According to a report in The Washington Post, former AUC paramilitary soldiers are now joing the Colombian drug trade.

Now, in the latest evolution of Colombia’s unremitting drug trade, new criminal gangs led by former mid-level paramilitary commanders have surfaced in about half of Colombia’s 32 states. Authorities here estimate that the groups — steeped in violence and outfitted like armies — have a combined force of anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 fighters. As many as 17 percent of them are said to be former paramilitary members.

After the demobilization efforts in 2004, many mid-level commanders of paramilitary units decided to exert power and influence in the region by working in the country’s number one industry: Drug Trafficking.

The overarching objective of the new groups is to control Colombia’s lucrative cocaine trade, and they confront those individuals or groups that stand in their way. At the same time, some of the groups are using the same tactics that paramilitary groups were known for: engaging guerrillas in combat, targeting rights workers and displacing peasants from farmland.

The ability to gain members has proven easy for organizers due to the financial incentive of working in the drug trade.

Those commanders were then able to appeal to rank-and-file fighters, who never viewed the government stipend and workshops that came with the disarmament as a viable alternative to a life of crime.

“These guys don’t know anything except how to fire a gun, how to kill people,” said Garcia. “And as long as they don’t find jobs, they’ll do what they know how to do.”

According to the United Nations, based on the farm gate price, the value of cocaine from Colombia was $843 million in 2005.

The Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), who were fighting the AUC, is estimated to earn between $500 million to $1 billion from its drug trafficking activities.

For more on this issue, please visit our Colombia Drug Trade page.