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The common-law husband of a Hawaii woman who was killed in South America said he is happy that a federal grand jury has indicted a Colombian rebel group and six of its members for her slaying and the killing of two other Americans. Isle man desires justice
for Colombian rebelsBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comJohn Livingstone, who lived on the Big Island for many years with Hawaiian activist Lahe'ena'e Gay, said he has waited years for justice, since her death in 1999.
"It's been a long time waiting for these steps to take place, and I'm happy they're taking place now," he said. "They need to pay for these crimes. They're not revolutionaries, they're terrorists."
Gay, 41, and two other Americans -- Ingrid Washinawatock, 41, and Terence Freitas, 24 -- were visiting northwestern Colombia at the invitation of the U'wa tribe to help establish a school system sensitive to the native culture and free of government and missionary influences, friends said.
Their truck was halted by armed rebels, and they were taken away in a car for questioning on Feb. 25, 1999.
About a week later, a farmer on the Venezuelan border heard gunshots and found their bodies in a field.
The rebel group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia has admitted responsibility but refused to turn over responsible members to Colombian or U.S. authorities.
The indictment, announced Tuesday by U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft, accused FARC and six members of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, using a firearm during a crime of violence and aiding and abetting.
The Washington, D.C., grand jury said FARC and its members considered U.S. citizens to be military advisers and thus legitimate military targets.
New York resident Ali El-Issa, husband of Washinawatock, said the rebel group has had enough time and opportunity to bring their members to justice, and the lack of justice hurts peace in Colombia.
"I'm really upset," he said.
El-Issa said his wife was an extraordinary woman who worked with indigenous peoples worldwide and was chairwoman of the United Nation's forum Decade of Indigenous Peoples.
FARC has been frequently implicated in cocaine running that affects the United States, U.S. officials have said.
The rebel group is estimated to have 17,000 members and is one of three main rebel groups involved in Colombia's long strife.
Luis Alberto Moreno, the Colombian ambassador to the United States, said, "The Colombian government will study the request of extradition by the U.S., and if approved by government and tribunals, those individuals will be extradited when they are arrested."
Colombia's attorney general, Luis Camilo Osorio, welcomed the indictment as a weapon against terrorism. "Anyone in the international community that can help us combat terrorism is welcome," he said.
The six individuals were identified as German Briceno "Granobles" Suarez; El Marrano, also known as Fernando or "The Pig"; Jeronimo; Gustavo Bocota Aguablanca; Nelson Vargas Rueda; and Dumar. Only single names were provided for Jeronimo and Dumar, and the indictment included grainy photographs of the two along with a picture of El Marrano.
Briceno was convicted in absentia in Colombia last September of homicide, kidnapping and rebellion and sentenced to 40 years in prison for the 1999 murders of the three Americans. A brother of the senior military leader of FARC, Briceno has not been captured.
The indictment said Briceno instructed FARC members to seize the Americans and later told a colleague over the radio, "Those that don't pay get their heads chopped off." Days later, a FARC member radioed that one of the hostages appeared to be ill and dying, and Briceno replied that he was unconcerned, the indictment said.
Ashcroft has said previously that members of FARC have killed 13 Americans since 1980 and kidnapped more than a hundred others.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.