From: Lisa Nelmida <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
We were shocked and saddened to learn of Ingrid Washinawatok's tragic
and senseless death in Columbia this week.� Ingrid was a member of the
Menominee Nation, the Chairman of Native Americans in Philanthropy, and
the Executive Director of the Fund of the Four Directions.� Her
contribution to the Native American community was great and we will miss
her.
Lisa
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/americas/9903/06/colombia.bodies.02/index.html
Lisa A. Nelmida
Development Coordinator
National Indian Telecommunications Institute
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Colombian rebels blamed for brutal slayings of 3 Americans
Murders could further strain Colombia's shaky peace process
Colombian authorities accused the Marxist rebel group FARC of the murders of three U.S. citizens �March 6, 1999
Web posted at: 6:43 p.m. EST (2343 GMT)
In this story:
'You can't have peace with crimes like this'
Bodies found by rancher in cow pasture
Intercepted radio conversation ties murders to FARC
Friends of slain Americans struggle to understand
RELATED STORIES, SITES
LA VICTORIA, Venezuela (CNN) -- American and Colombian officials are blaming a Marxist rebel group for the brutal slayings of three U.S. humanitarian workers, which could damage Colombia's already fragile peace process.
The three Americans -- Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, a member of the Menominee nation of Wisconsin, Lahe'ena'e, 39, director of the Hawaii-based Pacific Cultural Conservancy International, and Terence Freitas, a 24-year-old environmentalist from Los Angeles -- were kidnapped on February 25.
They had been in Colombia working with the U'wa, an 8,000-member Indian group that inhabits a reserve along the border between Venezuela and Colombia. Their bound and bullet-riddled bodies were found Thursday on the Venezuelan side of the border.
"It was committed by the FARC," said Colombia Army chief Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora Rangel, referring to Latin America's largest and oldest rebel army, which has been battling the Colombian government for three decades.
"We condemn the FARC in the strongest possible terms for this barbaric terrorist act," said State Department spokesman Lee McClenny.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, said five FBI agents were en route to Venezuela on Saturday to aid in the investigation.
No group has claimed responsibility for the slayings, and Colombian Attorney General Jaime Bernal Cuellar cautioned against "jumping to conclusions." He said 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."
'You can't have peace with crimes like this'
Colombia Army chief Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora Rangel �The FARC and the government of President Andres Pastrana began negotiations to end the rebel insurgency in January. But the talks broke down within days, and a scheduled 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.
"It strips the FARC of all credibility in terms of their supposed will to make peace," said Enrique Parejo, a former Colombian justice minister. "You can't have peace with crimes like this."
Bodies found by rancher in cow pasture
The bodies of the three Americans were found Thursday in a cow pasture along side the Arauca River by Segundo Salamanca, a local rancher. He heard bursts of automatic gunfire, waited 10 minutes, and then ventured out to investigate."I got halfway across the road and I put my hands on my head," Salamance said. "Who could have committed such a barbarity?"
The three lay face up within 10 paces of one another, Salamanca said. Lahe'ena'e 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 9 mm weapons, Venezuelan police said. Freitas was hit twice in the back from a distance, suggesting he may have attempted to flee, they said.
They were abducted while campaigning to block a U.S. company, Occidental Petroleum Corp., from exploring for oil on U'wa tribal lands.
Intercepted radio conversation ties murders to FARC
The FARC routinely kidnaps international visitors, and two FARC fronts operate in the region, which also has been inhabited by a second rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN. The ELN on Saturday denied it was involved in the Americans' deaths.Colombia's army broadcast on Friday night what it said were intercepts of radio telephone contact between German Briceno -- a brother of the FARC's No. 2 commander and chief military strategist, Jorge 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 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."
An U'wa tribal leader who was with the three Americans when they were seized said he recognized the two armed, plainclothes men who carried the Americans away as being FARC members.
Friends of slain Americans struggle to understand
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, served 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 been in touch with the rebels through the Red Cross and other groups and received an e-mail message from the FARC on Friday in which it "sent its greetings and expressed solidarity" with native Americans.
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' visit coincided with a February 19 battle in Arauquita, just across the Arauca river from where their bodies were found, in which Colombia's army said it killed 60 rebels. Apesanahkwat speculated the killings might have been retaliation.
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