ID at issue in suspect's case
Posted on Wed, Jun. 11, 2003 By Catherine Wilson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI - Prosecutors proved to a judge's satisfaction Tuesday that a Colombian rebel in their custody is Nelson Vargas Rueda, but his attorney questioned whether the man is one of six rebels wanted in the killing of three American aid workers.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William Turnoff ruled that prosecutors met the minimum legal standard for identifying Vargas because he acknowledges that's his name, but the judge said the disputed issue may come up again in future court hearings in Washington.
"The only issue before me is whether the person in court is the person named in the indictment," Turnoff told the defense. "The arguments you've made may be significant down the line."
Vargas was identified in a Colombian lineup as one of the gunmen who killed Americans helping set up a rural school system near the Colombia-Venezuela border in 1999, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugo Black. Vargas, 33, was extradited to the United States on May 28.
Celeste Higgins, Vargas' attorney, claimed Colombian investigators thought Vargas was a different indicted rebel known as "El Marrano," Spanish slang for "The Pig," for two of the three years he has been in custody.
"El Marrano" is now thought to be someone else. The indictment issued last year listed two other aliases for Vargas: Alfredo and Hugo.
"Clearly they didn't know who it was they had detained," Higgins told the judge. "They simply injected his name into the indictment and brought him over to the United States."
Indictment vague on identities
Some of the questions are raised by the indictment itself, which offers full names for only three of the six suspects. Two suspects are listed only with a single name matched to a photograph.
The murky operations of the rebel group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, add to the confusion. The FARC has been at war with the Colombian government for nearly 40 years and has more than 15,000 soldiers.
Vargas is the only suspect to be arrested so far.
The decision lets agents move Vargas to Washington for a bail hearing.
Vargas' attorney also challenged the indictment's reference to his using the alias Alfredo. Higgins said Alfredo was a rebel who was part of the group blamed for the murders but was killed about six months ago.
The FARC considered the three victims to be either U.S. military advisers or CIA agents, the indictment said. The kidnapped Americans were handed over to "El Marrano," who insisted the three were CIA agents using the school project as a front.
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 forced into a commandeered taxi.
The bodies were dumped near the Venezuelan town of La Victoria across the Arauca River from Colombia on March 4, 1999. FARC leaders admit executing the three and blame a rogue commander.
The murders prompted the United States to suspend all contact with the leftist rebel group. The United States lists the FARC as an international terrorist organization.
Vargas is the first Colombian rebel ever to be extradited to the United States.