Colombia seeks suspension of EGC commander’s arrest warrant ahead of demobilization
Colombia’s peace commissioner asked the prosecution to suspend the arrest warrants of the commander and 28 members of paramilitary organization EGC to facilitate the demobilization and disarmament of the group. The lifting of the arrest warrants would allow EGC commander Jobanis Avila, a.k.a. “Chiquito Malo,” and his subordinates to travel to two demobilization sites in […] The post Colombia seeks suspension of EGC commander’s arrest warrant ahead of demobilization appeared first on Colombia News.
Black News 
Colombia’s peace commissioner asked the prosecution to suspend the arrest warrants of the commander and 28 members of paramilitary organization EGC to facilitate the demobilization and disarmament of the group.
The lifting of the arrest warrants would allow EGC commander Jobanis Avila, a.k.a. “Chiquito Malo,” and his subordinates to travel to two demobilization sites in northwestern Colombia on June 25.
In a joint press statement, EGC and government negotiators said that 400 of the EGC’s estimated 3,300 fighters will demobilize at the “Temporary Location Zones” (ZUT) in Belen de Bajira and Tierralta after the arrival of Chiquito Malo.
The government hopes that the ZUT’s will eventually facilitate the demobilization and disarmament of all of the EGC’s estimated 9,000 members.
The ZUT’s will additionally allow authorities to identify EGC members and facilitate their eventual prosecution as member of an illegal armed group.
In order to achieve this, the peace negotiators asked people ‘to take care of the efforts to make peace, impede their use for electoral purposes and honor the commitments of discretion that are necessary for building trust as we seek a negotiated solution to the violence.”
EGC members who participate in the demobilization process will be shielded from US extradition requests, which considers the group a “narcoterrorist” organization.
The EGC plays a major role in Colombia’s cocaine trade and illegal mining sector, and has been linked to numerous assassinations.
The AUC successor group is also believed to have captured parts of the State through the corruption of local government officials, prosecutors and members of the security forces.
The EGC has long claimed that its existence is due to failures in the process to demobilize the AUC between 2003 and 2006, and can count on significant social support in regions where they effectively control public life.
EGC negotiators have been talking to government representatives in Doha, the capital of Qatar, for months and have said they want to demobilize since President Gustavo Petro took office in August of 2022.
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