Ivan Roberto Duque, a.k.a. “Ernesto Baez” (Image: Truth Commission)
The BCB was one of the AUC’s most powerful paramilitary groups until the demobilization of their more than 7,600 members between 2003 and 2006.
The BCB’s paramilitary groups were active throughout Colombia with major involvement in drug trafficking, the mining sector and the security forces.
The BCB’s late political leader, Ivan Roberto Duque, died in 2019, three says after committing to cooperate the Truth Commission about the crimes of the organization he led with Jimenez.
Before his death, Duque estimated that the BCB and other paramilitary groups’ political influence reached so far they had half of Congress in their pocket in 2002.