U.S. ambassador William Brownfield said Friday not to take the
statements of Mancuso, former leader of paramilitary group AUC,
seriously. Mancuso sent Thursday a letter to President Uribe saying
that “military links to AUC will be more scandalous than parapolitics”.
“Let me remind you that we are talking about a man accused of genocide, murder, torture and drug trafficking”, Brownfield said according to newspaper El Espectador.
In his letter, Mancuso asked President Uribe to expand the Justice and
Peace Law “to shelter those who are unprotected” like politicians,
soldiers and other social sectors which one way or another have ties to
illegal armed groups.
Brownfield responded to this request by saying that “if you have threaten lives of American or Colombian policemen and their families, we will hunt you to the most isolated places on earth, and if you can reach the moon, we will find you there, too”.
The ambassador made this announcement after the U.S. government confirmed the arrest of five Colombian citizens who were arrested in Panama and deported to the United States. They are accused of drug trafficking and threatening American and Colombian policemen.
