Colombian dens of iniquity recycled to serve victims

David SALAZAR
Wed 3 July 2024 at 8:25 pm GMT-5·4-min read

In a mansion with golden faucets and an oyster-shaped bathtub, Colombian paramilitary fighters and drug lords once planned the most horrific crimes. Now, the opulent property will be put to the service of their victims.

In Medellin, the luxury Montecasino estate was a venue for planning the assassinations of presidential candidates and massacres of rural people accused of supporting leftist guerrillas, according to the testimony of former hitmen. It was owned by brothers Carlos, Vicente and Fidel Castano -- heads of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a US-designated "terrorist" organization set up to fight the FARC guerrilla group and known for human rights abuses.

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It was leased at first to private entities, but now, on the orders of Colombia's first-ever leftist president, Gustavo Petro, Montecasino is to be managed by the country's forensic police. A laboratory will be built there to identify mortal remains in a country where more than 111,000 people are believed to have gone missing in the decades-long conflict over ideology, territory, trafficking routes and revenge.

"No one could have imagined all the crimes and abuses taking place in that house," Claudia Patricia Vallejo, a departmental director of the Victims' Unit, told AFP of Montecasino. "Many people were tortured there," she added.

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https://uk.news.yahoo.com/colombian-dens-iniquity-recycled-serve-012559546.html