FARC leaders indicted in US for importing cocaine
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fifty leaders of a Colombian rebel group have been charged with importing more than $25 billion worth of cocaine into the United States and other countries, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
"This is the largest narcotics trafficking indictment ever filed in U.S. history and fuels our hope to reduce narco-violence in Colombia and stem the tide of illegal drugs entering our country," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said.
The one-count indictment names as defendants the entire leadership of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, a group the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
The group, with about 17,000 rebels, supplies more than 50 percent of the world's cocaine and more than 60 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States, according to the indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury in Washington on March 1 and unsealed on Wednesday.
Gonzales told a news conference three of the leaders are currently in custody in Colombia and the United States is seeking their extradition, a process that officials said takes on average 12 to 18 months.
He said the remaining 47 defendants were at large, "hiding in the remote reaches of Colombia surrounded by heavily armed FARC loyalists."
The FARC have been fighting for socialist revolution since 1964. Financed by ties to the drug trade, it has, at times in the last few decades, run large swaths of Colombia, the world's No. 1 cocaine exporter.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a staunch Washington ally, has increased extraditions during his more than three years in power. He has boosted military spending and significantly cut violence, particularly in cities.
The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, announced rewards of more than $75 million for information leading to the capture of 24 FARC leaders.
Gonzales said the defendants enforced their criminal regime with violence. "The indictment alleges that farmers who did not comply with FARC rules were shot, stabbed, and even dismembered alive," he said.
"Members of the FARC leadership worked to attack and disrupt coca eradication efforts, threatening and killing local farmers, ordering members to kidnap and murder Colombian and U.S. persons, and shooting down airplanes they believed were used for fumigation," he said.
Asked if the indictment would result in any practical changes, Gonzales replied, "I think members of the FARC do not want to face American justice."
A handful of FARC members or leaders already have been indicted and sent to the United States on drug or terrorism charges. The trial in one of the cases is set to begin in June, the officials said.
"This is the largest narcotics trafficking indictment ever filed in U.S. history and fuels our hope to reduce narco-violence in Colombia and stem the tide of illegal drugs entering our country," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said.
The one-count indictment names as defendants the entire leadership of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, a group the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
The group, with about 17,000 rebels, supplies more than 50 percent of the world's cocaine and more than 60 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States, according to the indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury in Washington on March 1 and unsealed on Wednesday.
Gonzales told a news conference three of the leaders are currently in custody in Colombia and the United States is seeking their extradition, a process that officials said takes on average 12 to 18 months.
He said the remaining 47 defendants were at large, "hiding in the remote reaches of Colombia surrounded by heavily armed FARC loyalists."
The FARC have been fighting for socialist revolution since 1964. Financed by ties to the drug trade, it has, at times in the last few decades, run large swaths of Colombia, the world's No. 1 cocaine exporter.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a staunch Washington ally, has increased extraditions during his more than three years in power. He has boosted military spending and significantly cut violence, particularly in cities.
The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, announced rewards of more than $75 million for information leading to the capture of 24 FARC leaders.
Gonzales said the defendants enforced their criminal regime with violence. "The indictment alleges that farmers who did not comply with FARC rules were shot, stabbed, and even dismembered alive," he said.
"Members of the FARC leadership worked to attack and disrupt coca eradication efforts, threatening and killing local farmers, ordering members to kidnap and murder Colombian and U.S. persons, and shooting down airplanes they believed were used for fumigation," he said.
Asked if the indictment would result in any practical changes, Gonzales replied, "I think members of the FARC do not want to face American justice."
A handful of FARC members or leaders already have been indicted and sent to the United States on drug or terrorism charges. The trial in one of the cases is set to begin in June, the officials said.
posted by Marko at 3/23/2006 08:19:00 AM
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