Colombian Terrorists Charged With Hostage-taking Of American
Written by Stephen Rhodes on December 10, 2009 - 
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US law enforcement agents arrested Edilberto Berrio Ortiz, a/k/a “El Gavilan,” Alexandro Palacios Rengifo, a/k/a “El Gato,” a/k/a “Yimi,” and Chamapuro Dogirama Anderson, a/k/a “El Tigre,” a/k/a “Dairon,” three members of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (“FARC”) 57 Front, a Colombian terrorist group, who are charged with holding a U.S. citizen hostage for over 10 months.
The three FARC members were arrested on these charges by Colombian authorities at different locations by representatives of the Colombian Department of Administrative Security in the Municipality of Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia, according to a reports obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police
These three suspects are charged along with six others for their roles in the kidnapping of an American citizen for ransom in April 2008. The Indictment containing the charges (the “Hostage Taking Indictment”) was unsealed in September 2009. The Government simultaneously unsealed another Indictment charging five defendants with providing material support to the FARC (the “Material Support Indictment”), two of whom are also charged in the Hostage Taking Indictment.
The FARC was formed in 1964 and is structured as a military organization, with approximately 10,000 armed guerillas organized into seven “blocs,” 68 numbered “Fronts” (including the 57 Front), nine named “Fronts,” and four urban “militias.”
The FARC is dedicated to the violent overthrow of Colombia’s democratically-elected government and has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State. The 57 Front operates in the territory within Colombia’s Choco Department, which borders Panama, and supports the FARC’s terrorist activities through narcotics trafficking and kidnapping for ransom, including the kidnapping of Americans and other foreign nationals.
On April 4, 2008, associates of the 57 Front kidnapped an American citizen in Panama. Ortiz, Rengifo and Dogirama guarded the victim from about April 6, 2008, until about February 10, 2009. Other defendants authorized and financed the kidnapping, and demanded ransom from the victim’s relatives, informing the relatives that they would never see the victim alive again if the ransom were not paid.
The victim was released in February 2009, after a member of the victim’s family paid the ransom.
These three suspects are each charged with two counts of hostage taking, each of which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Of the defendants charged in that Indictment not arrested yesterday, one is in the custody of Colombian authorities, and the rest remain at large.
“The FARC poses a grave threat to the security and stability of the Americas, and these arrests are a further step in our efforts to combat narco-terrorism in this hemisphere. Those who seek to take Americans hostage abroad should know that we will aggressively pursue them wherever in the world they may hide,” said United States Attorney Preet Bharara in New York City.
Filed under: Temple Tidbits, The Red Skinny
obtained indictments against twelve members and associates of FARC, the notorious Colombian terrorist and drug-trafficking group, according to documents obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police’s Terrorism Committee.
Lnu, aka “Alexi;” Fnu Lnu, aka “El Indio;” Roque Orobio Lobon, aka “Roque Orobio Tobon;” aka “Mello,” aka “Tachuela;” Edilberto Berrio Ortiz, aka “El Gavilan;” Alejandro Palacios Rengifo, aka “El Gato,” aka “Yimi;” and Anderson Chamapuro Dogirama, aka “El Tigre,” aka “Dairon;” for their roles in the kidnapping of an American citizen for ransom in April 2008.
The FARC is dedicated to the violent overthrow of Colombia’s democratically elected government and has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State. The 57th Front operates in the territory within Colombia’s Choco Department, which borders Panama. The 57th Front supports the FARC’s terrorist activities through narcotics trafficking and kidnapping for ransom, including the kidnapping of Americans and other foreign nationals.
Feb. 27, 2008, a communiqué, purporting to be issued by a FARC element warned the government of Panama of consequences from its capture of the five attackers and that the 57th Front had been ordered to kidnap Panamanian officials to force an exchange of captives with the prisoners, if the prisoners were not released.
of guerrillas kidnapped a United States citizen, procured weapons and explosives, and trafficked cocaine to fuel the FARC’s terrorist activities,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “The charges unsealed today mark another important step in our efforts to combat international narco-terrorism.”
