Colombia Militia Ditch Government
The decision of chiefs of the paramilitary United Autodefenses of Colombia (AUC) to end the peace process with the government further complicates the political situation in this Andean nation.

AUC spokesman and commander Ernesto Baez refused to talk about a rupture of the peace process started in Dec 2002 and by which, according to the government, over 31,000 paramilitary fighters were demobilized.

Everything seems to indicate that 59 AUC heads took such a position because the government did not comply with agreements reached before surrendering their arms in Jun 2004.

The last straw could have been the presidential order to transfer them from La Ceja recreational center, where they were waiting for trial, to a top security prison in Itagui.

Moreover, Baez insisted that all former paramilitary commanders are willing to disclose their links with politicians, businesspeople, stockbreeders, landowners, military officers and all those who helped them for more than 20 years.

Faced with the paramilitary decision, the Colombian government reversed the law forcing the demobilized AUC fighters to ratify their wish to resort to the Justice and Peace Law in writing.

The crisis between the paramilitary forces and the government joins a series of scandals in Colombia over links among politicians and AUC members and among legal officials and an Italian drug-dealer.