Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
January 29, 2008
Pg. 11
A Colombian rebel leader was sentenced to 60 years in U.S. prison for helping hold three Americans hostage as part of a decades-long struggle between Marxist rebels and the Bogota government.
In federal court, Ricardo Palmera denounced terrorism and said he hoped the hostages would be released. He also restated his allegiance to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and justified its actions as part of a legitimate military revolution.
Palmera, 57, was convicted in July of hostage-taking conspiracy. He admitted serving as FARC's chief negotiator during discussions over the release of the hostages, but he said he never saw them. The civilian Pentagon contractors were captured by rebels after their plane crashed in Colombia in 2003.
January 29, 2008
Pg. 11
A Colombian rebel leader was sentenced to 60 years in U.S. prison for helping hold three Americans hostage as part of a decades-long struggle between Marxist rebels and the Bogota government.
In federal court, Ricardo Palmera denounced terrorism and said he hoped the hostages would be released. He also restated his allegiance to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and justified its actions as part of a legitimate military revolution.
Palmera, 57, was convicted in July of hostage-taking conspiracy. He admitted serving as FARC's chief negotiator during discussions over the release of the hostages, but he said he never saw them. The civilian Pentagon contractors were captured by rebels after their plane crashed in Colombia in 2003.