First extradited Colombian rebel appears in U.S. court in Miami

By CATHERINE WILSON <a href=www.sun-sentinel.com>Associated Press Posted June 7 2003

MIAMI -- A Colombian rebel accused of killing three American aid workers refused to sign a form advising him of his U.S. legal rights before his extradition, an FBI agent testified Friday.

Agent Ron LeBlanc said he traveled to Colombia and spoke to Nelson Vargas Rueda more than three weeks before the member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was sent north under tight security.

LeBlanc said he formally identified Vargas, a key legal requirement for U.S. prosecution, but Vargas refused to sign a Miranda rights warning sheet.

Vargas was flown to Fort Lauderdale on an FBI jet May 28. He faces trial in Washington on an indictment charging him with murder conspiracy in the kidnap-murder of Americans who were helping set up a rural school system in 1999.

A hearing to determine whether he should stay in jail until trial was delayed until Tuesday on a defense request for more information about the investigation.

Vargas has been held in solitary confinement, and jailers have removed his prosthetic right leg. Marshals push him in and out of court in a wheelchair.

Terence Freitas, 24, of Los Angeles, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, of New York City, and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, of Pahoa, Hawaii, were shot to death a week after they were kidnapped. Vargas, 33, is accused of shooting one of the women.

The FARC considered the three to be either U.S. military advisers or CIA agents, the indictment said.

They were helping set up a school system for the U'wa Indian tribe in the vast eastern plains bordering Venezuela. FARC leaders admit executing the three, whose bodies were found across the border in Venezuela.

Vargas was arrested more than three years ago and has been in jail since. He is one of six FARC members to be charged in the killings and is the first Colombian rebel ever to be extradited to the United States.

The murders prompted the United States to suspend all contact with the leftist rebel group which has been fighting the Colombian government for nearly 40 years. The United States lists the FARC as an international terrorist organization.

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