GUERRILLAS CHARGED WITH DRUG TRAFFICKING

FARC Members Face U.S. Charges

WASHINGTON -- Three Colombians who the United States said are members of an
anti-government guerrilla movement were charged with drug trafficking by
the U.S. Justice Department in an indictment unsealed Monday.

The Colombians, charged with running a cocaine smuggling operation whose
ultimate customers were in the United States, are members of FARC, a
Marxist group that has battled the Colombian government for decades,
according to the Justice Department.

The indictment is the first time the United States has formally charged
FARC members with drug trafficking. It comes as the Bush administration is
expected to ask Congress to lift restrictions preventing U.S. aid to
Colombia from being used against guerrilla groups. That aid is now
restricted for use against narco-trafficking groups in Colombia.

"The indictment marks the convergence of two of the top priorities of the
Department of Justice, the prevention of terrorism and the reduction of
illegal drug use," said Attorney General John Ashcroft.

The three FARC members indicted included Tomas Molina Caracas, who the
Justice Department said commands FARC's 16th Front.

According to U.S. officials, the 16th Front controls a city in eastern
Colombia called Barranco Minas where there is an airstrip that is a key
point of departure for cocaine processed in the region from locally grown
coca leaves.

Along with the three alleged FARC members, four other men, including three
Brazilians, were also indicted on drug trafficking charges.

One of the Brazilians, Luis Fernando da Costa, was arrested in Colombia
last April and deported to Brazil, where he is being held.

The Department of Justice will attempt to extradite all seven for trial on
charges of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States from
Colombia, Ashcroft said.

The indictment said Molina commanded a base near the Venezuelan border
where cocaine was collected from various units in the 16,000-man FARC army,
then shipped through Venezuela and Brazil to Europe and the United States.

"The 16th Front processed cocaine, collected cocaine from other FARC
fronts, and sold it to international drug traffickers for payment in
currency, weapons and equipment," Ashcroft said.

While focused on members of a specific FARC group, the indictment charged
that several other "fronts" or guerrilla units within FARC were involved in
drug trafficking.

"It is our hope that this indictment will lead to the law being victorious
over lawlessness in Colombia and to break up an organization that has
targeted the United States for the deadly drug of cocaine," said Drug
Enforcement Administrator Asa Hutchinson.

If extradicted to the United States and convicted, the alleged drug
traffickers would face life in prison.

But U.S. officials admitted that it will be difficult to apprehend the FARC
guerrillas, who are part of a Marxist group that has battled the Colombian
government for 40 years.

On Friday, Bush officials said the administration would ask Congress to
lift restrictions on U.S. military aid to Colombia.

Ashcroft described a link between terrorism and drug trafficking Monday.
"The mutually reinforcing relationship between terrorism and drug
trafficking should serve as a wake-up call for all Americans," he said.

The timing of releasing the indictment Monday was seen by analysts as aimed
at backing changes sought by the Bush administration.

"The evidence against these guys was collected last April," said Adam
Isacson of the Center for International Policy. "Unsealing it now could
make it easier to make a sales pitch to Congress to change the law."

Under the new proposal, U.S. weapons, helicopters and Colombian troops
trained by American special forces officers could be used by the Colombian
government against the FARC as part of its ongoing war against guerrilla
groups, officials said.

President Bush will visit Mexico, Peru and El Salvador in a trip beginning
Thursday.

Ian Vasquez, an analyst of the international war on drugs for the Cato
Institute, a Washington think tank, said, "The timing of the indictment
coincides with that visit in which Bush will likely tell Latin American
leaders that he wants to link the war on terrorism with the war on drugs."

Isacson said, "After Sept. 11 it became much more viable to link the war on
drugs with the war on terrorism. It has just taken the administration a few
months to turn its gaze to the south."