Colombia’s Urabeños: If you can’t beat them, rename them
Colombia’s Urabeños: If you can’t beat them, rename them
written by Adriaan Alsema June 13, 2016
Colombia’s Defense Ministry on Monday changed the official name of the country’s largest paramilitary successor group, “Los Urabeños,” for the second time in two years.
Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas announced that the Urabeños no longer will be called “Clan Usuga” but the “Gulf Clan.”
While the group has officially called itself the “Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia” since its annunciation in 2008, the groups has popularly been referred to as “Los Urabeños” since the late 1990s.
The leadership of the Urabeños was then still part of the paramilitary group AUC, but became known outside their region as the Urabeños because of their urabeño accent.
When Urabeños founder “Don Mario” and many of his fellow paramilitaries refused to demobilize with the AUC between 2003 and 2006, they initially operated without a name while trying to maintain control over the AUC’s fruitful drug trafficking business. Popularly they continued to be referred to as Urabeños or the Aguilas Negras.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-changes-name-largest-paramilitary-successor-group-2nd-time/
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Urabeños founder Daniel Rendon, alias "Don Mario" (T-shirt) [/center]
