[News] US Charges 50 Leaders Of FARC

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Stand by for news from the FARC about this 
outrage which gives license to the u.s. to arrest 
and extradite any political prisoner or leftist 
(in Columbia) and try them, imprison them.


News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 2006
DEA Public Affairs
202-307-7977
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr032206ap.html
United States Charges 50 Leaders Of Narco-Terrorist FARC In
Colombia With Supplying More Than Half Of The World's Cocaine
Since 1980, the FARC has kidnapped over 100 individuals and mur

Since 1980, the FARC has kidnapped over 100 
individuals and murdered 13 U.S. citizens, 
including three U.S. missionaries who were executed in 1999.

<http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr032206b.html>FARC Fact Sheet>>

(WASHINGTON, D.C.)­Fifty leaders of the Fuerzas 
Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (the FARC) in 
Colombia have been indicted on charges of 
importing more than $25 billion worth of cocaine 
into the United States and other countries, the 
Department of Justice announced today.

“From their jungle hideaway, the FARC uses the 
drug trade to bankroll terrorism in Colombia, 
finance attacks on innocent citizens, and poison 
Americans,” said DEA Administrator Karen P. 
Tandy. “Today’s indictment challenges that 
lawlessness, and the FARC leadership should 
prepare to face the justice that they have long denied to so many.”
[]


The one-count indictment, returned by a federal 
grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the 
District of Columbia on March 1, 2006, and 
unsealed today, names as defendants 50 leaders of 
the FARC, a designated foreign terrorist 
organization. Three of the charged FARC leaders 
are currently in custody in Colombia, and the 
United States is seeking their extradition on the 
charges unsealed today. In addition, the United 
States Department of State announced more than 
$75 million worth of rewards for information that 
leads to the capture of the remaining FARC leaders.

“This indictment strikes at the very heart of the 
FARC narcotics operation that has flooded our 
communities with cocaine,” said Attorney General 
Alberto R. Gonzales. “Because of unprecedented 
cooperation between U.S. and Colombian 
authorities, we are closer than ever before to 
reaching our goal of bringing the leaders of this 
narco-terrorist group to justice in the United States.”

According to the indictment, the FARC currently 
supplies more than 50 percent of the world’s 
cocaine and more than 60 percent of the cocaine 
that enters the United States. The FARC initially 
taxed other narcotics traffickers involved in the 
manufacture and distribution of cocaine in areas 
the FARC controlled, it was charged. Recognizing 
the increased profits available, from the 1990s 
up to the present, the FARC moved to become 
directly involved in the production and 
distribution of cocaine by, among other criminal 
activities, setting the prices to be paid to 
farmers across Colombia for cocaine paste, the 
raw material used to produce cocaine, and 
transporting cocaine paste to jungle laboratories 
under FARC control where it was converted into 
ton quantities of finished cocaine and then 
shipped out of Colombia to the United States and 
other countries. Recognizing that cocaine was the 
“lifeblood” of the FARC, the charged FARC leaders 
collected millions of dollars in cocaine proceeds 
and used the money to purchase weapons for the 
FARC’s terrorist activities against the 
government and people of Colombia, it was charged.
These photos show the remnants of a FARC cocaine lab which was

These photos show the remnants of a FARC cocaine lab which was

These photos show the remnants of a FARC cocaine lab which was

These photos show the remnants of a FARC cocaine 
lab which was destroyed by the Colombian National Police.


According to the indictment, the charged FARC 
leaders used terrorism and violence to further 
the FARC’s cocaine-trafficking activities. The 
charged FARC leaders ordered that Colombian 
farmers who sold cocaine paste to non-FARC buyers 
or otherwise violated the FARC’s strict cocaine 
policies be murdered, it was charged. Colombian 
farmers who violated FARC rules were allegedly 
shot, stabbed, or dismembered alive, and the 
bodies of murdered farmers were cut open, filled 
with rocks, and sunk in nearby rivers. The 
defendants also allegedly ordered FARC members to 
kidnap and murder U.S. citizens to discourage the 
U.S. government from disrupting the FARC’s 
cocaine-trafficking activities. According to the 
indictment, the charged FARC leaders authorized 
their members to shoot down U.S. fumigation 
planes, and plotted to retaliate against U.S. law 
enforcement officers who were conducting the 
investigation into the FARC’s narcotics activities.

United States Seeks to Extradite Three FARC 
Leaders Currently In Colombian Custody

Attorney General Gonzales also announced today 
that the United States will immediately seek to 
extradite three of the charged FARC leaders who 
are currently in custody in Colombia. JORGE 
Enrique Rodriguez Mendieta, a/k/a "Ivan Vargas," 
Erminso Cuevas Cabrera, a/k/a "Mincho," and Juan 
Jose Martinez Vega, a/k/a "Gentil Alvis Patino,” 
a/k/a "Chiguiro,” will each be served with an 
United States provisional arrest warrant based on 
the indictment unsealed today, the first step in 
the extradition process. These three defendants 
led the FARC’s cocaine-trafficking activities in 
various ways, as described below:

• Jorge Enrique Rodriguez Mendieta, a/k/a “Ivan 
Vargas,” served as a member of the FARC’s Estado 
Mayor or operational leadership council and as 
the Front Commander for the FARC’s 24th Front. 
Rodriguez Mendieta allegedly directed the 
purchase of hundreds of thousands of kilograms of 
cocaine paste and transmitted billions of 
Colombian pesos in cocaine proceeds to other FARC 
officials. Rodriguez Mendieta is also alleged to 
have ordered the murder of at least eight 
farmers, including several whom he personally 
dismembered alive, and to have plotted to 
retaliate against United States law enforcement 
officers who were conducting the 
narcotics-trafficking investigation that led to 
the charges announced today. Rodriguez Mendieta 
was arrested by Colombian authorities in late 
2004, and is in custody in Colombia.

• Erminso Cuevas Cabrera, a/k/a "Mincho," was a 
FARC associate who managed cocaine laboratories 
for the FARC’s 14th Front. Cuevas Cabrera 
allegedly supervised the production and 
distribution of hundreds of thousands of 
kilograms of cocaine. Erminso Cuevas Cabrera is 
also alleged to be the brother of charged Estado 
Mayor member Jose Benito Cabrera Cuevas, a/k/a 
"Fabian Ramirez." Cuevas Cabrera was arrested by 
Colombian authorities in late 2004, and is in custody in Colombia.

• Juan Jose Martinez Vega, a/k/a "Gentil Alvis 
Patino,” a/k/a "Chiguiro," was a FARC associate 
who provided large quantities of arms and 
ammunition to the FARC in exchange for thousands 
of kilograms of cocaine. Martinez Vega was 
arrested in Venezuela in early 2005 during the 
rescue mission of former Detroit Tigers pitcher 
Ugueth Urbina’s mother. At the time of his arrest 
in Venezuela, Martinez Vega was allegedly in 
possession of approximately 700 kilograms of 
cocaine. Martinez Vega is currently in custody in Colombia.

State Department Offers More Than $75 Million In 
Rewards For Fugitive FARC Leaders
[]


The United States Department of State announced 
today rewards of more than $75 million for 
information leading to the capture of 24 of the 
FARC leaders charged today. Specifically, the 
State Department is offering rewards of up to $5 
million for information leading to the arrest of 
the seven members of the FARC Secretariat, the 
ultimate policy and decision-making body of the 
criminal enterprise. The State Department also is 
offering rewards of up to $2.5 million for 
information leading to the arrest of seventeen 
additional charged FARC leaders who are members 
of the FARC’s Estado Mayor or governing council.

The investigation culminating in the indictment 
announced today was led by the International 
Narcotics Trafficking Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s 
Office for the Southern District of New York, 
assisted by the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug 
Section (NDDS) of the Criminal Division at the 
Department of Justice, along with law enforcement 
officers from the DEA, U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Internal 
Revenue Service, working together as part of the 
New York OCDETF Strike Force (the “New York 
Strike Force”). The New York Strike Force is 
composed of law enforcement officers from the 
DEA, ICE, the IRS, the FBI, the New York City 
Police Department, the New York State Police, the 
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the 
U.S. Marshals Service. The investigation and 
prosecution are supported by trial attorneys from 
the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous 
Drug Section and by the U.S. Attorney’s Office 
for the District of Colombia. The indictment 
announced today resulted from unprecedented 
cooperation between U.S. law enforcement officers 
and Colombian law enforcement authorities.

The charges contained in the indictment are 
merely allegations. All defendants are presumed 
innocent until and unless convicted in a court of law.

***VIDEO AND PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST



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