Colombian mayor arrested for links with paramilitaries

[struggle4progress]

www.chinaview.cn 2008-11-13 12:27:28

BOGOTA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) - Colombian authorities on Wednesday announced the capture of Miguel Gomez, the mayor of Taraza, for alleged links with paramilitaries.

According to investigators, Gomez engaged in dealings with the defunct miners' bloc of the United Self Defense of Colombia (AUC),headed by extradited paramilitary leader Ramiro Vanoy, who is responsible for thousands of killings in Colombia.

Prosecutors said the mayor of Taraza, in Antioquia department, faces charges of abetting crime, issuance of threats and the use of force.

Gomez will be taken to the capital Bogota and produced before human rights prosecutors ...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/13/content_10352008.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. He was working with a guy we've seen before, who's here in the States, on a drug trafficking charge,

leaving tons of loved ones of his victims back in Colombia, furious that the Colombian government and the U.S. conspired to try these monsters on far lesser charges than the ones they should have been charged for when they massacred huge numbers of Colombian citizens. Now they'll be safely in the States for a few years, then released, and NEVER have to reveal what the hell they did with the bodies of the people they tortured and slaughtered, often throwing into mass graves.

Here's Ramiro Vanoy, the powerful local narcotrafficker, killer friend of the mayor Miguel Gomez who has just been grabbed:



6 months ago: Colombian paramilitary member of the demobilized United Self-Defenses of Colombia
(AUC) Ramiro Vanoy aka Cuco Vanoy, is escorted by a policeman as he gets off an airplane before
being extradited to the US, on May 13, 2008, in Bogota, Colombia. Colombia on Tuesday extradited
14 of its nationals, including 13 paramilitary leaders, to the United States to face drug
trafficking charges, Colombian Justice Minister Carlos Holguin announced.

Ramiro Vanoy Murillo and Francisco Javier Zuluaga Lindo sentenced to more than 24 years in prison and Zuluaga Lindo to just under 22 years.
EmailWritten by quantumleap on Oct-9-08 9:20pm
From: drugenforcement.blogspot.com

Vanoy Murillo was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison and Zuluaga Lindo to just under 22 years. They are the first of 14 warlords extradited in May to be sentenced to federal prison.The men were leaders of Colombia's right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym AUC. The AUC has been blamed for hundreds of killings, kidnappings and other crimes considered some of the worst atrocities of Colombia's long-running civil conflict.Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said the 14 were sent to face U.S. justice because they were still committing crimes from inside Colombian prisons and had not paid restitution to their victims. They were yanked from their cells May 12 and flown as a group to the U.S. in a top-secret operation that surprised even prosecutors working to document paramilitary crimes in Colombia.The U.S. charges did not mention Colombian violence. Authorities focused on attempts by Vanoy Murillo, Zuluaga Lindo and many others to smuggle an estimated 20 tons of cocaine into the United States from December 1997 to November 1999.In court Thursday, Vanoy Murillo expressed "my remorse, my repentance" and again admitted his guilt."I am here to accept responsibility for my actions," he said in Spanish, according to a court interpreter.Zuluaga Lindo also said he was ready to accept Moore's sentence.U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said the two were initially jailed Aug. 16, 2006, on Colombia arrest warrants issued at the request of U.S. authorities.U.S. prosecutors said Vanoy Murillo, also known as "Cuco," was a former commander of an AUC wing known as the "Bloque Mineros" — "Miners Bloc" in English — financed mainly by cocaine trafficking. Prosecutors said the group controlled many airstrips and cocaine production facilities in Colombia and provided security for other smugglers.Zuluaga Lindo, a large man nicknamed "El Gordo" — or "The Fat One" — disarmed with his group in August 2005. The moves were supposed to have protected them from extradition to the U.S. and assure them lesser prison terms in Colombia, in return for publicly confessing their crimes.In Colombia, authorities described Vanoy as a veteran drug trafficker and an ally in the 1980s of Colombia's most famous narco, Pablo Escobar. Vanoy had commanded an irregular army of some 1,000 men in a region where the paramilitaries killed hundreds, they said.

More:
http://www.zimbio.com/President+Alvaro+Uribe/articles/57/Ramiro+Vanoy+Murillo+Francisco+Javier+Zuluaga

His son was murdered after he came here:

Son of extradited Colombian warlord slain; killing follows warlord's drug sentencing in US
By Associated Press
11:05 PM EDT, October 19, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ Colombian police say the son of a warlord extradited to the U.S. on drug charges has been murdered.

Authorities say unidentified assailants shot and killed 32-year-old Vladimir Vanoy on Sunday at the gate to his condominium outside Bogota.

Ramiro "Cuco" Vanoy is Validmir's father. He was extradited to the United States in May with 13 other far-right warlords. A Miami judge earlier this month sentenced him to 24 years in prison on drug-trafficking charges.

After the sentencing, the newspaper El Tiempo quoted one of his lawyers as saying he would no longer cooperate with investigations into crimes associated with far-right militias.

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