Organization
According to Revista Semana, the new criminal organizations may have up to 4,000 members distributed into 22 identified groups in 200 municipalities and 22 of the 32 departments. The number of groups could also be 34, due to their capacity to hide and be black.
The upper ranks of the Aguilas Negras are made up of demobilized paramilitaries – either those who voluntarily opted out of the government peace process or those who were forcibly recruited. The lower levels of the group appear to consist of recruits dedicated to drug trafficking. The Aguilas Negras have built upon the criminal networks established by various paramilitary blocs throughout Colombia, but without adapting the same military, hierarchical structure. For now, it does not appear that the various factions of the Aguilas Negras respond to one another, or operate as a criminal federation. They are not known to control any transnational routes for the shipment of cocaine.
The group usually announces its presence in a given area by distributing pamphlets. Usually, these will announce the imposition of an evening curfew, declare their rivalry with another local gang, or threaten the community with “social cleansing” (that is, threats against drug addicts, prostitutes, or “guerrilla sympathizers” like union organizers or intellectuals). This is the same type of rhetoric once utilized by the AUC in order to impose social control within a given area.
Read more about this topic: The Black Eagles
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