And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
John Russell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> replies:
Colombia Rebels Deny U.S. Deaths
BOGOTA (Reuters) - The brutal killings of three Americans,
allegedly by Colombian Marxist guerrillas, threatened to scuttle
the country's fragile peace process as the rebel group distanced
itself Saturday from the murders and blamed them on ``enemies''
of peace.
The bullet-riddled bodies of Terence Freitas, 24, an
environmental scientist from Oakland, Calif., 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, had their
hands tied behind their backs and shot several times in the head
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.
Relatives of one of the victims, however, issued a stern
communique blaming the U.S. administration for helping Colombia
escalate its war effort against the leftist rebels, prompting the
FARC to take reprisals against U.S. citizens.
A member of the FARC leadership signaled 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.
Freitas, Washinawatok and Gay were abducted while campaigning to
block U.S. multinational Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:OXY -
news) from exploring for oil on U'wa tribal lands in northeastern
Colombia.
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.
A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said
the organization had no ``conclusive proof'' the rebels were
responsible.
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 have died
in Colombia's civil conflict in the past decade.
``We condemn the FARC in the strongest possible terms for this
cowardly act of international terrorism,'' a State Department
statement said.
Colombia's Army broadcast Friday what it said were intercepts of
a rebel radio message in which a regional FARC chieftain told
another rebel to kill the U.S. hostages, burn their bodies and
dump them across a river in Venezuela.
The killings came on the same day that U.S. Attorney General
Janet Reno was on an official visit to Colombia.
This year, the United States is due to give more than $240
million in aid, including aircraft and sophisticated weaponry to
Colombia's police and army.
In a toughly-worded statement, Washinawatok's family and the
Menominee Indian tribe to which she belonged condemned U.S.
policy toward Colombia.
``Earlier last week the family communicated to the State
Department their concerns over Janet Reno going to Bogota to
deliver $230 million to the Colombian government to escalate the
war against the FARC,'' it said.
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 Colombian President Andres 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.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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