WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #476, MARCH 14, 1999
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*2. COLOMBIAN REBELS ADMIT KILLING US ACTIVISTS 

On Mar. 10, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a 
leftist rebel group, acknowledged the responsibility of its members 
in the kidnapping and murder of three US indigenous rights activists. 
[FARC Communique 3/10/99] Ingrid Washinawatok, Terence Freitas 
and Lahe'na'e Gay were kidnapped on Feb. 25 as they returned from 
a visit with members of the U'wa indigenous nation in U'wa territory 
in the Colombian department of Arauca; their bound and bullet-
ridden bodies were found just across the border from Colombia in 
the Venezuelan state of Apure on Mar. 4 [see Update #475].

According to Carlos Fermin Castillo, chief of Venezuela's Technical 
Judicial Police (PTJ), "the homicides were perpetrated on Venezuelan 
soil, we've found the bullets, we've found the casings..." [Agence 
France Presse 3/8/99] The killings indirectly strained relations 
between Venezuela and Colombia after Venezuelan president Hugo 
Chavez said on Mar. 10 that his government was neutral in 
Colombia's conflict with the FARC. Pastrana cancelled a meeting with 
Chavez on bilateral issues that was to be held on Mar. 11 at a border 
area, because he interpreted his counterpart's words as giving 
political status to the FARC guerrillas, Colombian foreign minister 
Guillermo Fernandez said in a Mar. 10 statement in Bogota. [AFP 
3/11/99] 

Members of the U'wa community, including an U'wa leader who was 
with the three activists when they were abducted, had insisted from 
the beginning that the FARC was responsible. But others-- including 
the New York Times--had suggested that rightwing paramilitary 
groups might be involved [see Update #475]. The leadership of 
Colombia's main paramilitary alliance, the United Self-Defense Forces 
of Colombia (AUC), sent a letter to President Andres Pastrana flatly 
denying any responsibility for the killings of the three US activists 
and insisting that the FARC was responsible. [El Heraldo 
(Barranquilla) Digital Edition 797, 3/8/99 from AFP, Colprensa]

Melina Selverston--director of the Washington-based Coalition for 
Amazonian People and the Environment, and a close friend of 
Freitas--served as liaison with the US State Department during the 
week that the three activists were missing; she told Pacifica Radio's 
Democracy Now that the State Department had hinted throughout the 
week that they did not believe the FARC was responsible for the 
kidnappings. As soon as the bodies were discovered, however, the 
State Department immediately blamed the FARC and insisted that the 
guilty parties be extradited to the US to face trial. [Democracy Now 
3/8/99]

The FARC itself aroused suspicion by remaining strangely silent 
during the kidnapping, and into the first days following the 
discovery of the bodies. At a Mar. 7 press conference in a rural zone 
near the municipality of San Vicente del Caguan, FARC spokesperson 
Raul Reyes (whose real name is Luis Edgar Devia) read a 
communique denying any FARC involvement in the killings, blaming 
instead those who seek to block Colombia's peace process. "We are 
now sure that the FARC had no responsibility in this deed," said 
Reyes. [El Colombiano (Medellin) 3/8/99; EH 3/8/99 from AFP] A 
slightly different version of what appears to be the same Mar. 7 
communique, signed by Reyes from the "Mountains of Colombia," was 
sent out over the Internet by the FARC's International Commission. 
This version contained no denial of FARC involvement in the killings, 
and no accusations of who was to blame. The brief communique 
merely acknowledged that the Colombian army and the US State 
Department had accused the FARC of the murders; stated that the 
FARC had begun an investigation into the matter on Mar. 6; and 
expressed its regrets and condolences "to the US government, the US 
people, and the family members of the victims..." [FARC Communique 
3/7/99] 

On Mar. 8, Reyes told NTC television news that the FARC was 
conducting a three-day probe into whether its members were 
involved in the kidnap and murder of the three US activists and 
pledged that the organization would "take drastic measures against 
the person or persons" found responsible. [AFP 3/8/99] 

In a Mar. 10 communique from the "Mountains of Colombia," the 
FARC admitted its responsibility, blaming the killings on a 
"Commander Gildardo" of the 10th Front of the FARC-Popular Army 
(FARC-EP). The communique alleges that Gildardo and three other 
FARC members "captured" the three US activists--"unknown people" 
who had entered the U'wa region "without authorization from the 
guerrillas"--then "executed them without consulting higher 
leadership bodies."

"It is not the policy of the FARC-EP to put to death Colombians or 
people of other nationalities," said the communique. "We ask that 
when someone is going to enter zones of the FARC-EP, first to 
identify themselves and request authorization to avoid any 
regrettable incident."

The FARC "will not hand over our combatants to any state," the Mar. 
10 communique continued. "Commander Gildardo will be tried and 
punished in accordance with the laws of the FARC-EP, as recognized 
in the disciplinary regulations of the guerrilla organization." [FARC 
Communique 3/10/99] 

The Mar. 10 communique was read to the press in Los Pozos village 
in San Vicente del Caguan by Raul Reyes, who began by apologizing 
"to the Colombian people and the international community and to all 
the indigenous people of the continent and the world" for the killings. 
Reyes said "the FARC leadership did not know what Commander 
Gildardo was going to do." According to Reyes, Gildardo "is a squad 
commander, of low rank and of peasant stock, with six years in the 
organization." [El Espectador (Bogota) 3/11/99] 

The written version of the Mar. 10 communique, sent out over the 
Internet by the FARC's International Commission, was shown as 
signed by "Jorge Suarez Briceno" for the "General Staff of the Eastern 
Bloc of the FARC-EP." [FARC Communique 3/10/99] Jorge Briceno 
Suarez (better known as Mono Jojoy) is commander of the Eastern 
Bloc and the FARC's top military strategist. The FARC has denied the 
alleged involvement of Briceno's brother, German Briceno Suarez 
(known as "Grannobles"), in the killings. 

Reyes described reports that Briceno had a role in the killings as 
"absolutely false." Reyes said top rebel leaders would hold a council 
to determine Gildardo's fate, which he said could include "drastic 
measures" like a firing squad. He said Gildardo "is under arrest." A US 
official who requested anonymity said the 10th Front of the FARC, 
which Briceno oversees, is "almost a motorcycle gang" which is 
"really narco-dirty" and has strayed from the Marxist orientation of 
the FARC's leaders. [Miami Herald 3/11/99]

In a transcript published by the Bogota daily El Espectador, 
presented as an intercepted conversation between Jorge and German 
Briceno, Jorge reportedly told German to come up with "any name" to 
put forward as the person responsible for the murders. "This is the 
biggest political screw-up of all, a mistake from hell," Jorge Briceno is 
alleged to have said. Excerpts of more alleged army-intercepted rebel 
conversations reportedly indicate that German Briceno ordered 
another guerrilla to buy cyanide and to poison the three US activists. 
[Boston Globe 3/14/99] 

Some analysts have suggested that elements within the FARC who 
oppose the peace process may have been responsible for the killings. 
"Underlying the incident was a political error that demonstrates 
internal fissures regarding the peace negotiations, a matter in which 
up to now they [the FARC] had presented themselves as 
homogeneous and on the offensive," a political observer who 
preferred to remain anonymous told Inter Press Service. But "the 
acknowledgment of that would weaken FARC's position vis-a-vis the 
government," he added. The president of the Senate, Fabio Valencia 
Cosio, said "this episode demonstrates the urgency of clearing up 
doubts regarding the unity of the FARC leadership." [IPS 3/11/99]

On Mar. 9, Colombian defense minister Rodrigo Lloreda said military 
intelligence units had identified four FARC members in the Arauca 
and Boyaca regions as being responsible for the killings. Armed 
Forces Commander Gen. Fernando Tapias said the murders were 
carried out by "Marrano," Reynel and "Rafael," and their immediate 
superior, "Albeiro," a leader of the 45th Front who takes orders from 
German Briceno Suarez. [United Press International 3/9/99; El Nuevo 
Herald 3/10/99 from AFP] 

Lloreda told the Miami Herald that according to the military 
intelligence reports, the rebels abducted the three activists because 
they suspected they were agents of the US Central Intelligence 
Agency (CIA). Then when one of the hostages became critically ill 
from a spider bite and the rebel unit faced communications problems 
with its superiors, the rebels "became very nervous" and "didn't 
know what to do." Lloreda said the rebels received an initial order to 
kill the hostages, then another radio communication rescinding the 
first order. But the second order arrived too late. Lloreda said it 
appeared that top FARC leaders were unaware of the killings and did 
not sanction them. Lloreda said the military intelligence report was 
based on radio intercepts of the FARC. [MH 3/10/99] On Mar. 11, the 
Colombian government announced that the peace process with the 
FARC would "continue forward" despite the FARC's admission of 
responsibility for the killings. [EC 3/12/99] 

Some people who worked with Freitas speculate that his work may 
have angered the FARC because the rebels allegedly extort money 
from oil companies and thus have a vested interest in their presence. 
Selverston said FARC militia members had approached Freitas last 
year and told him the rebels didn't want to see him back in the area. 
"It was a sort of informal, street-corner type of conversation," she 
said. "He took it seriously, he told us about it, but it wasn't enough 
for him to stop working there." [Associated Press 3/8/99]

In a Mar. 11 statement to "the Colombian and international media, to 
goverments worldwide, to non-governmental representatives of the 
international community, and to youth everywhere," Julie Freitas, 
mother of Terence Freitas, begged the FARC "not to destroy any more 
young lives" by executing the rebels found responsible. "I would like 
to talk with them about the roots of their anger, about the source of 
this rage that prompted them to commit such a senseless act," wrote 
Freitas. "I would like them to know that my son worked passionately 
in his short and tragically interrupted life to bring peace and 
tolerance and life to Colombia, following the example of the U'wa, the 
`thinking people.'" Julie Freitas called on "all Colombian guerrilla 
groups, paramilitary groups and government security forces" to 
"declare a multilateral ceasefire," and called on the US Congress to 
"immediately suspend military aid to Colombia to foster a climate 
which promotes peace." She also urged "that a thorough and 
independent criminal investigation of these murders be conducted; 
that the FARC refrain from any more executions; [and] that the 
international community, both government and non- governmental 
entities, organize a multilateral effort for peace in Colombia, similar 
to the effort which brought about the Dayton Peace Accords for 
Bosnia." [Statement from Julie Freitas 3/11/99] 

The Colombian Communist Party (PCC), which is politically allied with 
the FARC, accused the US of using the deaths of the three activists to 
push its military agenda in Colombia and justify its support for 
"those who carry out genocide." [Partido Comunista Colombiano email 
message, undated, from ] 
"We cannot allow what happened in Guatemala to happen in 
Colombia," said Luz Guerra, a friend of Washinawatok from Austin, 
Texas, referring to US support for the Guatemalan army's policy of 
genocide over several decades. "We can't wait 25 years for a truth 
commission to tell us what is happening in Colombia today." [Column 
of the Americas by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez, United 
Press Syndicate 3/12/99]