Salvatore Mancuso, a former top commander of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), has been sentenced to 40 years in prison by a special tribunal in Colombia. The sentence addresses murders and forced disappearances committed during the country's armed conflict.
The 61-year-old was sentenced on Monday by a tribunal established to handle cases stemming from Colombia's decades-long armed conflict, which resulted in the deaths of at least 450,000 people between 1985 and 2018. The tribunal stated that Mancuso's sentence could be reduced to eight years if he agrees to cooperate with transitional justice and participate in reparation activities.
Under Mancuso's command, AUC members committed 117 documented crimes in La Guajira province between 2002 and 2006. These crimes included murders, forced disappearances, and gender violence, with the indigenous Wayuu group being specifically targeted.
The AUC was a right-wing paramilitary organization initially formed to protect landowners from Marxist guerrilla groups. It later became involved in drug trafficking to fund its operations. While the AUC negotiated a peace deal with the Colombian government in 2005, some factions continued their involvement in drug trafficking.
Mancuso was extradited to the United States in 2008 on drug trafficking charges, where he served a 15-year prison sentence. He was found guilty in 2015 of smuggling large quantities of cocaine to arm a paramilitary force of over 30,000 fighters and consolidate control over regions of Colombia. Mancuso was returned to Colombia in 2024 after completing his US sentence.