Hunted by an assassination squad, a founder of Colombia's right-wing paramilitary movement was on the run Tuesday in a remote corner of the country after members of his own group stripped him of power and allegedly turned on him. Assistant Attorney General Andres Ramirez said rival factions of the feared paramilitary forces appear to be behind the attempt to kill Carlos Castano, a well-known figure who has waged a brutal war against leftist rebels. On Friday, paramilitary gunmen attacked a ranch in the humid lowlands of northwestern Colombia where Castano was hiding out, killing at least six of his bodyguards. The description of the attack came from one of Castano's bodyguards who was wounded in the leg during the shootout and is being guarded by Colombian security forces in a hospital in Apartado, in northwest Colombia. "What we can say up to this point is that (Castano) fled with two of his bodyguards," Ramirez said. One leader of a paramilitary faction told The Associated Press that two other paramilitary figures had ordered Castano killed, believing he was trying to turn them over to U.S. authorities for drug trafficking.
Castano himself is wanted in the United States for trafficking tons of cocaine to American shores. Fellow paramilitary leaders apparently suspected he sought to cut a deal and identify other paramilitary members involved in drug trafficking in exchange for leniency. The leader of the paramilitary faction, who was interviewed on condition he not be further identified, put the number of bodyguards killed in Friday's attack at seven, and said some were executed after being wounded. Castano's wife Kenia Gomez and their 16-month-old daughter — who were not at the ranch during the attack — were under the protection of the government Tuesday at an undisclosed location.
Castano, whose United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, is battling Colombia's two leftist rebel groups, initiated peace talks with the government more than a year ago and pledged that the 12,000 militia fighters would disarm if paramilitary leaders avoided extensive prison terms. But the AUC's high command on March 31 named a 10-member negotiating team, and did not include Castano, underscoring his increasing isolation. Three years ago, Castano abruptly resigned as supreme commander of the AUC and named himself as the outlawed group's political chief. Some paramilitary commanders privately wondered if Castano, who was hiding out in the jungles and cattle-lands of northwest Colombia, was becoming unstable.
"Miguel! We gotta do something about Castano. I think he's becoming unstable!"
"Dis is Colombia, boss! How can youse tell?" |
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