On September 27, 2021, a federal court in Florida ruled that former Colombian paramilitary leader Carlos Mario Jiménez Naranjo, aka “Macaco,” is liable for the extrajudicial killing of Eduardo Estrada, a beloved community leader in the Middle Magdalena region of Colombia. Over a thousand people attended Eduardo’s funeral after he was brutally gunned down in 2001 by paramilitaries commanded by Macaco.
Macaco was the head of the Bloque Central Bolívar (BCB), a division of the paramilitary group called United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). A self-described “killing machine,” the BCB murdered, disappeared, and tortured thousands of civilians. In today’s landmark decision, the court found that the BCB’s human rights violations were facilitated by the Colombian military. “The symbiotic relationship between state actors and paramilitaries, acknowledged for the first time by a U.S court, enabled the BCB’s campaign of murder and torture,” said Dylan Savage, litigation associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, which served as co-counsel for plaintiffs with the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) and local counsel Kerrigan Estess Rankin McLeod & Thompson.
Macaco, like more than a dozen other high-ranking paramilitaries who demobilized in 2005 and began to take part in truth-telling in Colombia’s Justice and Peace process, was extradited to the United States solely on drug trafficking charges in 2008. Many of these paramilitaries were implicated in human rights crimes, but their removal to the United States abruptly upended any opportunity for survivors to seek truth and reparations against them in Colombia. This case, which was filed in 2010 in the Southern District of Florida, refocused attention on the devastating human rights toll inflicted by Macaco. “The United States government had the opportunity to prosecute Macaco for his human rights crimes when they sought his extradition from Colombia,” said Daniel McLaughlin, Senior Staff Attorney at CJA. “Its decision to focus solely on narco-trafficking charges, however, means that today’s ruling may be the only accountability Macaco sees for his human rights crimes.”
Gustavo Gallón, Director of the Colombian Commission of Jurists, which represents the plaintiffs in Colombia, added: “We truly hope that the decision of the federal court in Florida will contribute to our accountability efforts for the BCB’s killings and will also send a strong message to Colombian victims of human rights abuses not to lose hope.”
“This is a victory for truth,” said Claret Vargas, Senior Staff Attorney at CJA. “After over a decade of litigation and over a thousand pages of evidence—including statements by Macaco, admissions by former paramilitary members in depositions, expert reports, and eyewitness testimony—a court has acknowledged the facts surrounding Eduardo’s assassination and held the head of the BCB liable.”
“While nothing will bring Eduardo back to his beloved community and family, we are thankful for the court’s ruling, the trust and perseverance of our clients, and our collaboration with CJA. From strategy meetings in Palo Alto, to a fact-finding investigation on the ground in Bogota, to depositions of high-level former paramilitaries in Medellin, this was a true and sustained team effort. The result exemplifies how and why we pour our hearts into every matter,” said Luke Liss, Senior Counsel and Pro Bono Counsel at Wilson Sonsini.
For more information, please refer to the court’s order, Law360's coverage, or The Intercept’s coverage.