Colombia destroys 18,000 weapons surrendered by right-wing militias

SOGAMOSO, Colombia (AP) -

Former paramilitaries and victims of their violence banded together Friday to destroy a huge cache of weapons used during the right-wing militias' decade-long reign of terror.

In a somber ceremony attended by foreign dignitaries, dozens of demobilized fighters and victims of their crimes dumped 18,051 rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers - a cache weighing 55 metric tons (60 tons) - into a giant caldron. The arsenal, which included 2.7 million bullets and was handed over as part of a 2003 peace pact, was smelted into material that will be used to create metal sculptures to be auctioned off to compensate victims.

Colombia's government celebrated the event as proof the country's skittish peace process with paramilitaries is advancing, despite mounting evidence some militias are rearming and former warlords are breaking pledges to confess their crimes.

"Today we've buried forever 18,051 weapons that sowed terror and blood on Colombian soil," Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo told reporters at the state-owned foundry where the cache was destroyed. "This is a clear demonstration that we are moving along on the path of security and peace." Ballistic evidence was collected from each weapon before its destruction, to assist special prosecutors investigating paramilitary crimes.

The peace accord with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a paramilitary umbrella group known as the AUC, led warlords to demobilize 31,000 men and confess crimes in exchange for reduced prison terms and protection from extradition.

But the Organization of American States estimated in its most recent report on Colombia's peace process that at least 3,000 demobilized fighters have since rearmed, joining criminal bands with names like "the Black Eagles" that are devoted to drug-trafficking in former paramilitary strongholds.

"Nobody knows for sure how many weapons remain in circulation," said Eduardo Pizarro, head of the government-funded Commission of Reparation and Reconciliation.

"The AUC doesn't keep a database." Human rights groups have widely criticized Colombia's peace process as overly lenient toward the right-wing militias that were behind some of the worst atrocities in Colombia's half-century civil conflict. The U.S. classifies the AUC as a terrorist organization and has requested the extradition of several of its leaders on drug-trafficking charges.