Light Notes · Short Tales

photographer Paul Mark Smith · Colombia

Theatre of War

Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
In a training camp of the Metro Block in the municipality of San Roque.

Text pending (posted October 2022)

  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block

Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
In a training camp of the Metro Block in the municipality of San Roque.
In a training camp of the Metro Block in the municipality of San Roque. The group was fighting paramilitaries of the Nutibara Block of the AUC in the city of Medellín, which had brought the city’s gangs under its control to increase their numbers and better their negotiating position preceding the finalisation of peace accords with the government of Álvaro Uribe Vélez. The “Bloque Metro” considered many of the leaders of paramilitary blocks of the AUC as not being “self-defences” but as pure drug traffickers who had bought into franchises to disguise themselves as “political actors” and enjoy the benefits of the Rialto peace accord with the government.

The youths seen in the photo come from the areas still controlled by the Metro Block in Medellín, principally in the Sierra neighbourhood and also that of Moravia/El Bosque.
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block
  • Youths train with wooden weapons in paramilitary encampment of the Metro Block

A paramilitary fighter with a rifle and his faced covered walks through wooded countryside
Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro in their encampment in San Roque municipality, Antioquia
  • Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro patrol countryside
  • Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro patrol countryside
  • Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro patrol countryside
  • Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro patrol countryside
  • Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro patrol countryside
  • Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro patrol countryside
  • Paramilitary of the Bloque Metro crossing a stream

Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro patrol countryside
Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro under the command of Carlos Mauricio García Fernández, alias “Doble Cero” and also “Rodrigo Franco.” The group had broken relations with the AUC (United Self-defences of Colombia) as they considered that these had allowed drug traffickers to take “franchises” in the form of becoming commanders of paramilitary blocks in order to enjoy the benefits under the “Justice and Peace” law granted in peace negotiations with the government.
Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro patrol countryside
Paramilitaries of the Bloque Metro
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