''Autodefensas Campesinas de Córdoba y Urabá'' (ACCU),

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

for Field Workers Self-Defenders of Córdoba and Urabá, was a paramilitary group formed in northwestern

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, operating mainly in the

Antioquia Department ) , anthem = Himno de Antioquia , image_map = Antioquia in Colombia (mainland).svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Antioquia shown in red , image_ma ...

and

Córdoba Department Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, 2nd largest city in the country and capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cordoba may ...

. It was founded by

Fidel Castaño Fidel Antonio Castaño Gil Rambo (August 8, 1951 – January 6, 1994) was a Colombian drug lord and paramilitary who was among the founders of Los Pepes and the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Cordoba and Uraba (ACCU), a paramilitary group whi ...

, Carlos Castaño and

Vicente Castaño José Vicente Castaño Gil aka El Profe (born July 2, 1957) is a former leader of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing Colombian paramilitary organization. After demobilizing, he was accused of murdering his brother a ...

to retaliate against the assassination of their father Jesús Castaño by

FARC-EP The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian confl ...

guerrillas. The

Colombian military The Military Forces of Colombia ( es, Fuerzas Militares de Colombia, links=no) are the unified armed forces of the Republic of Colombia. They consist of the Colombian Army, the Colombian Navy and the Colombian Air Force. The National Police of C ...

had been supporting farmers' efforts by training some of them in military doctrine, which also had military veterans or retirees in their lines. The Army was authorized to do this following the Colombian constitutional article that supported civilian arming as self-defense against a threat to their rights, and the Castaño brothers as well as other farmers in the region had armed themselves and hired bodyguards following this principle. The military officially cut its links with these groups after finding out some of its members had ties to drug dealers. By 1994, several of these farmers had grouped together forming a small army to fight the guerrillas as part of the ACCU, led by Fidel Castaño and still being financed by drug dealers. The ACCU's first intentions were to protect their members' farms from being attacked by guerrillas and to defend those farmers' interests when threatened, including the protection of illegal drug crops and laboratories. The ACCU systematically eliminated left-wing sympathizers and peasant activists opposed to the farmers. After Fidel Castaño's disappearance, his brother Carlos took over the ACCU and eventually led it to the formation of the

United Self-Defenders of Colombia The United Self-Defences of Colombia (''Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia'', or AUC, in Spanish) was a Colombian far-right paramilitary and drug trafficking group which was an active belligerent in the Colombian armed conflict during the period ...

(AUC), which grouped other small paramilitary armies organized throughout Colombia. Within the newly created AUC, Castaño's ACCU continued to be the most powerful force for most of its existence.

References

Disbanded Colombian drug cartels Paramilitary organisations based in Colombia Blocs of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia Organizations based in Latin America designated as terrorist Organizations based in South America designated as terrorist {{Colombia-stub

See also

References