'Emerald czar funded paramilitaries'

[Judi Lynn]

'Emerald czar funded paramilitaries'
Tuesday, 15 March 2011 09:52
Edward Fox

An ex-paramilitary fighter has claimed that part of his former group's funding came from the looting of emerald mines in the department of Boyaca with the full knowledge of the mine's owner, "emerald czar" Victor Carranza, El Tiempo reported Tuesday.

The former paramilitary, speaking under the condition of anonymity, told the Justice and Peace Unit two weeks ago that prior to his demobilization, he was a member of the Peasant Self-Defense Units of Meta and Vichada (ACMV) who were allowed the opportunity once every three months to find emeralds in Carranza's mines.

"We were allowed to go where he had mines in Boyaca ... They would give us what had been cut and what we got would finance us," the paramilitary said.

The testimony given also implicates the former leader of the ACMV, Jose Baldomero Linares, alias "Guillermo Torres," who has previously denied having known or met Corranza before the Justice and Peace Unit.

Numerous demobilized paramilitaries have stated however that Torres used a farm in Brazil belonging to Carranza to train soldiers for the massacres that took place in Mapiripan in 1997 and Cano Soap in 1998.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14905-carranza-funded-auc-group-with-emeralds-ex-paramilitary.html