report on the role of private economic actors in facilitating grave crimes by paramilitary groups underlines the need for Colombia’s so-called “truth...
Brief /
Colombia Convicts Former Paramilitary Leaders for Hundreds of Crimes
Dozens of individuals in Colombia have been sentenced for crimes committed while serving under the banner of demobilized paramilitary groups, illustrating how...
Analysis /
What’s in a Name? The Politics of Latin America’s Organized Crime Lexicon
Arguing about artificial labels that help make sense of organized crime in Latin America may seem trivial. After all, the reality lurking beneath these labels --...
Analysis /
Colombia Braces for Impact of Returning Drug Traffickers and Paramilitaries
The release of Colombian underworld boss "Perra loca" from a US prison is adding to fears that a flood of recently freed drug lords and paramilitaries could have a...
Colombia’s Mirror: War and Drug Trafficking in the Prison System
Colombia's prisons are a reflection of the multiple conflicts that have plagued the country for the last half-century. Paramilitaries, guerrillas and drug...
Brief /
Intl Court Condemns Colombia for Bloody 2002 Military Operation
An international court's condemnation of the Colombian state's role in an infamous military operation in the city of Medellín speaks to the failings of...