The U.S.

Department Of Justice
Announces
Indictments of Members of Farc Drug
Cartel
March 22, 2006
ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Good morning. I am joined on stage today
by DEA Administrator Karen Tandy, Assistant Secretary of State for International
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Anne Patterson, and Colombia's
Ambassador to the United States, President Andres Pastrana.

In addition, we're joined today by Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher of the
Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, is one of the Justice

Department's highest priority targets in our fight against illegal drug trafficking. For
years, this group has controlled the production and distribution of massive amounts
of cocaine that ends up in America's communities. And today I'm pleased to
announce important steps in bringing the leaders of this narco terrorist group to
justice.

A federal indictment was unsealed today in Washington, D.C. charging 50 members

of FARC's policymaking and operational leadership with importing more than $25
billion worth of cocaine into the United States and other countries.

This is the largest narcotics trafficking indictment ever filed in U.S. history, and
fuels our hope to reduce narco violence in Colombia and stem the tide of illegal
drugs entering our country.

I should remind everyone that this indictment does not mean that these defendants
have been convicted of a crime. They are innocent until and unless proven guilty in
a court of law.

Today's indictment names those individuals who are responsible for overseeing the
production of more than 60 percent of the cocaine imported into the United States.

Three of the top FARC leaders charged today are already in custody in Colombia,
and we've begun the process to have them extradited to the United States. The
remaining 47 are at large, hiding in the remote reaches of Colombia, surrounded by
heavily armed FARC loyalists.

We're also announcing a rewards program to help lead to their arrests, and working
with the government of Colombia to rid their country of these dangerous narco
terrorists. We believe these men are responsible for not only manufacturing and
exporting devastating amounts of cocaine, but enforcing their criminal regime with
violence. For instance, the indictment alleges that farmers who did not comply with
FARC rules were shot, stabbed, and even dismembered alive.

In addition, the indictment alleges that members of the FARC leadership worked to
attack and disrupt coca eradication efforts, threatening and killing local farmers,
ordering members to kidnap and murder Colombian and U.S. persons, and shooting
down airplanes they believed were used for fumigation.

Several of the leaders of the FARC named in today's indictment appear on the
Justice Department's Consolidated Priority Organization target list, which identifies
the most dangerous international drug trafficking organizations. The list was created
at the beginning of this Administration to ensure that drug enforcement resources
were directed in the most productive fashion possible.

This initiative has been successful. Last year we dismantled six of these
organizations and disrupted the operations of six more. From Afghanistan to
Mexico, and from South America to the Middle East, we are identifying the world's
most significant drug dealers, and then working with our international partners to
arrest them and extradite them to the United States for prosecution.

Today's announcement shows that we are on the right track, but there is more work
to be done.

I'd like to thank all of the dedicated investigators and prosecutors involved in this
case, including those from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of
New York, the Criminal Division, the Drug Enforcement Administration,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, and members
of the New York Strike Force.

I am particularly grateful for our law enforcement partners in Colombia. This

indictment is a product of unprecedented cooperation between our nations. I look
forward to continuing our work together on this case and others of importance to the
people of Colombia and the United States.

Before taking your questions, we will hear from Karen Tandy, then Anne Patterson,
and finally, Ambassador Pastrana.

MS. TANDY: Good morning. The FARC's fingerprint is on most of the cocaine
that's sold in American neighborhoods. Americans are responsible for giving the
FARC their lifeblood to the amount of $25 billion for 2,500 metric tons of cocaine.

To put that into perspective, the FARC has received approximately $3 billion more
than the annual budget of the Department of Justice. That includes all federal
prosecutors and the combined annual budgets of DEA, the FBI, ATF, the United
States Marshall Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

In Colombia, the FARC and its annual revenue is second only to the oil companies
who work there. The FARC refers to cocaine as its lifeblood, and it is cocaine that
allows the FARC to brutally sap the lifeblood of Americans and Colombians.

This is just a short list that the Attorney General gave you some of, and to add to
the shooting, the stabbing and the dismembering of live people, thousands of
Colombians each year, sometimes for something as simple as diluting the purity of
cocaine, or for selling cocaine to non-FARC distributors, in addition to that short list
of brutality by this terrorist organization, add to that that the FARC guerrillas cut
open the bodies of the people who have been murdered by the FARC, filled them
with rocks, and sink them with rivers.

Add to that that the FARC kidnaps and forces children to join in their army by
threatening them and their families. Add to that that they confiscate farmers' lands
and force them into homeless exile.

You heard the Attorney General talk about the kidnapping and murdering of U.S.
citizens to intimidate and interfere with -- to intimidate those who would interfere
with the FARC cocaine trafficking, but it is also an insidious part of the FARC
modus operandi that they plot to kidnap, torture and kill U.S. law enforcement who
they seek to retaliate against for investigating them.

The FARC is a terrorist organization to be sure, but they are also drug traffickers.
And it is the drug trafficking that is the lifeblood of how they carry out their
terrorism. But make no mistake, they're not just ordinary drug traffickers. To call
them that would be something akin to calling Al Capone a tax cheat.

Because the FARC is responsible for more than 60 percent of the cocaine that's
smuggled into the United States, today is the beginning of the end for the FARC
and their savage brand of justice. For the first time today, the FARC will have to
face its own worst fear: American justice.

MS. PATTERSON: I am very pleased to announce today that the Department of

State, through its Narcotics Rewards program, is offering rewards of up $5 million
each for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of seven secretariat
leaders of the FARC. And these are Pedro Antonio Marin, also known as Tirofijo.
Luis Agar Davia Sylvan, also known as Raoul Reyes. Luciano Marin Arango, also
known as Ivan Marquez. Guillermo Leon Sanchez, also known as Alphonso Cano.
Manuel Munoz Ortiz, also known as Ivan Rios. Victor Julio Suarez Rojas, also
known as Mono Jojoy. And Rodrigo Londono Echeverry, also known as Timoleon
Jimenez.

The Department of State is also offering rewards of up to $2.5 million for the arrest
and/or conviction of another 17 members of the FARC whose names will be made
available to you.

These reward offers are made under the authority of the Secretary of State's
Narcotics Rewards program. This program was established by Congress in 1986 as
a tool to assist the U.S. government in identifying and bringing to justice the major
narcotics traffickers responsible for bringing hundreds of tons of illicit drugs into the
United States each year.

The FARC controls the majority of cocaine manufacturing and distribution within
Colombia and is responsible for much of the world's cocaine supply and what is
trafficked to the United States. The FARC is a highly structured criminal
organization, and the individuals named in the indictment that Attorney General
Gonzales has revealed today are its very top leaders. Since the inception of the
Narcotics Rewards program, the Secretary of State has authorized more than $24
million in rewards payments to individuals who came forward with information that
led to the downfall of the Medellin and Cali cartels in Colombia, major Mexican
trafficking organizations, and heroin traffickers in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey
and Thailand.

Through our worldwide counter-narcotics programs, and by working closely with

our friends and colleagues in the law enforcement community, we plan to win the
fight against drugs. Offering rewards to bring down drug kingpins is one of the
ways that we can achieve this.

Thank you.

PRESIDENT PASTRANA: Thank you, Mr. Attorney. The indictment of 50 leaders

of the FARC guerrillas is a decision taken by the Department of Justice of the
United States. The accusation is based on evidence gathered by the U.S. officials
who have worked in very close collaboration with Colombian authorities.

As you know, the FARC have been previously determined to be a terrorist

organization by the State Department and the European Union.

Colombia is one of the main victims of the global war on drugs. Thousands of
innocent citizens, journalists, judges, politicians, soldiers, and police officers, have
given their lives to this cause. Money from international narco trafficking fuels all
violent groups in my country.

Colombia has been and remains deeply committed to defeating the drug train. To
win the war on drugs, to raise our children safe, we must fight not only against the
production of narcotics in countries such as Colombia, but against the demand of
drugs in Europe and the United States where millions of consumers live. We all
share that responsibility.

Colombia is a partner of the United States and other countries in the war on drugs.
There can be no doubt about this. Our progress in this war, acknowledged by many
in the international community, is in great part a consequence of a plan Colombia
developed eight years ago to put an end to illicit drugs, to strengthen our
democracy, provide alternative development and enhance our military forces, with
the support of the United States. It is also a consequence of the policy of democratic
security of President Alvero Uribe government.

Colombia will continue to work with the United States and the international
community to bring to justice individuals and groups who are proven to be involved
in drug trafficking.

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Thank you, Mr. President. Questions? Yes?

QUESTION: What are the prospects for bringing these other individuals to justice?

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Well, we obviously -- these are very

serious crimes, and the indictment indicates very serious conduct, and we are very
optimistic about this case, of course, but this is the beginning of the process, and we
look forward to continuing to work with Colombia to ensure that we can bring these
members of the FARC organization to justice. That's all I can say about that.

QUESTION: You mentioned that this is the beginning of the end, or it was
mentioned that it was the beginning of the end for the FARC and just the beginning
of the process, but as I recall, there are other indictments against some of these
people from the FARC since 2002, 2003, and till now, there hasn't been any arrests
in their cases. So that would be my comment.

And the other thing, this is superseding indictment, so it means it's replacing another
indictment? Is that indictment the same charges, or it added new names to the
indictment or?

MS. TANDY: First of all, as to your first comment, there are high level members of
the FARC who have been extradited by Colombia who are facing trial in the United
States this year. And Colombia has arrested three other members of the FARC who
are in prison in Colombia right now who are also listed in this indictment.

The indictment actually addresses and decimates the entire leadership of the FARC,
and that is a first for the U.S. charges. This indictment supersedes a partial
indictment, and this brings to a complete chapter the entire FARC leadership and its
cocaine trafficking and conspiracy to do so in the United States.
QUESTION: Will the U.S. consider at any moment having a joint force with
Colombia to search for these FARC members? And a second question, the U.S. sent
a forensic team last week, or a couple of weeks ago to Colombia, because there
were reports that the bodies of three contractors might be in a shallow grave. What
were the results, if you know, of that investigation?

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: I cannot comment on the results of the

investigation as to cooperation with Colombia, whether or not there is a task force
necessary. There is already in place an incredible amount of cooperation. We have
the infrastructure in place to work side by side, shoulder to shoulder, with the law
enforcement community in Colombia so that we can both be effective in dealing
with this terrible threat to both of our societies.

Mr. President, do you want to comment on that at all?

PRESIDENT PASTRANA: No.

QUESTION: But does this indictment in some way open the way for U.S. troops to
help in the search for these members of FARC?

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Well, again, I'm not going to comment as

to specific actions that the Administration is going to be considering or discussing
with the Colombia authorities. Obviously, we consider all options, all effective
options in dealing effectively with this threat, and they all remain on the table.

QUESTION: Mr. Attorney General, if I can shift gears, 9/11 clearly did not happen
on your watch, but as the Moussaoui trial unfolds, we're seeing some of the mistakes
made by the U.S. government leading up to 9/11.

Are you watching the trial looking for ways to make sure law enforcement doesn't
repeat some of the mistakes of the past?

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Well, since 9/11, we obviously -- I think

we can all agree that we've learned a lot. We're dealing with a new kind of threat, a
new kind of enemy, and that requires -- it has required new thinking and new
strategies by the Administration.

We saw that thinking reflected in recommendations by the 9/11 Commission, and

many of those recommendations have now been implemented and adopted,
including the reorganization of the FBI, a reorganization within the Department of
Justice. We now have the creation of the Homeland Security Department. We now
have the infrastructure to share information much better.

And so clearly, I think we learned a lot, and we've reacted to what occurred on
September 11th. And as I've said many times, I think America is safer today. We're
not safe. We still have a very dangerous threat to the United States, but I think we
are clearly safer today.
QUESTION: Just one very quick follow-up on that. Do you think that in today's FBI
that if an agent tried to talk to his superiors 70 times, seven with a zero, 70 times,
about a potential terrorism suspect, they would get someone's attention?

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: I'm not going to comment on anything

relating to the trial. What I will say is that we obviously are more sensitive today
about threats to the United States, and we believe that we have better procedures,
better infrastructure to share information.

QUESTION: I have a follow-up not related to the Moussaoui trial. The head of the
New York field office, which is the largest FBI office in the country, recently
complained that most agents still don't have Blackberry devices, which most, you
know, teenagers have them, but the number one office still doesn't have the
technology. And then last week, the Bureau unveiled its latest effort to build a state
of the art case file system.

How confident are you that the FBI has fixed its technology problems and still
would be able to connect all the dots if they're floating around within the system?

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Well, as I indicated, I think we are safer

today. And, obviously, we need -- we strive every day to make ourselves more
effective in terms of sharing information so that we can identify and deal with the
threat. And I have -- I speak regularly with Bob Mueller about Sentinel, the new
virtual case file program that they're working on.

It's very, very important for the success of the Department, quite frankly, to have
that be a successful program, because we have to have the best technology, which
allows us to share information most effectively if we're going to be effective in
dealing with terrorism. And so it's something that's important for me personally.

I know it's important to Bob Mueller, and we have the support of -- I mean, it's
being reviewed by the Inspector General. That program is being reviewed by the
Inspector General. We have a high level review committee within the Department
of Justice.

Obviously, key members of Congress are very, very concerned about the program.
And so there is a lot of discussion, review about this program, because we believe
that it's got to -- that it needs to be successful for the continued security of our
country.

Yes?

QUESTION: Any kind of indictment as big as this one for the paramilitarist
groups? I mean, are you also looking for -- are there studies shown of the -- I mean,
the older paramilitaries? I know in Belize --
ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Well, what I can say is, is that we ask for
the extradition of individuals that we believe we can bring to justice here in the
United States. And whenever we can marshal up the evidence in a way we feel that
we can move forward with the -- an indictment, and with the prosecution, that's
what we do.

And so, with respect to other individuals, again, we will continue to work with our
Colombian counterparts, with the Colombian government, to ensure that those who
are engaged in criminal conduct in the United States and in Colombia are brought to
justice.

QUESTION: Is there any practical change? I mean, in this indictment that's been
brought here, 47 of the 50 people indicted remain at large. I take it these are people
who have been of interest to the Colombian government for some time?

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Well, I think that whether or not it makes a

difference, and that's a very legitimate question, is this going to have any effect?
What's the effect of this indictment?

And I think you can see it in the reaction to -- by the members of the FARC to the
notion that this indictment might be coming, that there might be action by the U.S.
government in concert with the Colombian government in terms of threats and
retaliation and reprisals.

I think that members of the FARC do not want to face American justice. And so I
think that whether or not there is going to be an effect, I think you can judge that by
the conduct of the FARC in preparation for this announcement.

Thank you very much.

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