Diego Molano responds to JEP's rejection of Otoniel: “the worst criminal in the country”

After the decision that Darío Antonio Úsuga, alias Otoniel, was not accepted as a third civilian in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, agreed with the court and made strong allegations against former head of the Gulf Clan.

From the Las Palmas Police Substation in Medellín, Molano assured that the JEP's refusal is a sign that Otoniel is the worst living drug trafficker in the country. As he had done before, he compared his criminal activity to that of the beaten capo Pablo Escobar Gaviria.

He assured that, like El Capo, the former head of the Gulf Clan is responsible for murders of social leaders — an issue on which he was going to collaborate with justice — attacks on the security forces and forced displacement.

Specifically, the Minister of Defense welcomes this decision because a submission to the JEP would mean that the extradition process against Otoniel, who is requested by the US justice system for drug trafficking, is halted.

It is in the greatest interest of the national Government that extraditions take their course and not lose points with the United States, a world power that considers Colombia a strategic partner and ally in the war on drugs. This was thwarted by the case of alias Jesús Santrich, who could not be extradited and eventually died as a fugitive from justice.

Molano assured that Otoniel must pay for his crimes committed internationally with extradition. In addition to that, “you must pay for your criminal responsibilities in Colombia, you have to make reparations to the victims in Colombia and simultaneously you are paying your penalty in extradition, you can and must answer to the victims.”

The former head of the Gulf Clan will continue to face his multiple crimes before the ordinary courts and will not submit to the JEP, as in the last few hours that court refused his submission as a third civilian figure.

The criminal, who is awaiting his extradition to the United States, promised that court of peace last February that he would testify against several members of the military if they let him fall under its jurisdiction.

Specifically, Otoniel promised that he would give details about the assassination of social leaders and even reveal details of how they killed activists of the Patriotic Union.

However, on the morning of this Friday, March 25, the JEP Chamber for the Definition of Legal Situations announced that it will not allow the drug trafficker, one of the most wanted in the country at the time, to be investigated by the court created after the signing of the peace agreement with the FARC.

The reasons why the peace court, as well as the Supreme Court of Justice denied the former head of the Gulf Clan to submit to the JEP, was because they found no greater evidence to confirm that at some point in his criminal life he was part of the ranks of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC.

The decision of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace is known only one day after that agency heard his statements, which were postponed several times because what he had to say could jeopardize his life, if it was heard by the leadership of the security forces who wanted to enter the hearings.

The hearing was scheduled at the Dijin headquarters in the Colombian capital, the same place where he has been detained since his capture.

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