The story of Santiago Uribe and the 12 Apostles
The story of Santiago Uribe and the 12 Apostles
Posted by Stephen Gill on Mar 3, 2016
The 12 Apostles were a far-right paramilitary group that was active in the early 1990s in Antioquia, a province in the northwest of Colombia. The group was allegedly founded by Santiago Uribe.
The death squad was designated to engage in so-called “social cleansing,” or the executing of alleged criminals, alleged drug users, as well as alleged guerrilla collaborators.
The foundation of the 12 Apostles coincided with the creation of scores of other “self-defense” groups formed by ranchers and drug traffickers to protect themselves and their property from attacks by guerrilla groups like the FARC and ELN.
Back in the early 1990s, the rebels were on a winning streak, and kidnapping and extorting people in the countryside on a daily basis. According to the prosecution, Uribe teamed up with local restaurant owner Alvaro Vasquez and the local priest, Gonzalo Javier Palacio, in 1992 to form the group that — in collusion with the local police department — planned and executed 164 crimes, including homicides, from Uribe’s farm.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/161942-2/#prettyPhoto
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