Colombian FARC Guerrilla Convicted of Drug Trafficking in U.S. Court (Translation)

El Espectador (Bogota) ^ | February 20, 2007 | El Espectador staff article ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

"Sonia" declared guilty in U.S. The FARC guerrilla Nayibe Rojas Valderrama was found guilty of the crime of narcotics trafficking and on the 4th of May they will inform her of the total of her sentence.

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Tuesday, 20 February 2007

Through several days of deliberations, the jury, composed of 12 persons, made the decision in spite of the guerrilla's defense having presented "proof" that she was innocent of the charges of narcotics trafficking. "Nayibe is innocent of having committed any crime against the United States, she is a simple campesina¹ who does not have the words to explain the situation to the jury," the lawyer for the insurgent, Carmen Hernandez, affirmed some weeks back.

Alias "Sonia" was captured the 10th of February, 2004 and on the 10th of March, 2005 was extradited to the United States for the charge of conspiracy to import, make, and distribute five kilos or more of cocaine to that country.

Then the Prosecutor in the matter accused Omaira Rojas Cabrera or Nayibe Rojas Valderrama, together with Ferney Tovar Parra and Oscar Castrillon, alias "Cascarita,"² for the laundering of ten billion [Colombian] pesos.³

In accordance with [information on] the investigation forwarded by the prosecutor for the National Unity Against the Laundering of Assets, published by El Espectador last year, the washing of that money was done by means of commercial activities such as cattle farming, the sale of gasoline, and the administration of river transport in the Caguan region (Department of Caqueta).⁴

Alias "Sonia," head of finances of the 14th Front of the FARC, was the one who administered the purchase and sale of the cattle farming activities of that organization, she would distribute money for the purchase of coca base paste and would receive the proceeds from kidnapping, extortion, and traffic in narcotics, a crime which she admitted in expectation of her anticipated sentence.

Castrillon, for his part, carried the guerrilla group's information in a portable computer and looked after the provision of supplies, while Ferney Tovar was responsible for supplying arms, uniforms, medicine, explosives, and supplies to the South Bloc,⁵ and had under his control grocery stores, gasoline stations, and condominiums, among them the FARC estate "Memories of Eden Spa," [as revealed] in the closing proceedings of the public prosecutor. The capture of Castrillon Olarte, alias "Cascarita," was effected in Dos Quebradas, [Department of] Risaralda, and he is deprived of liberty in the La Picota prison of Bogota.

Tovar Parra, captured in July, 2005 in San Vicente del Caguan (Department of Caqueta), is in the maximum security prison of Combita (Department of Boyaca)⁶ and is sought by a court in Florida (U.S.) for his taking part in the shipment of cocaine to that country.

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Translator's Notes:

¹ Keeping the original Spanish word campesina intact, it refers to a Colombian peasant or rural resident engaged in agriculture.

² Cascarita translates to "scab" or "scar."

³ At the current exchange rate of 2362 Colombian pesos to the dollar this comes to about $4,233,700.

⁴ Caqueta is a Colombian Department [U.S. equiv. = "state"] located in south central and southeast Colombia, spanning the area from the Andes mountains in the west to the frontier of the Amazon region in the east. It has been a major area of FARC activity, including remote locations where they have actively worked to encourage coca cultivation.

⁵ Refers to the Bloque Sur or the "South Bloc" of the FARC in Colombia, who frequently cross the border with Ecuador when seeking safe haven from the Colombian Army.

⁵ Boyaca is the Colombian Department to the north of Bogota.

[StJacques]

I'm not going to post any links, but at least a couple of IndyMedia leftie sites are portraying this woman as a victim, freedom fighter, etc. We're going to get back to reality here.

It appears that one of the biggest mistakes the FARC ever made was in 1983 when they killed the father of Alvaro Uribe, now President of Colombia. Uribe has earned a genuine and positive reputation for himself for standing up to the FARC, and there is no more final result that can ever be obtained against a FARC member than securing their conviction in a U.S. court. There are other trials of FARC members to come.

I'm wondering if Señorita Rojas is thinking about talking to the prosecutors as her sentencing date approaches.

[StJacques]

A Latin American Left Watch ping for the list and a special Colombia ping to El Conservador.

Anyone wishing to be included on the Latin American ping list may either ping me from this thread or contact me via Freepmail.

[vigilante2]

maybe we can offer her immunity

[Thunder90]

Throw her in Gitmo where she belongs... She is an unlawful combantant.

[Thunder90]

And the rest of them too. They shouldn't enjoy the legal protections of the US system, and they belong to a group recognised as a Terrorist organization.

[StJacques]

What I hope is that the U.S. government holds open the door to Gitmo for her to see her fate in order to get her to talk. If she delivers, make it basic federal prison. If she doesn't, then off to Gitmo and lose the key.

[tanuki]

I wonder what she could tell us about where all that narco money eventually ends up. Maybe Hugo and a lot of Latin lefty politicians should get nervous.

[Alberta's Child]

I'd really like to know how the U.S. can justify the apprehension, arrest, and extradition of a foreign citizen for alleged violations of U.S. drug laws in a foreign country.

[Thunder90]

We shouldn't use that. We should use unlawful combantant laws on FARC.

[Kenny Bunk]

Nayibe....

Note the Arabic handle. Factoid: Colombia has many areas that were settled by Lebanese and Syrians.
¿Y porqué me haga sospechoso esto?

[StJacques]

"Factoid: Colombia has many areas that were settled by Lebanese and Syrians."

Yes; and some of the Colombian women of Lebanese/Syrian descent -- these are overwhelmingly Maronite Christians who observe their faith in the Roman Catholic Church -- are among the most stunning women anywhere.

Nawal Ayoub, Señorita Bogota, 2004

The "community" within Colombia the Lebanese and Syrian Christians constitute also includes a rather large contingent from Greece as well.

[Kenny Bunk]

these are overwhelmingly Maronite Christians who observe their faith in the Roman Catholic Church

ah, mon brave St. Jaques, I am most pleased to see your acute observations range from the political and theological, to the realm of the pulchritudinous. You, and they apparently, are nothing if not well-rounded.

However, I am under the impression, possibly a misapprehension, that while the older wave of ME immigrants were oriented as you describe, LA is now a target for increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants from the same regions.

Further, to my always jaundiced eye, they seem to gravitate to the stress points on the continent .... FARC ... the Paraguayan/Brazilian/Argentine no-man's land ...etc.

In the meantime ...¡Viva la libanesa!

[StJacques]

So I'm pulchritudinous now?

LOL! I've been called far worse.

I suppose I should confess to the world that every time I hear a guy bad mouth Latin America I say to myself "he hasn't seen the Latinas I have." On my very first day in Colombia, after I landed at Medellin airport I was immediately taken by a friend to the most fabulous outdoor orchid garden underneath an open-air building framework that reached up to form a ceiling about 100 meters overhead and there were tables set out underneath where you could order coffee, Colombian hot chocolate (an experience in and of itself), fresh juices and such. They could have sat over 250 people in the seating area underneath the orchids to give you an idea of how large a place this was in fact. And there were literally dozens of the most beautiful women in the world everywhere. And I was about 10 days past my 20th birthday to give you an idea of my interest. And that was within three hours of landing and I saw the sight repeated in other variations over the ensuing 11 months or so again and again.

It's impossible for me not to associate my memory of Colombia with its women. I was treated very well there.

[El Conservador]

The Arab settlers in Colombia were mainly Maronite Catholics, who then joined the Latin Rite upon their arrival.

Muslim settlers were very few, and either converted to Catholicism, or settled mainly in Maicao, in the Guajira Department, one of three Colombian cities (the others being Bogota and my own Barranquilla) with a functioning mosque.

You don't have to be very suspicious: Lebanese and Syrians in Barranquilla, together with Barranquilleros of such ancestry marched in protest against the Israeli military action against Hizballah, and the march route included parading in front of Barranquilla's two functioning synagogues. Muslims and Christians together (how Kumbaya).

[StJacques]

¿Es Barranquillero usted El Conservador?

Viví en Caldas por un año cerca de la ciudad de Manizales.

[Kenny Bunk]

Arab settlers in Colombia WEREwere mainly Maronite ...

The situation is roughly analogous to Toledo, Ohio. First wave of Arabs: Christians. Subsequent waves, Muslim. Unfortunately, Israel's somewhat ill-fated campaign against Hezbullah caused the most damage in Christian areas of Lebanon, which might explain the stupid demonstrations against the Jewish community in Barranquilla.

However, the Christians of that region display, shall we say, a tendency to accept a degree of dhimmitude with the Muslim majority around them. This is somewhat more severe a tendency today than it was in decades past because Christians, always a minority in Lebanon and Syria, are shrinking in number quite rapidly. No one can outbreed Muslims.

When it comes to the friendly Sons of Muhammed, MPBUH, I am extremely (make that somewhat) paranoid. I think SA is an al-qaida-hezbullah sleeper base. Especially Argentina and Paraguay.