How absurd it is for guerrillas who supposedly seek a more just society to assassinate three persons who dedicated their lives to achieving a more just world. How ironic and tragic that the lives of these three persons-Ingrid, Lahe'ena'e and Terry - who worked tirelessly for peace and good will among all people, should end through senseless violence directed at them.
The FARC will never achieve a just society unless and until they respect the value of human life. The way to a most just society in Colombia lies in changing age old- attitudes that depreciate the value of human life -- particularly of peasants , workers, the poor, and indigenous peoples-- to accord all Colombians, and all human beings, basic dignity and worth. Through the murder of these three people of peace and dignity, the FARC has called into question its committment to a more just society and to peace.
We call upon the leadership of the FARC to renounce violence against people of peace, whether human rights leaders from abroad or members of Peace Communities in Colombia. We demand that those responsible for the deaths of Ingrid, Lahe'ena'e and Terry be prosecuted through the Colombian justice system and sanctioned. And we urge the FARC to support civic society as a way toward lasting peace with justice. As a sign of their commitment to peace the FARC should also renounce kidnapping as a strategy and release all of the people they have kidnapped and are presently holding.
JOHN I LAUN CAROL SUNDBERG JOHN HICKMAN CECILIA ZARATE Pres. CSN Vice-Pres. CSN Treasurer CSN Secretary CSN
2/26/99
COLOMBIA SUPPORT NETWORK received the following information
from the Native American Council of New York : that INGRID
WASHINAWATOK , a member of the Menomonie Nation of Wisconsin
and a representative of the United Nations International Working
Group on Indigenous Rights, was kidnapped on February 25th at 10
a.m. in the morning by FARC guerrillas when she was on her way to
visit the indigenous U'Wa Community in Colombia. Two others in
the party were also kidnapped as well. FARC has acknowledged the
kidnapping in a fax sent to the United States Embassy in Bogota.
COLOMBIA SUPPORT NETWORK strongly protests this outrageous
violation of this individual's human rights and demands her
immediate release.
=============================================================
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
Sunday, 28 February 1999
Three US researchers missing in Colombia --------------------
--------------
BOGOTA -- Three US researchers were missing in the jungles of
Colombia, police said Sunday, but were unable to confirm reports
that they had been kidnapped by leftist insurgents.
Natives from the U'wa community, on the remote north-eastern
border with Venezuela, said that US researchers Terence Freitas,
Ingrid Imawatuk and Larry Gai Lameenal were kidnapped by rebels
from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The head of Colombia's anti-kidnapping unit, Jose Alfredo Escobar,
would not confirm the abduction, stating that the three researchers
were officially 'missing.'
Nevertheless Escobar has contacted US embassy officials, and the
Colombian army and national secret service are on the case, he said.
The US researchers are members of a New York-based group that
defends the rights of the natives, an U'wa leader told local radio.
Copyright 1999 Agence France Presse
=======================
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunday, 28 February 1999
3 Americans Kidnapped in Colombia ------------
---------------------
BOGOTA -- Three Americans were kidnapped by suspected leftist
rebels in northeastern Colombia after researching an indigenous
group on its reservation, authorities said Sunday.
The Americans were identified by the state security agency as
Terence Freitas, Ingrid Inawatuk and Gay Laheenae. Colombia's anti-
kidnapping chief, Jose Alfredo Escobar, said the latter two were
apparently members of the Sioux nation.
They were seized Thursday about 200 miles from Bogota, near the
Venezuelan border, while on their way home from studying the U'wa
culture.
No group claimed responsibility for the abduction, but several leftist
rebel bands operate in the area where the three were seized, said
Escobar.
Colombian authorities had no information on the Americans'
hometowns or affiliations, but an U'wa representative provided a
New York phone number for Freitas which rang at the independent
environmental group Rainforest Foundation. No one returned
reporter's calls Sunday.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman said he could not confirm the kidnappings
for privacy reasons.
Colombia has the world's highest kidnapping rate and foreigners are
prized quarry because they tend to fetch the highest ransoms,
typically several hundred thousand dollars each.
Regional U'wa representative Roberto Afanador, told The Associated
Press that he was escorting the Americans to the airport when two
gunmen in civilian clothes stopped the car and abducted the
Americans.
Afanador said he was incensed at what he considered an affront to
the U'wa, a fiercely proud nation of some 8,000 people.
The U'wa became internationally known when they won a legal
battle against Occidental Petroleum in 1997 that prevented the Los
Angeles-based company from drilling on U'wa territory. Tribal
leaders had threatened mass suicide if drilling were to proceed.
``They came to study our culture, our territory,'' said Afanador. ``The
indigenous authorities are very upset by this because our territory is
not respected. We are humiliated. We are abused.''
Afanador said the U'wa suspect the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, the country's oldest and largest rebel group, in
the kidnapping. He said the FARC frequently enters the U'Wa
reserve without permission.
The FARC's 34-year-old battle against the government has claimed
more than 30,000 lives.
In addition to some 260 Colombians and the three Americans,
kidnappers currently hold four Italians, two French, three
Venezuelans and a Chilean hostage, according the anti-kidnapping
czar's office.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
===================
EL ESPECTADOR [Bogota]
Monday, 1 March 1999
FARC claims responsibility for kidnapping of three US nationals
--------------------------------
The 45th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of three US
citizens who were heading to the U'wa indigenous territory in
Arauca on 25th February.
The US investigators, who were identified as Terence Freitas , Ingrid
Inawatuk and Larry Gay Laheenge, are members of an organization
that defends the U'wa people, a community that has not permitted
multinational companies to explore oil reserves in their territory. The
guerrilla group kidnapped the US investigators on 25th February on
Kilometre-15 of the road between Cubara and Saravena, at the
border between the departments of Boyaca and Casanare. The
National Police has launched the necessary operations to locate the
three hostages. Meanwhile, antikidnapping czar, Alfredo Escobar
Araujo, and representatives from the US embassy in Colombia met
yesterday to analyse the situation and seek a solution for the
problem.
The reason ----------
According to a FARC spokesman, the three US citizens were held in
order to investigate the purpose of their visit, as neither the FARC
nor the ELN [National Liberation Army] had any knowledge of the
objective of their presence in the area.
Both the FARC and the ELN have supported the U'wa community in
defending their territory from oil companies operating in their
territory because, according to their beliefs, the land is sacred and,
therefore, should be respected.
US company Occidental Petroleum Corporation [OXY] has been
conducting seismic research work and oil exploration activities in the
area known as the Samore Block, near the U'wa territory.
The U'wa Indians have protested against the work carried out in
their and their homeland, which they inherited from their ancestors,
and have threatened to carry out a mass suicide.
OXY has firmly denied that they have violated the Indians' territorial
rights, but suspended its operations until the controversy is resolved.
The case has attracted international attention from academics,
environmental protection activists and groups defending Indian
rights.
The government has blamed the guerrillas of manipulating U'wa
leaders and forcing them to make unjustified territorial demands in
an attempt to expel the US multinational company from the area.
Both the FARC and the ELN, a smaller guerrilla group, are opposed to
what they regard as an excessive participation of multinational
companies in the Colombian oil industry.
Kidnappings increase --------------------
Antikidnapping Czar Alfredo Araujo expressed his concern about an
increase in the kidnapping of foreign citizens by subversive groups.
According to government statistics, Colombia has one of the highest
kidnapping rates in the world. A total of 2,400 kidnappings were
reported last year, among them 40 foreigners.
After the recent actions, 20 foreigners are being held hostage in
Colombia and more than half of the incidents have been attributed to
the three guerrilla groups.
In fact, according to a report on the human rights situation in the
world issued by the US State Department last Friday [26th February],
Colombia is one of the countries where basic human rights are often
violated. The report said that most of the human rights violations
against civil society were committed by the guerrillas, common
criminals and paramilitary groups.
======================
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
Friday, 5 March 1999
US condemns murders of US citizens, asks for extradition of killers
-----------------------------------
WASHINGTON -- The US State Department on Friday condemned the
murder of three US researchers by Colombian guerrillas and called
for the culprits to be arrested and extradited.
"We condemn the FARC in the strongest possible terms for this
barbaric terrorist act," spokesman Lee McClenny said in a statement,
naming the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the
country's largest guerrilla group.
"We demand ... that the FARC accept responsibility for this cold-
blooded murder and turn over those of its members who perpetrated
this crime to be held accountable by the court," the statement
continued.
The State Department also expressed its "deepest sympathy" to the
friends and families of the victims, and called on the Colombian
government to track down the murderers "responsible for this act of
cowardly act of international terrorism."
Colombian general Jorge Mora told journalists Friday the government
had a tape recording of a conversation between the guerrillas which
proved FARC rebels had killed the three Americans.
"At this moment I can say I have practically no doubts" FARC was
responsible, he said.
The bodies of Terence Freitas, 24, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, and
Laheenae Gay, 39, were found Thursday near Guatalita, Apure
province, in northwestern Venezuela close to the Colombian border,
the statement said.
The trio, who were working with environmental and indigenous
rights groups of the native U'wa tribe, were kidnapped February 25.
The tape recording, which was hard to hear in some places, was
apparently of a conversation between rebel commander German
Briceno and one of his subordinates.
"I thought all three were men," Briceno is recorded as saying about
the captured US researchers. Then, apparently referring to
Washinawatok, he said "let her die."
The families of the three had been informed and the State
Department was working with them to carry out final arrangements,
McClenny said.
Freitas was from Oakland, California, Washinawatok, from New York
City and Gay came from Hawaii, according to the State Department.
Copyright 1999 Agence France Presse
==============================
March 5, 1999
The Colombia Support Network deplores and
condemns in the strongest terms the murder of three United States
citizens who were kidnapped near the U'Wa lands in Arauca in
Eastern Colombia. These three persons were on a mission to promote
peace and well being for the people of Colombia, particularly for the
U'Wa indigenous peoples whom they had just visited. Their killing is
an outrage. The perpetrators of this infamous crime must be located
and brought to justice.
It is not at all clear which armed group is responsible for the
kidnapping and murder. We call upon the Colombian authorities to
act professionally and promptly to investigate to determine who
kidnapped and killed Ingrid, Terry and Gay and to arrest and try all
those responsible for this crime. CSN, with headquarters in Ingrid's
home state of Wisconsin, offers its assistance and good offices to
help.
JOHN I.LAUN
President CSN
Please send faxes and letters to the addresses below DEMANDING a
prompt and full investigation to determine the true authors of these
crimes and see that they are brought to justice. Please write to your
Senators and Representatives
President William J. Clinton (202)456 2461
Ms. Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State (202)647 0221
U.S. State Department Office of Andean Affairs (202)647 2628
Ambassador Curtis Kammam 011 57 1 315 2197
Ambassador Luis Alberto Moreno 1 (202)232 8643
Inter-American Comission of Human Rights (202) 4583992
Doctor Andrés Pastrana Arango,
Presidente de la República de Colombia,
Palacio de Nariño Presidencia de la República
fax: 2837324 2867434 2877937 2818262
Cra. 8 No. 7-26
Santafé de Bogotá D.C.
pastrana@presidencia.gov.co
Doctor Gustavo Bell Lemus
Vicepresidente de la República de Colombia.
Carrera 8 Nº 7-26
Palacio de Nariño P
residencia de la República
fax: 2837324 2867434 2877937 2818262
Cra. 8 No. 7-26
Santafé de Bogotá D.C.
Doctor Humberto Martínez Neira
Ministro del Interior
Carrera 8 Nº 8-09,
Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia.
Fax: (571) 3368377
Doctor Rodrigo Lloreda
Ministro de Defensa,
Avenida El Dorado con Carrera 52
Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia
Fax: (571)2215363
E mail : infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co
Doctor Jaime Bernal Cuellar
Procurador General de la Nación
Carrera 5 No.15-80,
Santafé de Bogotá. Colombia.
Telefono: (571) 2838609
Fax: (571) 3429723
===================================================
NEW YORK TIMES
Saturday, 6 March 1999
3 Kidnapped Americans Killed
Colombian Rebels Are Suspected
------------------------------
By Andrew Jacobs
Three Americans who were kidnapped last week in the Colombian
rain forest were found slain Thursday just across the border in
Venezuela, the authorities said yesterday.
The two women and a man, members of a group that is trying to
preserve an indigenous tribe threatened by oil exploration, were
found bound, blindfolded and shot several times, according to the
Venezuelan military, which discovered the bodies in a wooded area
on the outskirts of Rio Arauca.
Initial reports suggested that the three had been abducted by leftist
guerrillas in Colombia, who often use ransoms from kidnapping to
finance their military activity.
The State Department condemned the killings, for which it blamed a
prominent leftist guerrilla group, and it called on the Colombian
Government to arrest and extradite to the United States those
responsible.
The State Department has identified the three dead as Terence
Freitas, 24, and Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, both of New York, and
Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, of Hawaii. The three had traveled to Colombia to
study conditions among the Uwa Indians in a community of 5,000
that is 200 miles northeast of Bogota.
In recent years, Occidental de Colombia, an affiliate of Occidental
Petroleum of Bakersfield, Calif., has been trying to explore the region,
a move that anthropologists and environmentalists say would
devastate the Uwa and their land. In 1997, the Uwa won a legal
battle against the company that prevented it from drilling on their
reservation.
The three Americans, members of the Hawaii-based Pacific Cultural
Conservancy International, had been invited by Uwa leaders for a
weeklong visit when they were abducted. "Everyone is in shock," said
Myra Scheer, of The Rainforest Foundation, on whose board Ms.
Washinawatok served. "They went there to help people. We just
can't understand why they were killed."
Friends said they had assumed that the three would be released
unharmed, as were three American bird watchers who last year
were held captive by Colombian guerrillas for more than a month.
Ms. Gay and Ms. Washinawatok were shot four times each, and Mr.
Freitas was shot six times, said Col. Luis Eduardo Tafur, a Venezuelan
police commander in La Victoria, which is just across the Arauca
River from Colombia. He said officers had been drawn to the site by
the sound of automatic gunfire.
Friends and relatives of the dead said the three had been aware of
the potential danger in the region but were committed to helping the
Uwa preserve their way of life. Mr. Freitas, a graduate in biology
from the University of California at Santa Cruz, traveled to the area
three times in the last few years, family members said. "I'm proud
of my son," said his mother, Julie Freitas, who lives in Los Angeles.
"He lived the life he wanted to live."
Ms. Washinawatok, a member of the Menominee tribe in Wisconsin,
lived in Brooklyn with her husband and their 14-year-son. She was a
filmmaker and lecturer on American Indian issues and was active
with the American Indian Community House in lower Manhattan.
Ms. Gay was the director of the cultural group that organized the trip.
"We're really in shock right now," said her husband, John
Livingstone. "It's too much to process."
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but a
representative of the Uwa who was with the group when they were
abducted blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC, Latin America's largest rebel group.
In recent months, the rebels have been holding preliminary peace
talks with the Colombian Government to end an armed conflict that
has cost more than 30,000 lives in the last three decades.
Politically, the new killings made little sense, and they were far
different from other abductions the FARC has carried out, raising
some question about the rebel group's involvement. The abductions
occurred at a roadblock in Arauca, where right-wing paramilitary
groups have been waging a campaign of extermination among trade
unionists, leftists, human rights activists and suspected rebel
supporters.
In addition, the FARC's roadblocks are typically manned by
uniformed troops in full combat gear, not lightly armed fighters in
civilian dress. Arauca is in an area under the FARC's 43d Front,
whose squadrons of 12 rebels are each headed by a veteran fighter,
making it unlikely that a handful of FARC teen-agers, as described
by the Uwa, could carry out such an attack.
The rebels stand to win nothing from killing foreigners now. Since
the overtures with the Government began, the FARC has sought the
support of foreign powers. In Washington, its alleged role in
abducting two missionaries from the New Tribes Mission in 1994
continues to hamper the ability of Clinton Administration officials to
support the peace effort.
And the abductions did not bear other trademarks of FARC
operations. When the rebels seized the bird watchers at a roadblock
outside Bogota last year, the group announced that the Americans
would be investigated for possible intelligence links and either
executed or released. This time, the FARC has yet to confirm or deny
the abduction.
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
===================================
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Saturday, 6 March 1999
Three U.S. citizens found slain in Venezuela --------------------
By David Aquila Lawrence
BOGOTA -- Only days after two Americans were killed by rebels in
Africa, the bodies of three U.S. citizens who were kidnapped last
week by suspected Colombian guerrillas have been found in
Venezuela, reportedly with bullet wounds to the head.
The bodies of three Americans--including one Californian--who had
been visiting the U'wa tribe in northeastern Colombia were found
Thursday, Fernando Gerbasi, Venezuela's ambassador to Colombia,
said Friday.
They were discovered near a Venezuelan border town not far from
where they were abducted, he said. Colombian police said each of the
women were shot four times and the man was shot six times.
They were identified by tattoos and an American Express card found
in the underwear of one body, Gerbasi said. The U.S. State
Department confirmed the identities of the three Americans.
On Monday, two Americans were among eight foreign tourists killed
while on a gorilla safari in Uganda.
The Colombian killings are expected to be a serious blow to the
credibility of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, this
nation's oldest and largest guerrilla group. With their peace talks
with the government stalled, the rebels have tried to establish their
credentials as a voice for Colombia's poor and neglected as they
continue attacks and kidnappings.
Known by the initials FARC, the insurgents are blamed for 60% of
Colombia's staggering 2,000 kidnappings a year; ransoms ranging
from a few thousand to millions of dollars help finance their guerrilla
war.
"We condemn the FARC in the strongest possible terms for this
barbaric act," State Department spokesman Lee McClenny said in
Washington. "We also demand that the FARC accept responsibility
for this cold-blooded murder and turn over those of its members
who perpetrated this crime."
Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok and Laheenae Gay were
abducted by heavily armed men as they left U'wa territory Feb. 25.
Their U'wa escort was released. The U'wa and Colombian police
blamed the 54th Front of the FARC.
"It's genocide committed by the FARC," said Gen. Jorge Mora Rangel,
head of the Colombian army, which itself has been accused of
genocide before the Inter-American Human Rights System in the
alleged murders of leftist politicians.
A Colombian radio station broadcast a recording obtained from
government intelligence sources that purported to be a tape of a
FARC commander giving the order to kill one of the women.
However, Colombian peace brokers insisted that it was still unclear
who was responsible for the slayings. "Many peace processes have
broken down with provocations that come from unknown sources,"
warned Noemi Sanin, a member of the National Reconciliation
Commission, a group that seeks to mediate a peace agreement
between the rebels and the government.
A different FARC group kidnapped and released four U.S. bird-
watchers a year ago. A third group is believed to have kidnapped
three U.S. missionaries in Panama six years ago. The FARC denied
responsibility for that kidnapping and has not commented on the
latest abduction.
The three Americans were visiting one of Colombia's most remote
areas, notorious for the viciousness of confrontations between
guerrillas and the Colombian army.
Freitas, 24, of Oakland, headed a U.S. support group for the U'wa
effort to prevent Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum from
drilling in what the Indians consider their territory.
Freitas' mother, Julie Freitas of Los Angeles, told Associated Press
that she was "totally devastated" by her son's death.
"I'm proud of my son," she said. "He lived the life that he wanted to
live. He had such a passion for the indigenous culture . . . and he
risked his life preserving that culture."
The U'wa threatened two years ago to commit mass suicide if
Occidental were to drill. The Indians also have filed a lawsuit against
Occidental.
Washinawatok, 41, who lived in New York, was a member of the
Menominee nation in Wisconsin, and Gay was a native Hawaiian and
member of Hawaii-based Pacific Culture Conservation International,
which sponsored the trip to Colombia.
"As indigenous people, they knew our situation and supported us,"
Evaristo Tegria, a member of the U'wa community, told Colombian
radio.
The three had been in U'wa territory for varying periods during this
visit, the longest for two weeks.
A spokesman for the victims' families had no comment Friday.
==============================
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, 6 March 1999
Slain Americans Were in Risky Area ------------
----------------------
By Vivian Sequera
LA VICTORIA, Venezuela -- The three American humanitarian
workers kidnapped and slain while trying to help a Colombian native
group had ventured in a dangerous and lawless region teeming with
leftist rebels.
Authorities sought an explanation Saturday into the killings of the
Americans, whose bound and bullet-ridden bodies were found
Thursday in a cow pasture just across the border in Venezuela.
``I got halfway across the road and I put my hands on my head,'' said
the man who discovered the bodies, local rancher Segundo
Salamanca, 48. ``Who could have committed such a barbarity?''
The Americans were Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, a member of the
Menominee nation of Wisconsin, Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, director of the
Hawaii-based Pacific Cultural Conservancy International, and Terence
Freitas, a 24- year old environmentalist. Freitas, originally from Los
Angeles, had recently moved to New York City.
They were abducted by suspected leftist rebels on Feb. 25 after
spending a week in Colombia working with the U'wa, an 8,000-
member Indian group that inhabits a reserve along the border
between the two countries.
Salamanca found the corpses Thursday morning in a pasture across
the road from his farmhouse on a flat, steamy expanse alongside the
Arauca River. He heard bursts of automatic gunfire, waited 10
minutes, and then ventured out to investigate.
The three were laying face up within 10 paces of one another,
Salamanca told The Associated Press.
Gay was found first, shoeless, wearing a beige dress and with a white
handkerchief covering her face. All three had their hands tied and
their faces covered.
The two women had been shot four times each in the face and chest,
and Freitas six times -- all with 9mm weapons, Venezuelan police
said. Freitas was hit twice in the back from long range, suggesting he
may have tried to flee.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but Washington
blamed the 15,000-member Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, the country's oldest and largest rebel band.
``We are outraged by the murders,'' White House press secretary Joe
Lockhart said in a statement Saturday. The United States has ``strong
indications'' the killers were FARC rebels, Lockhart added.
``We demand the FARC accept responsibility for these crimes and
immediately surrender those who committed them.''
A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Caracas said five FBI agents were en
route to Venezuela on Saturday to aid the murder investigation.
The FARC routinely kidnaps foreigners, and two FARC fronts operate
in the region, which has also been inhabited by a second rebel group,
the National Liberation Army, or ELN. The ELN on Saturday denied it
was involved. The FARC has yet to make a statement, and its
international committee did not return phone messages left at its
Mexico City office.
U'wa tribesmen, who were accompanying the three Americans when
they were seized, blamed FARC guerrillas.
Devastated relatives and friends of the slain activists, who had been
hoping a release was imminent, struggled to understand the killings.
``Ingrid Washinawatok was an integral part of the lives of many
native Americans and other traditional peoples, nationally and
internationally. Her place in our community will not soon be filled, if
ever,'' said the American Indian Community in a statement.
Washinawatok, who was married and had a 14-year-old son, was on
the board of directors of the group, which serves the estimated
36,000 native Americans living in the New York City area.
Apesanahkwat, the chairman of Washinawatok's tribe, said the group
had received an e-mail message from the FARC on Friday in which it
``sent its greetings and expressed solidarity'' with North American
Indians.
If the FARC was responsible, the killings would be a serious blow to
the international image the group has tried to cultivate as a hero of
Colombia's downtrodden peasants.
The American activists, in their mission to help the U'wa organize
schools on its reservation, had ignored State Department warnings
for U.S. citizens to stay away from rural Colombia.
Gay's institute worked to preserve native cultures on and inside the
Pacific rim. Freitas had worked with the U'wa for more than two
years, escorting tribal chiefs on lobbying missions to the United
States.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
========================================
REUTERS
Saturday, 6 March 1999
Colombia Rebels Blame Murders On 'Enemies' Of Peace
-----------------------------
BOGOTA -- The brutal killings of three Americans allegedly by
Colombian Marxist guerrillas threatened to scuttle the country's
fragile peace process, even as the rebel group disassociated itself
from the murders and blamed them on ''enemies'' of peace.
The bullet-riddled bodies of Terence Freitas, 24, an environmental
scientist from Oakland, California, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, a Native
American and resident of New York City and Laheenae Gay, 39, of
Hawaii, were found Thursday by a Venezuelan Army patrol just
across the border from Colombia.
The three Indian rights activists had been blindfolded, with their
hands tied behind their backs and shot several times in the head
exactly a week after they were kidnapped on Feb. 25.
The Colombian military and State Department said they had no doubt
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -- which
Washington considers a ``terrorist'' organization -- was behind the
Americans' murder.
A member of the FARC leadership signalled the group was not
behind the killings.
``This was an act of provocation by enemies of the peace process. The
actions of those who kidnapped the Americans does not correspond
to the way our members operate and it's very difficult to believe the
FARC is responsible for this,'' a member of the FARC's Chief-of-Staff,
its top policy-making body, told Reuters in a phone interview.
Asking not to be identified, he said the FARC ruling council, or
General Secretariat, would issue a formal statement probably
Sunday.
Freitas, Washinawatok and Gay were abducted while campaigning to
block U.S. multinational Occidental Petroleum Corp. from exploring
for oil on U'wa tribal lands in northeastern Colombia.
The senior FARC member did not spell out who exactly he blamed for
their murders but hinted it could be ultra-right death squads or
sectors of the military disgruntled at President Andres Pastrana's
efforts to cut a peace deal with the country's estimated 20,000
guerrillas.
U'wa Indian heads initially blamed the FARC for their kidnap and
murder. But in a phone interview with Reuters Saturday, U'wa
community leader Roberto Cobaria, who was with the American trio
when they were snatched, said he could not confirm the FARC had
abducted them.
He said two men, wearing ski-masks and carrying pistols forced the
car in which Freitas, Washinawatok and Gay were traveling to pull
over as it headed toward the airport in the town of Saravena in
northeast Arauca province.
FARC fighters operating in rural regions almost always dress in
camouflage fatigues, use high-powered assault rifles and do not
cover their faces to avoid appearing as common criminals.
But the FARC and the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN)
regularly take hostages, including foreigners, and use the ransom to
finance their war against the state. More than 35,000 people have
died in Colombia's civil conflict in the past decade.
The FARC never denied the initial kidnapping and the group's efforts
to disassociate itself from the murders seem likely to cut little ice
with U.S. and Colombian officials.
``We condemn the FARC in the strongest possible terms for this
cowardly act of international terrorism,'' a State Department
statement said.
``It was committed by the FARC,'' added Colombia Army chief Gen.
Jorge Enrique Mora Rangel.
Colombia's Army broadcast Friday night what it said were intercepts
of radio telephone contact between German Briceno and a FARC rebel
in which they discussed the U.S. hostages.
``Take them over to the other side and burn them,'' a voice identified
as that of regional FARC commander German Briceno said at one
point, allegedly referring to the Arauca River separating Colombia
from Venezuela.
``Let the bitch die,'' he then said. ``She's nothing to us.''
Military sources said the man identified as Briceno was referring to
either Washinawatok or Gay, who was director of the Hawaii-based
Pacific Cultural Conservancy International which sponsored the
Americans' ill-fated trip to Colombia.
The killings came on the same day that U.S. Attorney General Janet
Reno was on an official visit to Colombia. It also occurred just days
after a top FARC commander, Raul Reyes, said the group was seeking
a second meeting with U.S. officials to follow up on one held in Costa
Rica in December.
As long as official evidence points to the FARC -- and the rebel group
ignores U.S. demands that the murderers be handed over for trial in
a U.S. court -- political observers said Colombia's already moribund
peace process was unlikely to be revived.
The FARC broke off talks with Pastrana just days after they started
in January, and a re-start date of April 20 now looks more dubious
than ever.
``It's extremely bad for the peace process if it is proven that
guerrillas killed the three Americans,'' said Augusto Ramirez Ocampo,
a prominent member of Colombia's church-backed National Peace
Commission.
Colombian Attorney General Jaime Bernal Cuellar cautioned against
``jumping to conclusions,'' saying the FARC's possible role in the
murders could only be established after a painstaking investigation.
But, added Bernal, ``it's a blow to the peace process.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited
====================================
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Saturday, 6 March 1999
3 kidnapped U.S. activists found dead; Colombian rebels blamed
--------------------------------------
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan authorities said Friday that they
had found the blindfolded, bullet-riddled bodies of three American
activists who were kidnapped Feb. 25 in northeastern Colombia by
presumed Marxist rebels.
The three, two women and one man, were discovered Thursday by
an army patrol about 100 feet from the Arauca River, which
separates the two countries in southeastern Venezuela.
"Everything indicates that they were killed on the Colombian side
and thrown over here," Interior Minister Luis Miquilena said.
Terence Freitas, 24, an environmental scientist from Oakland; Ingrid
Washinawatok, 41, of New York; and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, of Hawaii,
were located Thursday by an army patrol drawn to the scene after
hearing several bursts of heavy gunfire.
'They had just been killed,"said regional army Commander Gen.
Rigoberto Martinez, adding that credit cards found on one of the
bodies and tattoos on another had helped with identification.
The U.S. State Department described the attack as "cold-blooded
murder" and called on the Colombian government to capture and
extradite those responsible.
The three Americans were members of an international campaign
trying to force a U.S. multinational, Occidental Petroleum Corp., to
abandon plans to drill for oil near the ancestral homelands of
Colombia's U'wa Indians.
They had spent about two weeks with the U'wa Indians when they
were abducted as they headed to the northeast town of Saravena to
take a flight to the Colombian capital of Bogota.
Colombian police and a U'wa spokesman blamed the attack on the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Colombia's largest guerrilla
group with at least 15,000 active soldiers.
Copyright 1999 Chicago Tribune
========================================
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
Sunday, 7 March 1999
Controversy rages over responsibilityfor US triple murder
-------------------------------------
BOGOTA -- Colombia opened an official investigation into the brutal
murder of three Americans Saturday as controversy raged over
which rebel group was responsible for the killings.
Deputy attorney general Jaime Cordoba told journalists here officials
have started gathering evidence to find out "who committed the
kidnapping and killing."
Meanwhile, politicians warned the arguments over which rebel group
had carried out the triple murder could endanger the country's
fragile peace process.
Colombia's left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
blamed by both Washington and Bogota, were not responsible for the
atrocity, former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega said Saturday.
The executions were probably carried out by right wing
paramilitaries in a bid to destabilise the country's fragile peace talks,
he charged.
"I think this is an attempt to smear the Colombian guerrillas and hold
up the peace process," said Ortega, who is here to assist in talks
between the Colombian government and left-wing rebels.
The executions did not correspond with the FARC's methods, Ortega
argued.
It was the country's right-wing paramilitaries who had assassinated
"hundreds" of civilians, he told Union Radio.
The bodies of the man and two women were found blindfolded, their
hands tied, with gunshot wounds to the head on Thursday in
northwestern Venezuela close to the Colombian border.
The trio, who were working with environmental and indigenous
rights groups of the native U'wa tribe, were kidnapped February 25,
apparently by the FARC.
The State Department branded the atrocity a "barbaric terrorist act"
and called on the Colombian government to track down and extradite
the culprits to the United States.
But colleagues of the murdered environmental activists --Terence
Freitas, 24, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, and Laheenae Gay, 39-- also
questioned the official assumption.
"To say that Terry (Terence Freitas) was killed by left wing guerrillas
from the FARC doesn't make much sense," said Atossa Soltani, the
head of Los Angeles-based Amazon Watch and a close friend of
Freitas.
The murders could only undermine talks between the FARC rebels
and Andres Pastrana's conservative government to broker a peace to
the country's 35-year civil war, they said.
"A peace accord was being negotiated at this very moment. For the
FARC to have killed our three colleagues would have been a very
serious mistake," Soltani concluded.
Freitas had been threatened by right wing groups several times, said
Jack Watkins, another Freitas friend and LA environmental
journalist.
"It would make sense for them to have him out of the way," Watkins
told AFP. "These groups are close to the Colombian military and
routinely harass indigenous peoples."
Meanwhile the United Nations joined the chorus condemning the
atrocity.
The UN "regretted" that its request to the Revolutionary Armed
Forces to free the three environmental activists had gone unheeded,
the UN High Commission for Human Rights said in a statement here.
And in Colombia senior political figures including Horacio Serpa, the
leader of the oppositon Liberal Party, said the atrocity had dealt a
body blow to the peace talks.
But the Attorney General, Jaime Bernal, said the "peace process
should not be allowed to falter" as he called on the FARC to explain
why the three had been murdered.
Copyright 1999 Agence France Presse
=================================
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Sunday, 7 March 1999
Clinton demands surrender of killers ----------------------
--------------
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton said he is ``outraged'' by the
killings of three Americans on a ``mission of friendship'' in Colombia,
and demanded a major rebel group immediately surrender those
responsible.
``We have strong indications they were kidnapped and murdered by
members of the Colombia rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed
Force of Colombia, or FARC,'' Clinton said in a written statement. ``We
demand that the FARC accept responsibility for these crimes and
immediately surrender those who committed them.''
The victims, two women and a man, were members of a group that is
trying to preserve the 5,000 members of an indigenous tribe of Uwa
Indians, living some 200 miles northeast of Bogota, that is threatened
by oil exploration.
The State Department said it identified the victims as Terence
Freitas, 24, of Oakland, Calif., Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, of New York,
and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, of Hawaii. They were members of the Pacific
Cultural Conservancy International of Hawaii, and had been invited
by Uwa leaders for a weeklong visit.
The Venezuelan military said it discovered their bodies -- bound,
blindfolded and shot several times -- in a wooded area along the
border with Colombia on the outskirts of Rio Arauca.
Occidental de Colombia, an affiliate of Occidental Petroleum of
Bakersfield, Calif., has been trying to explore the region, prompting
protests from anthropologists and environmentalists who feel the
work would devastate the Uwa and their land.
The Uwa won a legal battle in 1997 against the company that
prevented it from drilling on their reservation.
Reports from the area suggested that the three victims had been
abducted by leftist guerrillas who often use ransoms from
kidnapping to finance their military activity. But other reports
raised some doubt, noting the details of the abduction and killing did
not match usual practices of the FARC.
A White House spokesman said the Clinton administration was
confident in its assertions of blame, saying without elaboration that it
has ``information that would seem to indicate that the FARC was
responsible. '' The spokesman also cited the failure of FARC to either
confirm or deny its responsibility.
Although the spokesman declined to identify its proof, a
representative of the Uwa Indians who was with the victims when
they were abducted blamed FARC.
FARC is Latin America's largest and most experienced rebel group,
and its members have been holding preliminary peace talks with the
Colombian government in recent months seeking to end an armed
conflict that has cost more than 30,000 lives in the last three
decades.
In his written statement, Clinton said: ``We will work with President
(Andres) Pastrana to apprehend the offenders, and gather evidence
so indictments can be made and the perpetrators can be prosecuted.
``We will not rest until those who have committed these crimes have
been brought to justice,'' Clinton said.
Copyright 1999 United Press International
===========================================
NEW YORK TIMES
Saturday, 7 March 1999
Executions of 3 Americans in Colombia May Prolong Civil War
------------------------------
By Larry Rohter
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Whether or not Colombia's main guerrilla
group proves to have been responsible for the kidnapping and
execution of three Americans this past week, the deaths have
ignited a political controversy in Colombia that is likely to inflict a
major setback on efforts to negotiate an end to the country's long
civil conflict.
Since taking office last summer, Andres Pastrana, the president of
Colombia, has sought to bring a peaceful conclusion to that war,
responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people in the past
three decades. Informal talks started in January, but immediately
bogged down, and analysts said that right-wing opposition to
Pastrana's conciliatory approach, already strong, is certain to grow
as a result of the killings of the three Americans.
"This is a serious blow to the peace process, if it is proved that the
killers of these three Americans were the guerrillas," Augusto
Ramirez Ocampo, a former foreign minister, told the Bogota
newspaper El Espectador. Daniel Garcia Pena, the government's
former chief peace negotiator, added that "this type of attack
strongly affects the support of the United States" for the incipient
negotiations.
The bodies of Ingrid Washinawatok, Lahe'ena Gay and Terence
Freitas were found Thursday, bound, blindfolded and riddled with
bullets, in a field on the Venezuelan side of the Arauca River, which
forms part of the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela. The
three had gone to Colombia last month as part of an international
campaign by environmental groups to prevent an oil company from
drilling on an Indian tribe's ancestral lands.
Both Colombian police and leaders of the U'wa tribe the three
Americans were visiting have blamed the country's principal left-
wing guerrilla group for the kidnapping. As of Saturday, however,
the organization, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, had
not acknowledged either abducting or executing the Americans, and
news reports in Colombia have raised questions that cloud the issues
of who could have committed the crime and why.
The rebel group is a classic Latin American insurgency, Marxist-
Leninist in political orientation and therefore deeply suspicious of
"American imperialism." For that reason, ordinary Americans,
whether missionaries, scientists, reporters, tourists or engineers, are
often regarded as envoys of the Central Intelligence Agency.
But the region where the Americans were kidnapped is one where
right-wing paramilitary groups also have been extremely active in
recent years. Those heavily armed groups, which also have a history
of abducting and executing people they regard as enemies, oppose
the government's efforts to negotiate an accord with the rebel group
and have recently stepped up their actions.
As Colombian news organizations have been quick to point out, the
gunmen who seized the Americans on their way to a provincial
airport on Feb. 25 wore masks and civilian clothes. That form of
dress is more typical of paramilitary groups than of the guerrillas,
who usually wear uniforms and use bandanas when they wish to
cover their faces.
In addition, Venezuela's new president, Hugo Chavez, who took office
last month, has shown clear signs of sympathy for the rebels,
elements of whose left-wing ideology he shares. Colombian news
reports Friday and Saturday noted that dumping the bodies of the
Americans in Venezuelan territory is an act that unnecessarily
alienates the Venezuelan government, as well as solidarity groups
abroad, and is not in the rebels' long-term interests.
"This turn of events is totally inexplicable," Garcia Pena said in
remarks to El Espectador. He noted that the killings came at a time
when both the guerrillas and the United States were engaged in "the
delicate process of unfreezing relations."
It has never been clear how much control the central command of
the guerrilla group maintains over its regional fronts. But the rebel
units in the Arauca region, where the Americans were kidnapped
are led by the brother of the group's second in command, lessening
the likelihood that the kidnappings and executions, if carried out by
the rebels, were a renegade action.
At the request of the Colombian government, State Department
officials late last year met in Costa Rica with rebels. State Department
officials have defended the decision, describing it as an effort to
obtain information about the fate of three American missionaries
kidnapped in 1994 and the group's involvement in drug trafficking.
"Talking to them is the right thing to do," a State Department official
said recently. "They are very intelligent and shrewd, but incredibly
naive, and we got a glimpse of how unsophisticated their world view
is on some issues."
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
================================================
NEW YORK TIMES
Sunday, 7 March 1999
3 Victims in Colombia Defended Indigenous People
------------------------------------------------
By Susan Sachs
The three Americans who were killed while on a mission to help the
Uwa people of Colombia had distinguished themselves in the United
States and in international organizations as passionate defenders of
the environment and of the rights of indigenous people, associates
said Saturday.
Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, of Brooklyn, began fighting for the rights
of American Indians as a teen-ager in her own backyard, on the
Menominee Reservation in Keshena, Wis., where her father was a
prominent tribal judge. From that springboard, she travelled to
dozens of countries as an advocate for women's and Indian causes.
Terence Freitas, 24, a California native who had recently moved to
Brooklyn, had spent much of the last three years trying to focus
attention on the Uwa tribe's battle to preserve its land from oil
exploration. The Uwa "considered him one of theirs," a friend said.
Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, of Hawaii, chairwoman of the Pacific Cultural
Conservancy International, worked to bring educational
opportunities to indigenous people and recognition for her own
Polynesian culture. To shed light on that culture, she was writing a
book about her own roots in Hawaiian royalty.
"These people are so committed and courageous," said Laurie Parise,
executive director of the Rainforest Foundation U.S., a 10-year-old
organization in New York City, who knew two of the slain Americans.
"They knew the danger, but they still went down there."
Washinawatok grew up on the Menominee Reservation, where a
tribal spiritual leader gave her the name Peqtaw Metamoh when she
was a child. It means Thunderbird Woman.
"Her whole life was about humanity, about respecting people's ability
to be who they are," said Apesanahkwat, the chairman of the
Menominee Nation.
"She was just a wonderful person, a mom and a sister and a
daughter, an Indian woman who epitomizes all those values that not
many people possess," he added.
Washinawatok was a co-chairwoman of the Indigenous Women's
Network and was active in forums sponsored by the United Nations
and other international groups on Indian and women's rights issues.
Since 1992, she was also a member of the board of directors of the
American Indian Community House in Manhattan. She worked for
the Fund of the Four Directions in Manhattan, a foundation that
supports Native American culture.
Washinawatok's advocacy work began early. At age 14, she helped
her father, James, organize on the reservation, and three years later
came to New York City as an intern with the International Treaty
Council, which monitored Indian rights in the hemisphere.
Ali el Issa, her husband of 16 years and a former Rite Aid drug store
manager, said he last spoke with his wife a week before she was
kidnapped. "I told her, if it's not safe, come back. Don't use your
sympathy, use your brain." El Issa said she responded, "I feel I am
with my people, like I'm back on the reservation."
The couple has a son, Maehki, who is 14.
Freitas, a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, was
trained as an environmental biologist and worked in various
environmental law projects after college. His passion was not for
books and formulas, though. It was for the wild, said Leslie Wirpsa,
a close friend.
"It was his natural habitat to be out in the woods," she said, adding,
"His spirit is inextricably linked to the land."
Freitas had been involved with the Uwa fight to keep oil companies
from drilling on their land for nearly three years and founded a
group called the Uwa Defense Working Group, which he said was
dedicated to the principle of non-violent social change.
He helped bring an Uwa tribal leader to California last year for public
debates with spokesmen for the Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation,
the Bakersfield, Calif., company whose affiliate, Occidental de
Colombia, has been trying to explore for oil on and near the Uwa
lands.
"The Uwa considered him one of theirs," Wirpsa said. The feeling was
mutual. "He was awestruck when he was in the Uwa territory," she
added. "I remember when he showed us a slide --red birds against a
rich verdant green backdrop-- and you could feel his heart jump
when he showed that slide."
Melina Selverston, director of the Coalition for Amazonian Peoples
and their Environment, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group, said
Freitas had received death threats on his telephone answering
machine. She said they came from the right-wing paramilitary
groups that operate in the Arauca area of Colombia where the
Americans were abducted.
"Terence was a deeply, deeply committed young man," Ms.
Selverston added. "He was the one person the Uwa trusted as a
connection to the outside world."
Gay, 39, was a native Hawaiian of Scottish, Mohawk and French
descent, with varied interests and talents. A photojournalist and
writer, she led delegations of indigenous Polynesians to various
international forums and was active in Hawaii in fighting for their
official recognition.
"Her work was her passion," John Livingstone, who described himself
as Gay's common-law husband, said in a telephone interview from
his parents' home in Connecticut. "She dedicated her life to
indigenous causes and saving traditional cultures."
Hawaiian elders had trained her in what Livingstone called
traditional anthropology, and she was using those skills to trace the
history of the royal family from which she was descended. She was
writing a book about her roots called The Ancestral Voices.
Livingston said that Ms. Gay understood the dangers of a trip to the
Uwa in Colombia, where she was exploring the possibility of setting
up an education program modeled on one she had established in
Panama.
"They took my heart," Livingstone said, sobbing. "She was the love of
my life. She was just a phenomenal, beautiful person, and it was a
senseless brutal act."
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
===============================================
MIAMI HERALD
Sunday, 7 March 1999
Colombians decry Americans' killings U.S. demands that rebels be
punished ------------------------------------
By Tim Johnson
BOGOTA -- Leftist insurgents gave no sign Saturday that they would
take responsibility for the execution of three Americans who were
kidnapped while helping an Indian group in northeastern Colombia
-- much less hand over the rebel gunmen allegedly involved.
Condemnation rained on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC), the group suspected of killing the activists in cold blood.
The rebels suffer from a ``sickly tendency toward death,'' said the
U'wa Indians who hosted the three Americans before gunmen
kidnapped them Feb. 25.
The bullet-riddled and bound bodies of Ingrid Washinawatok, 41;
Terence Freitas, 24; and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, were found Thursday in
Venezuelan territory, 100 feet from the Arauca River that separates
northeastern Colombia and neighboring Venezuela. The three had
traveled to Colombia to help the U'wa fight off oil exploration on
their tribal reserve.
The Caracol radio network said rebel sources reported they were
preparing a statement about the killings, but none was released by
Saturday afternoon.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman, Lee McLenny,
accused the FARC of the ``barbaric terrorist act'' and demanded that
the rebels be tried and punished.
Colombians of all stripes --including a second leftist insurgency, the
National Liberation Army -- exhorted the government to find the
killers. But a prominent politician said the murderers will never be
caught or prosecuted.
``This will not happen... Impunity reigns in this country,'' said Horacio
Serpa, leader of the opposition Liberal Party.
Finding justice in Colombia is difficult, as Washington knows. The
State Department's annual human rights report on Colombia, issued
Feb. 26, noted that ``less than 3 percent of all crimes nationwide are
prosecuted successfully.''
An international tribunal might have better luck at bringing the
killers to justice, said former Foreign Minister Augusto Ramirez
Ocampo.
Police and army officers remained convinced that the FARC's 45th
Front, one of several units in oil-producing Arauca state, was
responsible for the executions.
A police colonel said the FARC's military leader, Jorge ``Mono Jojoy''
Briceno and his brother, German ``Grannobles'' Briceno, told
underlings to carry out the executions.
``Mono Jojoy and Grannobles ordered the deaths of the North
Americans but asked that it be done on the other side of the border
to avoid problems,'' said police Col. Luis Eduardo Tafur of Arauca
state.
Copyright 1999 The Miami Herald
==========================================
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Saturday, 6 March 1999
Marxist guerrillas killed U.S. workers -----------
---------------------------
Marxist guerrillas murdered three kidnapped American
humanitarian workers in Colombia on the direct orders from a senior
commander of the insurgents, Colombian and U.S. officials said
Saturday.
Officials in both countries said the charge was based not only on
eyewitness accounts from when the three were seized in Arauca
province near the Venezuelan border on Feb. 25, but also on
electronic intercepts of rebel conversations, including a recording of
the order to execute them.
The bodies of Ingrid Washinawatok, Terence Freitas and Lahe'ena'e
Gay were found Thursday night just on the Venezuelan side of the
Arauca River, which separates Venezuela and Colombia. All were
shot with 9 mm weapons.
The two women were shot four times each in the face and chest and
Freitas was shot six times, Colombian police said. The three, who had
been working with the indigenous U'wa people were blindfolded and
had their hands tied behind their backs.
Officials blamed the murders on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), which often kidnaps foreigners to raise funds, but
seldom executes its captives. The insurgents customarily deny
actions they are not responsible for, but have not yet commented on
the murders.
Late last year the FARC, which has been battling the government for
34 years, held its first talks with U.S. officials as part of an effort to
repair its international image. The group, the largest guerrilla group
in Colombia, has been hurt by the fact the organization receives
millions of dollars a year for protecting cocaine and heroin
traffickers who operate in different parts of the country.
The December talks with U.S. officials were aimed at trying to
persuade the United States that the group could be trusted as it
began peace negotiations with the government. Now, those hopes
seem shattered and the peace process, already bogged down,
appears close to unraveling.
The three Americans had distinguished themselves in the United
States and in international organizations as passionate defenders of
the environment and of the rights of indigenous people, associates
said Saturday.
Washinawatok, 41, of Brooklyn, N.Y., began fighting for the rights of
American Indians as a teen-ager in her own back yard, on the
Menominee Reservation in Keshena, Wis.
Freitas, 24, a California native who had recently moved to Brooklyn,
N.Y., had spent much of the last three years trying to focus attention
on the U'wa tribe's battle to preserve its land from oil exploration.
The U'wa "considered him one of theirs," a friend said.
Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, of Hawaii, chairwoman of the Pacific Cultural
Conservancy International, worked to bring educational
opportunities to indigenous people and recognition for her own
Polynesian culture.
"These people are so committed and courageous," said Laurie Parise,
executive director of the Rainforest Foundation U.S., a 10-year-old
organization in New York City, who knew two of the slain Americans.
"They knew the danger, but they still went down there."
Copyright 1999 Houston Chronicle News Services
===================================================
U'WA DEFENSE WORKING GROUP
March 6, 1999
Contacts:
Steve Kretzmann (510) 421-5130-mobile, 510-705-8982, 510-339-
6933
Shannon Wright (415) 398-4404, ext. 316 or (415) 920-9809
Atossa Soltani, (310) 456-1340
Melina Selverston (202) 785-3334
On the Murders of Three American Activists in Colombia
------------------------------------------------------
"Today we feel that we're fighting a large and strong spirit that
wants to beat us or force us to submit to a law contrary to that
which Sira (God) established and wrote in our hearts, even before
there was the sun and the moon. When faced with such a thing,
we are left with no alternative other than to continue fighting on the
side of the sky and earth and spirits or else disappear when the
irrationality of the invader violates the most sacred of our laws." --
U'wa Statement, August 10, 1998
We are grieved and shocked by the tragic news of the murders in
Colombia of our three colleagues and fellow activists Terence
Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok, and Lahe'ena'e Gay and offer our
heartfelt condolences to their families and friends. Terence Freitas
was a dear friend of all of ours and a dedicated activist who had
devoted the last two years of his life to supporting the U'wa people
of Colombia to defend their rights and traditional territory from oil
exploration by Occidental Petroleum. Terry served as the
coordinator of the U'wa Defense Working Group. No one outside of
Colombia has done more to support this struggle than Terry.
We call for a full investigation by the US government and
independent human rights observers into the deaths of our three
colleagues. We call on the State Department to ensure that the
possible role of paramilitary groups is fully investigated, and we call
upon the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)
to clarify their involvement, if any.
The U'wa people's rights and ancestral land remain under threat
from the proposed oil project. The U'wa have expressed repeatedly
and in adamant terms their opposition to this project. Occidental's
application for a drilling license is currently pending with the
Colombian Ministry, and a decision is expected at any time. The
well sites in question fall within an area the U'wa consider their
ancestral land.
On several occasions last year, Terry reported being followed and
observed by individuals believed to be associated with paramilitary
activity. On the same trip, Terry was forced to sign a statement by
the Colombian military, which essentially absolved the Colombian
military of any responsibility for his safety. He interpreted this as
an intimidation tactic. The deaths of our friends underscore the
need for immediate steps to peacefully end the escalating violence
in oil regions and against human rights advocates in Colombia.
We reaffirm the U'wa's demand that Occidental immediately
withdraw their application to drill on ancestral U'wa lands and call
on Occidental to consider its role in the ongoing cycle of violence
in Colombia.
Oil and violence are inextricably linked in Colombia. Thirteen of the
fourteen Colombian military battalions implicated in human rights
abuses by Amnesty International received U.S. weapons or
training. Occidental's CaÒo LimÛn pipeline has been attacked by
guerrillas more than 500 times in its 12 years of existence. In
response to this guerrilla tactic, the government has militarized oil
production and pipeline zones, in the process persecuting local
populations whom the government assumes are helping the
guerrillas. Arauca, the area where our friends were killed, has one
of the highest rates of documented human rights abuses by
paramilitary forces loyal to the governments.
We resolve to carry on the work of Terry, Ingrid and Lahe' in
defense of the U'wa people. Their deaths will not be in vain.
For more background information on the U'wa struggle, please
consult uwa.moles.org, www.ran.org, www.arcweb.org
Member of the U'wa Defense Working Group:
Amazon Coalition o Amazon Watch o Action Resource Center
Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund
EarthWays Foundation
International Law Project for Human Environmental & Economic
Defense
Project Underground o Rainforest Action Network o Sol
Communications
===================================================
WASHINGTON POST
Sunday, 7 March 1999
Rebel Leader Said to Order Hostages' Death Execution Command
Intercepted ------------------------------------------
By Douglas Farah
Marxist guerrillas murdered three kidnapped American
humanitarian workers in Colombia on direct orders from a senior
commander of the insurgents, Colombian and U.S. officials said
yesterday.
Officials in both countries said the charge was based not only on
eyewitness accounts from when the three were seized in Arauca
province near the Venezuelan border on Feb. 25, but also on
electronic intercepts of rebel conversations, including a recording of
the order to execute them.
The bodies of Ingrid Washinawatok, Terence Freitas and Lahe'ena'e
Gay were found Thursday night on the Venezuelan side of the
Arauca River, which separates Venezuela and Colombia. All were
shot with 9mm weapons.
The two women were shot four times each in the face and chest and
Freitas was shot six times, Colombian police said. The three, who had
been working with the indigenous U'wa people, were blindfolded
and had their hands tied behind their backs.
Officials blamed the murders on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), which often kidnaps foreigners to raise funds, but
seldom executes its captives.
A member of the rebel group's general command told the Reuters
news agency, "This was an act of provocation by enemies of the
peace process. [It]. . . . does not correspond to the way our members
operate and it's very difficult to believe the FARC is responsible for
this." He said the group would issue a formal statement, possibly as
early as Sunday.
Late last year the rebels, who have been battling the government for
34 years, held their first talks with U.S. officials as part of an effort
to repair their international image. The FARC is the largest guerrilla
group in Colombia and its image has been hurt by the fact it receives
millions of dollars a year to protect cocaine and heroin traffickers
who operate throughout the country.
The December talks with U.S. officials were aimed at trying to
persuade the United States that the group could be trusted as it
began peace negotiations with the government. Now, those hopes
seem shattered and the peace process, already bogged down,
appears close to unraveling.
Friday night State Department spokesman Lee McClenny condemned
the rebels "in the strongest possible terms" for the murders, which
he called a "barbaric terrorist act."
State Department officials had come under congressional fire for
holding the talks because the FARC has been formally designated a
terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
"I can't think of anything more stupid the FARC could have done,"
said a U.S. official. "It is just incredible. It doesn't fit how the FARC
operates. There was no need to do this, and all I can say it that it is
idiotic."
Colombian officials also condemned the guerrillas and said the peace
process, the centerpiece of President Andres Pastrana's seven-
month-old government, was close to being canceled. One official
called the murders "not only brutal, but really, really dumb."
U.S. and Colombian officials said speculation about who was
responsible for the murders initially centered on right-wing
paramilitary groups, who kill hostages more frequently, or drug
traffickers who operate in the area, often under the protection of the
FARC.
But Colombian intelligence officials said in telephone interviews that
police intelligence had intercepted two cellular phone conversations
between the guerrillas of the FARC's 45th Front --which was holding
the three-- and German Briceno, the front commander and brother of
Jorge Briceno, the FARC's leading military strategist.
The 45th Front has been identified by police and U.S. intelligence as
one of the groups most closely tied to drug trafficking. German
Briceno has long been known to authorities as a commander who
protects large cocaine laboratories secluded in the jungle of the
remote border region.
In one conversation, the sources said, Briceno was surprised to learn
that two women were being held; he said he had thought they were
all men. After asking their ages, Briceno ordered his troops to "take
them over to the other side of the river and burn them," common
slang for killing.
Told later that one of the women was ailing, the sources said Briceno
replied, "Let the bitch die. She is not on our side."
While killing kidnap victims is unusual, it is not without precedent.
On June 19, 1995, two American missionaries kidnapped by the FARC
were executed when the military tried to rescue them. Three other
American missionaries were seized by the rebels in January 1993
and are unaccounted for.
U.S. officials said a primary motivation for meeting with the FARC in
December was to demand an accounting for the three. Ingrid
Washinawatok, 41, was a Menominee Indian from Wisconsin.
Terence Freitas, 24, had worked extensively with the U'wa.
Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, led a Hawaii-based conservancy group.
Copyright 1999 The Washington Post
======================================================
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
Sunday, 7 March 1999
Menominee Leader Blames U.S. for Deaths
---------------------------------------
By Ann Schottman Knol
KESHENA, Wisconsin -- The Menominee tribal chairman charged
Saturday that the U.S. State Department "exploited" the kidnappings
of three American activists, including a member of the Menominee
nation, and caused thedeaths of the three in an effort to get further p
ublic support for the waragainst Colombian rebels.
But a State Department spokesman called the charges leveled by
Menominee Tribal Chairman Apesanahkwat "preposterous".
Their comments came less than two days after the body of Ingrid
Washinawatok, 41 -- a Menominee tribal member who lived in
Brooklyn, N.Y.-- and those of Los Angeles environmentalist Terence
Freitas and Lahe'ena'e Gay of Hawaii were found Thursday night on
the Venezuelan side of the Arauca River, which separates Venezuela
and Colombia. All were shot with 9mm weapons.
Their bodies were found a week after the three were kidnapped. The
three had been working for a week with the U'wa tribe of Colombia,
whose culture they were trying to preserve.
Colombian and U.S. officials said Saturday that Marxist guerrillas
murdered the three on the direct orders from a senior commander of
the insurgents.
Officials blamed the murders on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), which often kidnaps foreigners to raise funds but
seldom executes its captives. The insurgents customarily deny
actions they are not responsible for but have not yet commented on
the murders.
In statements he made at a news conference in Keshena Saturday
morning and in a later interview, Apesanahkwat agreed that
members of FARC likely had killed the three.
But he charged that the U.S. government bore some responsibility for
the killings.
The U.S. government, he said, sent money for arms to the Colombian
government four or five days after the kidnappings, knowing that
those arms would be used against the rebels who held the kidnap
victims and that the kidnap victims might well be executed in
retaliation. Seventy rebels were killed in a government-led attack
just before the kidnap victims were executed, he said.
U.S. monetary support for escalation of the Colombian government's
war against the rebels was "orchestrated" after the kidnappings, in
order to result in the deaths of the kidnapping victims and to move
the American and Colombian people toward greater support of
government efforts to quash the rebels, Apesanahkwat charged after
the news conference.
"This was horrible," he said. The State Department "hoped to
engender outrage to continue their work down there," he said.
State Department spokesman Lee McClenny reacted angrily to
Apesanahkwat's allegation.
"Any suggestion that the U.S. government aided or abetted or
encouraged the kidnappings or the murders is preposterous,"
McClenny said.
McClenny also said the U.S. has not provided counter-insurgency
funds to Colombia for many years.
It does provide counter-narcotic training and assistance, which is
carefully monitored so that it is not used for counter-insurgency
purposes, he said.
The Menominee tribe is demanding a congressional committee
inquiry into State Department actions in Colombia, according to a
release from the tribe.
Apesanahkwat said he was active in attempting to negotiate the
release of the hostages as soon as he heard of the capture. "I sent a
direct communique to the leadership of FARC two days after she was
captured."
The FARC leadership had sent a response by e-mail the morning of
the hostages' death, Apesanahkwat said. "They sent greetings to us as
a relative indigenous group, and said they were optimistic about
seeking her release," he said.
He said he and family and tribal members were stunned to learn of
the deaths after optimistic messages from FARC and other sources.
John Fauber of the Journal Sentinel staff and the
Washington Post contributed to this report.
Copyright 1999 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
=======================================================
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
Sunday, 7 March 1999
Slain Santa Cruz grad fought for the people
He knew risks of living in Colombia
-------------------------------------------
By Julie Chao
In a conflict that pitted a tribe of 5,000 Andean Indians against an
American oil company backed by the Colombian government, UC-
Santa Cruz graduate Terence Freitas chose to help the little people.
He knew there were risks. In half a dozen trips to Colombia over the
last two years to work with the U'wa Indians, Freitas, 24, had been
followed by right-wing paramilitary groups and indirectly
threatened by the military.
Last week, his bullet-riddled body was found just across the border
in Venezuela.
Environmentalists who have been working for years to stop
Occidental Petroleum from drilling in U'wa territory were devastated
by the loss.
"Outside of Colombia, no one did more to support the U'wa than Terry
Freitas. He was the key activist in the United States," Steve
Kretzmann, oil campaign director for the Berkeley-based Project
Underground, said Saturday.
"He had the trust and support of the native community of the U'wa."
Freitas was traveling with two other Americans, Ingrid
Washinawatok, 41, a New York resident and member of the
Menominee nation of Wisconsin, and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, director of
the Hawaii-based Pacific Cultural Conservancy International. The
three were kidnapped Feb. 25 and found shot to death Thursday.
Kretzmann said Freitas first became involved with the U'wa
movement at demonstrations two years ago in front of Occidental's
headquarters in Los Angeles.
"A valuable bridge" -------------------
"When he learned of the U'wa, he wanted to know what he could do
to help," Kretzmann said. "He ended up really being an incredibly
valuable bridge between the U'wa community and environmental
organizations here in the U.S."
Freitas had devoted himself full time to the U'Wa since graduating
with a degree in environmental studies from UC-Santa Cruz two
years ago. He helped establish the U'wa Defense Working Group, a
coalition of several environmental organizations, Kretzmann said.
One of his college professors remembered him as a "sweet, soft-
spoken young man, kind of intense, very gentle, very considerate."
Daniel Press, who taught one of Freitas' environmental studies
courses, said Freitas had always been drawn to helping indigenous
groups and did volunteer work with Native American tribes when
he was a student.
"As far as I can tell, he had a real empathy with what he understood
to be their relationship to the landscape," Press said. "He wasn't
romanticizing. . . He had a great respect for them."
Freitas had recently moved to New York with his girlfriend, Abby
Reyes, after living in Oakland about 11/2 years, said Shannon
Wright, the oil campaign director for San Francisco-based Rainforest
Action Network.
"The last minute I spent with him was on 9th Avenue and 34th (in
New York City), hailing a cab to take him to JFK (Airport)," Reyes said
in a faxed statement Saturday night. "We didn't say anything, kissed.
He put his hand on the window, bye."
"The greatest light draws the greatest dark," Reyes said. "Terry and
the U'wa people in Colombia are connected not only by their common
fight against an exploitative oil company," Reyes continued. "They are
connected by their respect and honor for the land and the animals
and the rivers."
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but Washington
blamed the 15,000-member Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, the country's oldest and largest guerrilla band. In
a statement Saturday, White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said
the United States has "strong indications" the killers were FARC
rebels.
FARC, believed to be responsible for 60 percent of the 2,000 reported
kidnappings in Colombia last year, has denied involvement in either
abducting or killing the Americans. Colombian government officials
say the group funds its 35-year-old civil war, in part, by kidnapping
civilians and demanding ransom.
Kretzmann said Freitas had never felt threatened by the left-wing
FARC but had been followed by right-wing paramilitary groups
before. On one trip to Colombia last year, military officials forced
him to sign a statement that essentially said they would not be
responsible for his safety.
"He and I and others interpreted that as an indirect threat from the
military and perhaps the paramilitary, which does their dirty work,"
Kretzmann said.
Investigation requested -----------------------
The U'wa Defense Working Group called on the State Department to
fully investigate the possible role of paramilitary groups in the
deaths. It said that Arauca, the area where the three Americans were
killed, has one of the highest rates of documented human rights
abuses by paramilitary forces.
Melina Selverston, director of the Coalition for Amazonian Peoples
and their Environment, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group, said
Freitas had received death threats on his telephone answering
machine that he believed came from Colombian paramilitary groups.
The State Department has also warned U.S. citizens to stay away from
rural Colombia.
Still, Freitas was undeterred, drawn by the passion of the U'wa
people.
Freitas' mother, Julie Freitas, of North Hollywood, said her son "lived
the life that he wanted to live. . . . I'm grateful that his life was so full
of passion and that . . . he did what he believed in."
Press, his UC-Santa Cruz professor, said many of his students over
the years have gone to remote places overseas for field work.
"Where people need help is often in dangerous places," Press said.
"You counsel them to be careful, but they probably know better than
I do what it's about."
Wright, of the Rainforest Action Network, said Freitas spoke good
Spanish and was picking up the U'wa language.
"I always joked that he had excellent rural Colombian Spanish," she
said.
Freitas had become very close to the spokesman for the U'wa, Berita
KuwarU'wa, who won the prestigious Goldman Environment Prize last
year, and acted as his translator on his trips to the United States.
"Berita is just devastated by this," said Wright. "He considered Terry
almost like a second son."
UC-Santa Cruz Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood issued a statement
Saturday expressing sadness over Freitas' death.
(Examiner wire services and correspondent Jeremy
McDermott in Medellin, Colombia, contributed to this)
Copyright 1999 The Hearst Corporation
=======================================================
Statement By The Indigenous Women's Network
March 8, l999
RE: Killings of Indigenous Activists
We the members of the Indigenous Women's Network address our
comments to the world. On February 25, we received word that our
sister Ingrid Washinawatok, the Co-Chair of The Indigenous Women's
Network and Lahe'ena'e Gay and Terence Freitas ,two other
members of a humanitarian delegation to the U'wa people of
Colombia were kidnapped. It was during the end of their visit that
our sisters and brother were kidnapped by hooded men in civilian
clothing from the car they were traveling in. The three were part of
a delegation that had been invited by the U'wa People to join in
prayer and solidarity. The purpose of the trip was to assist the U'wa
People in establishing a cultural education system for their children
and support their continuation of their traditional way of life.
The morning of March 5, the U.S. Embassy contacted the families of
Ingrid, Lahe'ena'e and Terence informing them their bodies had been
found in Venezuela about 30 yards from the border of Colombia.
They had been bound, blindfolded, beaten, tortured and shot
numerous times. It was through Ingrid's credit cards, which were
still in her possession that they were able to trace their identity so
rapidly.
The Indigenous Women's Network, joining with the Menominee
Nation, and other Indigenous Nations, is calling for a full prosecution
of those responsible, and an investigation into the actions of the US
State Department in reference to this incident. We believe that the
US State Department destabilized negotiations and ultimately cost
our sisters and brother their lives, in a possible attempt to gain
financial support for US policies in Colombia. We attribute this
assertion to the fact that exactly during the negotiations for the
release of the three humanitarian workers, the US State Department
released approximately $230 million in military support for the
allegedly Anti- Drug War in Colombia. The Colombian government
then attacked and killed over 70 members of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC in an orchestrated attack. We
believe that these two overt acts may have destabilized any hopes
for the release of our sisters and brother.
The U'wa People live in the Arauca province in Northeastern
Colombia. The U.S. oil multi national corporations, Occidental
Petroleum and Shell Oil had been carrying out oil exploration in the
area know as the Samore block, the ancestral homelands of the U'wa
People. It is estimated that these oil fields hold less than l.5 billion
barrels of oil, equating to less than a three month supply for the US.
The U'wa people had threatened to commit mass suicide if these oil
companies were successful in their exploitive endeavors.
US and Colombian government Officials were prompt to lie blame on
the left wing guerrilla forces of FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia). This situation is not one that blame can be established
through words of Government officials without conducting an
investigation. It is a much more complex crime.
The reality is that the Indigenous community and the US State
Department had both been involved in negotiations for the release of
these three humanitarian workers. Apesanahkwat, Chairman of the
Menominee Nation was active in attempting to negotiate the release
of the hostages as soon as he heard of their capture. "I sent a direct
communiqu» to the leadership of FARC two days after she was
captured. ..The FARC leadership had sent a response by e- mail the
morning of the hostages' death," Apesanahkwat said. " They sent
greetings to us as a relative indigenous group, and said they were
optimistic about seeking her release," he said. Yet, as
Apesanahkwat noted, the US government sent money for arms to the
Colombian government four or five days after the kidnappings,
knowing that those arms might be used against the rebels who may
have held the kidnap victims, and that the kidnap victims might
well be executed in retaliation. Seventy FARC rebels were killed in a
government-led attack just before the kidnap victims were
executed.
We, the Indigenous Women's Network join with the Menominee
Nation in calling for a congressional committee inquiry into the State
Department actions in Colombia, with regards to this incident. We
also request, on behalf of our sister Ingrid, that her death not be
used to forward political ends of the US State Department, but that
instead, it be recognized as a crime, a continuation of the Indian
wars.
It is a crime against humanity. Against the mothers who's daughters
and son's moccasins walk no longer walk on our Mother Earth. It is a
crime against the sane, the Indigenous Peoples and all peaceful
citizens of the world. This crime was committed by the insane, the
greedy, the corrupt and those that will ignore the exploitive trade
agreements which allow and accept these practices as business as
usual ,all in the name of protecting "National Interests", and
subsequently the interests of multinational corporations. We believe
that responsibility for these deaths rests with all of these parties.
Ingrid and her companions gave the ultimate sacrifice - their lives -
in the struggle for the attainment of human rights for Indigenous
Peoples. State Department support will increase the militarization of
a country already fraught with one of the highest rates of violence in
the western hemisphere , and a state continuing violence against
Indigenous peoples. It is against violence, and for the life of the
people and the land, that Ingrid, and the others stood. Ingrid as well
as her companions viewed the situation of the U'wa as a part of the
global struggle for Indigenous self determination as well as the
preservation of the natural environment. The deaths of our three
companeros must be understood as having a direct relationship to
the many thousands of deaths of those who seek human justice not
only in Colombia but throughout Latin America and other parts of
the world.
We who work for social justice must ensure that further
repercussions do not fall on the U'wa community simply because
they sought and received international solidarity and support from
groups like Project Underground, the Indigenous Women's Network
and the Pacific Cultural Conservancy International. The Indigenous
Women's Network and others will do our utmost to see that justice is
done and that we will continue Ingrid's fight in her support of the
U'wa Peoples and all those who work for social justice.
The history of violent repression in Latin America against Indigenous
Peoples would lead us to believe that right wing governments, and
their death squads supporting the interests of resource companies
and those wanting to interrupt the peace process are more likely to
have been involved in the deaths of our three companeros. We also
demand that financial support to the Colombian military be
withdrawn until the true facts surrounding the deaths are revealed.
As Women, we are the Mothers of our Nations. We share the
responsibility of being life-givers, nurturers and sustainers of life- as
Mother Earth is a life giver.
The Indigenous Women's Network is committed to nurturing our
children and planting seeds of truth for generations to come. We do
not want to repeat past mistakes. We will continue our work to
eliminate the oppression of colonization, and to end the Indian wars.
The Indigenous Women's Network demand that the parties
responsible for the abduction and execution of Ingrid
Washinawatok,Terence Freitas, and Lahe'ena'e Gay, be brought to
justice, they must make themselves known and not hide behind the
corrupt plunders of those that rape our Mother Earth of her blood
and the parties that protect them.
In the Spirit of Mother Earth,
The Indigenous Women's Network
For more information contact Charon Asetoyer at (605) 487-7072 or
Priscilla Settee at (306) 653-4101.
=======================================================
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Tuesday, 9 March 1999
Four named in Colombia killings
-------------------------------
BOGOTA -- The Colombian government says four FARC rebels are
responsible for killing three U.S. nationals whose bodies were found
in Venezuela on Thursday.
Defense Minister Rodrigo Lloreda said today military intelligence
units have identified the four, who are FARC activists in the Arauca
and Boyaca regions. Lloreda named the killers as ''Marrano'' and
''Albeiro,'' while the two who allegedly gave the order are German
Briceno Suarez and ''Rafael. '' He added, ''It has not been confirmed if
FARC leaders are responsible.''
On Sunday, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia set a three-
day deadline for naming the killers after conducting an internal
investigation.
Twenty-four-year-old Terence Freitas, 39-year-old Laheenae Gay
and 41-year-old Ingrid Washinawatok were kidnapped in Colombia
on Feb. 25 and were found Thursday by Venezuelan police in Apure
province on the Venezuela-Colombia border. All three were affiliated
with U.S. non-governmental organizations working on education
projects with the U'wa indigenous group of Colombia.
Attorney General Alfonso Gomez said he has testimony from the
U'wa describing those responsible for the kidnappings.
Before the killings, the U'wa issued a statement calling for their rapid
release.
Peace Commissioner Vector Ricardo says the government will break
off peace talks with FARC until they have a written statement
explaining exactly what happened. In Caracas, the U.S. ambassador
to Venezuela, John Maisto, said the United States has evidence that
FARC is responsible.
After receiving the bodies of the three slain Americans at the airport,
Maisto said, ''There isn't a political reason in the world that justifies
this type of action.''
While thanking the Venezuelan authorities for their cooperation, he
said: ''This incident involves three democratic countries. This blow
hurts, and our objective at this stage can be summed up in one word
-- justice.''
Copyright 1999 United Press International
=======================================================
REUTERS
Thursday, 11 March 1999
Colombian Rebels Confess To Killing 3 Americans
-----------------------------------------------
BOGOTA - - Colombia's top Marxist rebel group admitted Wednesday
that one of its field commanders and three other guerrillas
kidnapped and murdered three Americans, but it defied U.S. calls to
surrender them for extradition.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said it would
punish the perpetrators in keeping with its own code of
revolutionary justice and that those responsible may face a firing
squad.
Terence Freitas, 24, of Oakland, California, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41,
of New York, and Laheenae Gay, 39, of Hawaii, were kidnapped in
northeast Arauca province on Feb. 25. Their bullet-riddled bodies
were found bound, blindfolded and dumped just across the border
with Venezuela last Thursday.
They had been helping Uwa Indians defend their ancestral lands
from plans by U.S. multinational Occidental Petroleum Corp. to
explore for oil.
A FARC official identified the field commander accused in the killings
only as Commander Gildardo.
``Commander Gildardo of the FARC's 10th Front ... found strangers
had entered the Uwa Indian region ... and captured and executed
them without consulting his superiors,'' said rebel commander Raul
Reyes, a member of the FARC's ruling general secretariat.
Reading from a statement offering apologies to indigenous groups
and the international community, Reyes said Gildardo had been on a
reconnaissance mission with three other guerrillas when they
intercepted the Americans.
Earlier this week, the FARC denied responsibility for the murder-
kidnappings, blaming them on enemies of the country's fledgling
peace process -- a reference to ultra-right paramilitary gangs or
disgruntled sectors of the military.
The State Department issued a condemnation of the FARC after the
killings and called for those responsible to be sent for trial in the
United States.
Reyes, however, ruled out that possibility, saying: ``None of our
combatants will be handed over to another state.'' He said Gildardo
was in the custody of his comrades in Arauca and would face a rebel
war council.
``Firing squads are used in extremely serious cases ... Given the
gravity of this case, it's possible that this is the mechanism that will
be used,'' Reyes said.
Contrary to FARC claims that Freitas, Washinawatok and Gay did not
have permission to visit U'wa territory, an international aid worker
said Freitas received rebel authorization to carry out his work with
the Indians last November.
Gen. Fernando Tapias, head of the armed forces, welcomed the FARC
claim of responsibility, but said that Gildardo was being used as a
scapegoat while rebels who really ordered the crime would escape
punishment.
In the days after the Americans were murdered, the army released a
series of radio intercepts in which the overall commander of the 10th
Front, German Briceno, allegedly ordered his men to take the
Americans into Venezuela, kill them and burn the corpses.
Briceno is the brother of the FARC's No. 2 commander and top
military strategist Jorge Briceno, alias ``Mono Jojoy.'' As head of the
FARC's Eastern Bloc division, Mono Jojoy has ultimate command over
the region where the Americans were snatched.
The FARC's belated admission came the day after President Andres
Pastrana, in a televised speech, called on the FARC to admit its
responsibility in the crime, which sparked an international outcry.
Pastrana was due to hold talks with Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez on the border of the two countries Thursday. The killings and
their impact on the future of Colombia's fledgling peace process, in
which Chavez has offered to act as mediator, had been expected to be
the main topic of conversation.
But Foreign Minister Guillermo Fernandez announced the abrupt
cancellation of the border meeting late Wednesday, citing what he
referred to vaguely as Chavez's alleged meddling in Colombia's
internal affairs.
``Any (foreign) participation in Colombia's peace process should be in
strict adherence to the principle of non- intervention,'' Fernandez
told reporters.
Political analysts say the murders could scuttle Pastrana's peace
policy and spark calls for an all-out military offensive against the
country's estimated 20,000 rebels, who control up to 50 percent of
Colombian territory.
In its statement, the FARC said it was not its policy to ''disappear''
Colombians or foreigners. But the FARC and Colombia's two smaller
rebel groups have traditionally used kidnap ransoms to finance their
three-decade uprising against the state.
Tuesday, the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) released the
body of French geologist Claude Steinmetz, who died of a heart attack
after a 100-day kidnap ordeal.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited
=======================================================
EL ESPECTADOR
Thursday, 11 March 1999
FARC releases communique on the
killing of US citizens
-------------------------------
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) yesterday
accepted their responsibility in the homicide of the three US
environmental activists, Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatock and
Larry Gay Laheenae, in Venezuela last Thursday [4th March].
In an impromptu news conference held outside the school of Los
Pozos village, located an hour from the urban centre of San Vicente
del Caguan (Caqueta) in southern Colombia, guerrilla leader Raul
Reyes, member of the FARC Secretariat, read a four-point
communique in which FARC admits it was responsible for the
murder of the three activists. " The FARC apologizes to the
Colombian people and the international community and to all the
indigenous people of the continent and the world for this action,"
Reyes said when he began reading the communique.
He then said: "Commander Gildardo of the 10th FARC Front, was on a
reconnaissance mission with three other units. When he learned that
some strangers had entered the region of the U'wa indigenous people
without authorization from the guerrillas, he improvised an
investigation commission. When he found them, he captured them
and executed them without consulting the higher leadership bodies."
Nevertheless, from Washington, Atossa Soltani, director of the
Amazon Watch NGO, said that they have information that their
friends had asked for and received permission from the FARC to
work in the zone. " This shows there is a serious communications
problem within the FARC."
Reyes indicated that the FARC will not turn over its combatants to "
any state" .
"We will judge and punish him according to the laws of the FARC-EP
[People's Army]." He also asked that when someone enters the FARC's
" territories" , [the FARC] be notified so as to prevent "unfortunate
incidents" .
He did not hesitate in describing the homicide as "abominable" .
"The FARC leadership did not know what Commander Gildardo was
going to do. Gildardo is a squad commander, of low rank and of
peasant stock, with six years in the organization."
Support for the peace process -----------------------------
According to Reyes, the FARC hopes that the US State Department
will evaluate the situation and will continue to support President
Pastrana's peace policy.
"This attitude is deplorable and punishable, because it is not in
keeping with the FARC's policy. We believe peace for 30 to 40 million
Colombians is much greater than any incident that might occur," he
said.
He explained that there has been no intention of creating problems
for the peace process with this incident and that "even though the
FARC has schools for political and military training, it is made up of
human beings who can make mistakes at any time" .
Regarding the punishment for Gildardo, he said that, depending on
the seriousness of the wrongdoing, "he might be relieved of his
command, he might have to turn over his weapons and might even
be expelled from the organization." However, in an interview with
journalist Yamid Amat for the Caracol television channel, Reyes said
that the death penalty exists when there has been a very serious
offence but this is decided in "an assembly of guerrillas" .
Text of the communique ----------------------
The Staff of the Eastern Bloc of the FARC-EP reports:
1. Commander Gildardo of the 10th FARC Front was on a
reconnaissance mission with three units. When he learned that
strangers had entered the region of the U'wa indigenous people
without authorization from the guerrillas, he improvised an
investigation commission. When he found them, he captured and
executed them without consulting higher leadership bodies.
2. We make clear that it is not the FARC's policy to cause the
disappearance [Spanish: desaparecer] of Colombians or people of
other nationalities.
3. We request that whenever someone enters FARC zones, he should
first identify himself and ask for authorization so as to prevent any
unfortunate incident.
4. We will not turn over our combatants to any state. We will judge
and punish Commander Gildardo in accordance with the laws of the
FARC-EP established in the regulations for the disciplinary regime of
the guerrilla organization.
For the staff of the Eastern Bloc, Jorge Suarez Briceno [alias "Mono
Jojoy"]. Mountains of Colombia, 10 March 1999."
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3/11/99: Statement by the Mother of Terence
Freitas (en Castellano tambien)
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