The cartel is believed to have employed the services of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary organization internationally classified as a terrorist organization, to protect the cartel’s drug routes, its drug laboratories, and its members and associates.
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On 11 August 2000, a judge ordered Díaz transferred to jail, considering that his illness had been considerably overcome, but when authorities went to his house to complete the transfer, Díaz had escaped and found refuge with an illegal paramilitary group headed by Rodrigo Tovar.
Gómez is best known for his coverage of the Mapiripán massacre, a "five-day killing spree" in July 1997 in which Colombian Army officers colluded with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) to kill at least 49 people in the village of Mapiripán suspected of being guerrilla sympathizers.