Colombia OKs Extradition of Rebel Alleged to Have Killed Americans

<a href=www.voanews.com>VOA News 23 Apr 2003, 23:02 UTC

The Colombian Supreme Court has approved the extradition of a leftist rebel wanted in the United States for the 1999 murders of three American Indian activists.

Authorities say the court ruled Wednesday in the case of Nelson Vargas Rueda, a member of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Vargas would be the first member of the group known as FARC to be extradited from Colombia to face charges in the United States.

The three Americans, Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok and Lahee'Enae Gay, were kidnapped in February 1999 as they worked with Indians in northeastern Colombia.

Days later, their bodies were found across the border in Venezuela. Vargas was one of several rebels indicted last year for killing the activists.

The United States considers the FARC and other outlawed Colombian groups as terrorists. In recent years, the United States has given Colombia about $2 billion in mainly military aid for counternarcotics efforts.

Washington has now expanded that effort to counterinsurgency efforts.