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Colombian peace under threat

Colombia's peace process with far-right paramilitaries was thrown into crisis after the country's constitutional court rejected key provisions of the deal that human rights groups had criticized as too lenient.

Ernesto Baez, a leading commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as the AUC, on Friday called ruling "a mortal blow for peace in this country."

Asked whether the paramilitaries were considering rearming, Baez said, "That's not what we want to happen, but all options are possible."

He added leaders would meet to discuss how to respond to the ruling.

The constitutional court late on Thursday overturned key components of the Justice and Peace Law that resulted from peace negotiations that lead to the demobilization of more than 30,000 fighters of the paramilitary groups, listed as "foreign terrorist organizations" by the US State Department.

"President [Alvaro] Uribe has been bending over backwards to give the paramilitaries everything they wanted and that included passing a law that was inconsistent with the rule of law," said Maria McFarland of Human Rights Watch, a group that had criticized the law.

The court ruled paramilitaries convicted of crimes before the peace process have their sentences suspended, depending on continued good behavior.

Warlords who were condemned for massacres, such as former AUC leader Salvatore Mancuso, could again face decades behind bars if they return to paramilitary activities. Mancuso was sentenced in absence to 40 years for his role in a massacre of farmers.

The minister of interior and justice, Sabas Pretelt, told Caracol radio that the government was "perplexed and worried" by the ruling, which cannot be appealed. The government has yet to say what it will do next.

Leaders of the AUC -- the umbrella group of far-right paramilitary forces created to fight leftist rebels -- sought a deal that would not force them to spend their lives behind bars for actions during Colombia's four-decade civil war.

The court also ruled that the assets of paramilitary leaders -- acquired legally or illegally -- should be used toward reparations for victims of the paramilitary terror.

The court did not change the maximum sentence of eight years for warlords convicted of crimes after the peace deal. However, it ruled that the paramilitaries would not be able to deduct the time spent in negotiations, as they had agreed to with the government.

Paramilitaries must also give a complete confession of their crimes, and if they are later convicted of a crime that did not previously confess to they will lose all their benefits under the peace deal, the court said.

The paramilitaries, created in the 1980s by drug traffickers and landowners, say they have demobilized all their blocs and have handed over more than 15,000 weapons. The groups are responsible for some of the worst atrocities in Colombia's civil war, carrying out massacres across this country in the name of a national offensive against the rebels and those accused of supporting them.
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