Four of the paramilitary defendants being tried in Washington DC made a political statement in court recently after appearing to face drug charges. They asked for permission to sign a letter indicating their intent to continue cooperating with Colombia’s Justice and Peace Law. The judge let them sign the letter but questioned the relevance.
The judge does not care whether the AUC is or was a political movement, whether it was engaged in a just war, or what it was spending its narco dollars on. All the judge cares about is whether the defendants committed illegal acts that impacted the United States. And that is what the defendants need to confront. They can continue making political speeches, that is, if the judge will let them, but political speeches will not affect the outcome of the case.