Peace Commissioner Victor G. Ricardo and FARC spokesmen Raul Reyes, Joaquin Gomez and Fabian Ramirez will hold a meeting in the first days of April, which will become the preamble for the resumption of the peace process.

Government, FARC reportedly to resume talks in April

The resumption of the peace talks between the government and the members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - which reached a standstill on 20th January - is an almost imminent event that could take place early in April.

'El Espectador' learned that Peace Commissioner Victor G. Ricardo and FARC spokesmen Raul Reyes, Joaquin Gomez and Fabian Ramirez will hold a meeting in the first days of April, which will become the preamble for the resumption of the peace process.

The government has been working with the FARC on different fronts. However, the front in which they have made the most progress is an agreement to unfreeze the dialogue based on a key topic: The replacement of illegal crops.

This point was part of the document signed by the spokesmen of the government and the FARC after the latest official meeting of the peace talks on 25th January. This meeting was held as scheduled even though the FARC had decided - five days earlier - to unilaterally freeze the talks.

The second point of agreement in the joint communique signed on that day indicates: "We acknowledge the priority that must be given to the process to build peace and the solution of the social and economic problems linked to illegal crops, providing real alternatives to the peasants through an efficient exploitation of the natural resources and with profitable productive programmes for their beneficiaries."

A month later, the peace commissioner publicly confirmed that the government would establish contacts with the FARC in this regard. Ricardo explained that the duration of the suspension of the official talks would be used to move forward with the pilot replacement programme.

This meeting between Marulanda's spokesmen and Victor G. Ricardo will take place in the new atmosphere that surrounds the peace process. Several sources consulted agree that the government used the standstill, which lasted almost two months, to take action in favour of the process.

First, there was the search for a national consensus on the topic, which has not yet produced a document signed by the political and social forces. However, as a result of this action, President Pastrana summoned the National Peace Council.

This meeting, convened for next Wednesday [24th March], promises to be the main meeting of the very heterogeneous representatives of what has been called the civil society. In addition, it entails a positive change on the part of the government, because in these seven months, it refused to use this legal mechanism.

The reflection period, which began on 20th January, was also helpful for the Executive to revisit the agreements negotiated with the rebel group regarding the table of negotiations on the "exchange" of kidnapped soldiers and policemen for imprisoned guerrillas.

Pastrana has already decided to resume these negotiations, in which members of Congress, the attorney-general and FARC top commander Manuel Marulanda are participating. In addition, the parties involved re-examined an idea that had been brought up in the latest talks on the issue: To make the exchange "contingent upon" the humanization of the conflict.

By making this topic more relevant, the government also re-examined the idea of giving a more active role to the Congress, which has a higher level of communication with the FARC.

This is not only about the four congressmen who are participating in the talks on the "exchange" , but it is also about the peace commissions from the two chambers that are creating a favourable atmosphere to move forward the date for the official meeting of the spokesmen. This is why there will be - perhaps next week - a joint meeting of the commissions in San Vicente del Caguan.

A source close to the government defined the three scenarios in the following terms: "The peace commissions promote closer ties; the talks on the exchange generate enough confidence among the parties involved; and the peace talks would be devoted to the analysis of the country's structural changes."

Mar. 15--WASHINGTON, D.C.--Family, friends and colleagues of slain American Indian and Native Hawaiian activists Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, are devastated by the loss of these women, who according to all were infused with a life-long dedication to bettering the lives of other Native people of the world.

March 5, the bodies of Washinawatok and Gay, along with their colleague, environmentalist Terence Freitas, 24, were found in a field along the Arauca River, which separates Venezuela from Colombia, on the Venezuela side. They had been shot several times with 9 mm weapons, according to reports from authorities.

Freitas, an environmentalist, had worked closely with Colombia's U'wa people whom the three were visiting,

Washinawatok was executive director of the Fund for Four Directions in New York City and co-chairwoman of the Indigenous Women's Network. She also served on the board of the American Indian Community House in New York City.

Gay was president and chairwoman of the Pacific Cultural Conservancy, which since 1988 has been involved in the arena of cultural preservation and education. The organization dedicated the majority of its time and resources to the research and preservation of traditional and endangered Indigenous communities throughout the Pacific Rim and other parts of the world.

Both women were in Colombia at the invitation of that country's U'wa tribe in a humanitarian effort to assist the tribe with an educational cultural preservation program aimed at their children.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, is being implicated in the murders of the three Americans. FARC, a leftist guerrilla organization, well known since its inception in 1966 to be anti-U.S., is also known for its long record of kidnappings, particularly of foreigners. Still, there are conflicting reports of a right-wing paramilitary group's possible involvement.

Washinawatok family member and spokesperson Steve Dodge, spoke from his home on the Menominee Reservation in Kashena, Wis., saying, "We, the family, were working out our own strategies for their release and our efforts were exacerbated by the State Department's actions during that time."

According to a statement released by the Indigenous Women's Network, the "U.S. State Department destabilized negotiations and ultimately cost our sisters and brother their lives, in a possible attempt to gain financial support for U.S. policies in Colombia."

State Department spokesperson Lee McClenny staunchly defended the department's priority to see to the health and safety of all U.S. citizens whenever they travel outside the country.

"It has nothing to do with the color of anyone's skin," McClenny said. "If someone has that blue passport -- the U.S. passport -- we take it as our highest responsibility to protect Americans anywhere they may be in the world. Further, McClenny noted, "No government has a better record of caring for its people outside its country."

The area in which the three were found is also known to be one of the most dangerous places in that region, according to McClenny.

According to a written statement released March 6, "The Menominee Tribe is demanding an inquiry be made by the appropriate congressional committees, into the State Department actions, which they feel showed no consideration for the three Americans' situation, and resulted in their deaths."

"We, the family, are enraged beyond belief," Dodge said. "We are between grief and rage; we just can't believe the total insensitivity to her predicament."

Those who were close to the slain women cried when talking about the lives of their friends. Washinawatok and Gay were portrayed as showing an unwavering dedication to their work to better the lives of all indigenous people everywhere.

"It is important to remember what she stood for," Indigenous Women's Network spokeswoman Charon Asetoyer said. "You will hear this from everyone. She was one of the most ethical people you will ever know and was dedicated purely to fighting for other people's rights."

Long-time family friend Joan Harte, speaking from her home on the Menominee Reservation, added that Washinawatok was a "risk taker, never giving just lip service, as a lot of others do. She knew there was some danger in her work, but she was willing to take the chance to help others," Harte said. Harte further said that the whole reservation was disturbed, "on hold," by events around Washinawatok's death and were waiting for her body to be returned home for the funeral.

A friend, Soni Moreno, one of the founders of the popular Native women's musical ensemble Ulali, attended a memorial service for the three at New York City's American Indian Community House March 7. "Terence, Lahe and Ingrid fought our struggles; they did this every day. Usually, when we cross over, we cross alone, but they are together now," she said. "They died doing what they believed in."

"Ingrid Washinawatok El Issa was an integral part of the lives of many Native Americans and other Indigenous peoples, both nationally and internationally," Rosemary Richmond, executive director of the American Indian Community House, said. "Our community joins Ingrid's family, friends and colleagues in mourning her loss."

"These were dedicated women, who gave up their lives doing good things," Gail Bruce, special projects director for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, said from her home in New York City. "I don't want the importance of what they were doing to empower the lives of Indigenous people to get lost in any political situation."

Gay was due to stay with Bruce at her home once she returned from Colombia.

"Lahe's work was so important, and I wanted everyone else to know what she was doing in her work to preserve cultures," Bruce said.

"The ones who killed are the ones who need our prayers," Moreno added. "They obviously didn't know who they were taking."

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- The Colombian government claimed Wednesday that at least 50 leftist rebels were killed in an army attack on a rebel stronghold in northwest Colombia.

The attack began Tuesday in La Llorona, a canyon in the foothills of the Cordillera Occidental mountains where the FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group, maintains a compound. Fighting continued Wednesday, and military sources said more deaths were expected.

The fighting is along a highway linking Colombia's main banana-growing region, Uraba, with the country's interior. FARC and right-wing paramilitary groups have long battled for control of Uraba. While an official statement issued in Bogota said at least 50 rebels died, a commander in the area, Col. Diego Gutierrez, said 40 to 50. He said four government soldiers had also been killed.

"The combat has been intense since" Tuesday, Gutierrez told local radio. Troops backed by air force bombers and helicopter gunships were pitted against a FARC force thought to be at least 700 strong, he said. There was no independent confirmation of the number killed.

73 reportedly killed near Cartagena

Tuesday, the government's human rights ombudsman said 73 people had been killed during a week of clashes in a rural area south of Cartagena, Colombia's leading Caribbean resort city. The fighting there involved FARC and a right-wing paramilitary group. Sixteen civilians were killed, along with 26 FARC rebels and 31 paramilitaries, according to the ombudsman's office. Military sources would confirm only that 16civilians had died.

Government steps up war

The latest attacks indicate the government may be stepping up its war against rebels, who have been battling the government for more than three decades and have de facto control over about 40 percent of the country.

Peace talks between rebel groups and the government, begun earlier this year, stalled almost immediately. And the peace process was dealt a serious blow with last week's revelation that FARC was behind the recent slayings of three U.S. humanitarian workers, whose bullet-riddled bodies were found just over the Venezuelan border.

The new offensive against the rebels has the backing of the United States and Colombia's neighbors. Peru and Ecuador have sent more troops to their northern borders under a U.S.-devised plan to contain drug traffickers. Both U.S. and Colombian officials say the rebels are involved in the drug trade.

Throughout the region, U.S. military teams are training armies. More than 470 American servicemen are in Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru, according to Steve Lucas, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command.

This month, Colombia began to overhaul its ill-equipped and poorly motivated military and create a more professional force that could move more decisively against the rebels should the peace process break down irretrievably.

Political observers believe the possibility of direct U.S. intervention in Colombia's conflict is remote. But some observers are troubled by Washington's ever-greater behind-the-scenes role.

"U.S. intervention is based on the deadly equation that they give the military technology and the weapons and we provide the dead," said Alejandro Santos, a columnist in Semana, a leading news magazine.

A confession by Colombia's to guerrilla group that one of its mid-ranking field commanders kidnapped and killed three Americans backfired Thursday as the government accused the rebel high command of a cover-up.

Defense Minister Rodrigo Lloreda said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were using a little-known guerrilla as a ``scapegoat'' to protect the man who really ordered the murders -- German Briceno, brother of the FARC's No. 2 leader Jorge Briceno, alias ``Mono Jojoy.'' German Briceno, known by his nom de guerre ``Grannobles,'' is one of the top regional commanders in northeastern Colombia where the U.S. citizens were seized on Feb. 25. His brother Jorge is also the FARC's top military strategist.

In the days after Terence Freitas, 24, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, and Laheenae Gay, 39, were abducted, the army intercepted a series of radio conversations in which a voice authorities identified as that of Grannobles ordered other guerrillas to kill them.

The bullet-riddled corpses of the American trio, who had been helping the U'wa Indians defend their ancestral lands from plans by a U.S. multinational to explore for oil, were dumped just across the border in Venezuela last Thursday.

``We must press ahead in the search for those who are really responsible for this crime, not just scapegoats ... All the information suggests that he (German Briceno) would have been consulted about the decision,'' Lloreda said.

``If the aim of the FARC is to protect him then that is due to the importance that Grannobles' brother has within the FARC,'' he added.

In a communique issued Wednesday, the FARC said a guerrilla identified only as Commander Gildardo of the 10th Front, who was on a reconnaissance mission with three other rebels, captured and killed the Americans without consulting his superiors.

Military intelligence said, however, that they have no record of a senior commander of that name, raising the likelihood that Gildardo was merely head of a 12-man guerrilla unit or squad.

Given the strict command hierarchy that exists within the FARC, it is unlikely that a mid-ranking commander would have been allowed to kidnap the Americans let alone assassinate them without orders from above, possibly even from the group's ruling General Secretariat itself.

A public admission that the brother of one of the FARC's seven-man Secretariat was behind the killings would be a severe embarrassment at a time when the group is striving to boost its political image at home and abroad.

Armed forces chief Gen. Fernando Tapias called Thursday on the FARC to stop hiding ``those really responsible'' and hand the killers over to the authorities.

The FARC, however, has defied U.S. calls to surrender the killers for extradition and said it will try them in a rebel war council that could ultimately send them before a firing squad.

Colombian officials have handed over to the State Department numerous tape recordings of what they say are radio intercepts of guerrilla leaders talking about the Americans.

Lloreda said two of those tapes had been classified top secret and has declined to give any hint of what fresh information they may contain.

Extracts of one of the recordings published in Thursday's edition of the El Tiempo newspaper indicates that Grannobles ordered another guerrilla known only as Rafael to buy cyanide and poison Gay, Freitas and Washinawatok.

``Go to that fertilizer factory and buy cyanide and give it to those three,'' said Grannobles in the recording.

Lloreda said U.S. intelligence agencies, which have sophisticated listening posts throughout the region, may have gathered additional evidence incriminating senior FARC commanders.

The murders could sound the death knell for President Andres Pastrana's center-piece policy to negotiate a peaceful end to Colombia's three-decade-old war that has claimed 35,000 lives in just 10 years.

The United States, which is set to donate $240 million in counternarcotics and military aid to Colombia this year, has backed the peace process but the slayings could spark renewed calls in Washington and Colombia for an all-out offensive against the rebels.

In one of the army's radio intercepts, Jorge Briceno talked to his brother German about the devastating political impact the killings were going to have on the rebel group and told his brother to come up with ``any name'' to put forward as the murderer of the Americans.

``This is the biggest political screw-up of all. This is a mistake from hell,'' he said.

Monday March 15, 1999

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Colombia's president said he hopes the killing of three U.S. citizens by leftist rebels this month will strengthen efforts to end decades of civil war.

``If we look at what happens in other countries, we see that circumstances like these have served to fortify the peace process,'' Andres Pastrana told the Spanish daily El Pais in an interview published Monday to coincide with his first official visit to Europe.

Seven months after taking office, Pastrana is struggling to set up talks with the country's main rebel group, which claimed responsibility for the killings of the three American activists whose bodies were found March 4 across the border in Venezuela.

The rebel Colombian Armed Revolutionary Forces, or FARC, demands democratic reforms and a crackdown on rightist paramilitary forces, long linked to the nation's armed forces. Accompanied by five ministers and dozens of business representatives, Pastrana met with Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia on Monday and was to hold talks with Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Pastrana said the main objective of the visit was to boost economic ties and, as a result, the Colombian peace effort.

``The priority, on a domestic level, is to reactivate the economy. On an international level, we hope we can count on a set of donor nations before this year is out which will allow us to obtain the resources needed to work for peace,'' he told El Pais.

Pastrana, who arrived in Spain on Saturday, ends his visit Wednesday when he travels to Morocco, then the Vatican.

``The world wants to help Colombia but it's waiting for concrete examples of peace from the rebels, not ones of war like the kidnapping of foreigners,'' he told El Pais.

Copyright © 1999 The Associated Press.

Summary:

Venezuela's foreign minister has questioned assertions that the FARC was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of three Americans. Reason suggests the case may deserve a second look.

Analysis:

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel speculated on March 8, 1999 that Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups may have been responsible for the kidnapping and murder of three American citizens in Colombia on February 25, 1999. In a televised report on the incident, Rangel said that, "It could have been the paramilitary groups because of the brutal nature of the murders.... The [FARC] have denied they were the masterminds. Let's see what the paramilitary groups have to say. It is an evident act of provocation."

The three Americans, who had been working with the indigenous U'wa tribe to build schools, were kidnapped in the Arauca Department of Colombia. One of the individuals, Terence Freitas, age 24, had been involved with the U'wa cause for more than two years. A week after the abduction, their bodies were found across the border in Venezuela. The bodies were found 100 feet from the Arauca River, which separates Colombia and Venezuela. All three had been blindfolded with their hands bound, and the two women had been shot 4 times each, while the man had been shot 6 times. These facts are generally agreed upon by all of the parties involved. From this point, however, the facts of the case vary according to the informant.

Rangel's allegation contradicts the conclusion of Colombian and U.S. officials, who cite eyewitness accounts and electronic intelligence in laying the blame on Colombia's largest leftist insurgent group, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). First, the U'wa maintain that FARC guerrillas kidnapped the Americans. Second, Colombian military and police officers lay the blame on the 45th Front of the FARC, based on information gathered from intercepted cellular telephone conversations. Colombian intelligence officers reported that the Colombian National Police had intercepted cellular telephone conversations between members of the 45th Front, the leader of the 45th Front - - German "Grannobles" Briceno and a top FARC military strategist -- German's brother, Jorge "Mono Jojoy" Briceno. According to Colombian police sources, they have transcripts of Briceno ordering his troops to "take them over to the other side of the river [to Venezuela] and burn them." According to police Colonel Luis Eduardo Tafur, "Mono Jojoy and Grannobles ordered the deaths of the North Americans but asked that it be done on the other side of the border to avoid problems."

The FARC, for its part, denied involvement in the killing of the Americans, and promised to open an investigation of its own. Raul Reyes, one of the top leaders of the FARC, released a statement over the weekend in which he denied FARC involvement and expressed the insurgent group's condolences. "At this point, we're sure," Reyes said, "that the 15,000-member group had not responsibility [in the deaths]." Reyes also claimed that those responsible are "enemies of the peace", though he did not elaborate further on who they might be.

Rangel, apparently, does not place much faith in Colombian intelligence reports. We have no way of confirming or denying the Colombian army's reports at this time, forcing us to look at both arguments with an open mind. While the Venezuelan government may simply be covering for the FARC, in hopes of rescuing the peace process and ensuring a mediating role for Venezuela, Rangel is almost certainly correct in his portrayal of the kidnappings and murders as being intentional provocative acts. It is unlikely that the FARC, or any other possible culprit, singled out and executed three Americans in Colombia without having some idea of the potential repercussions.

According to a March 7 article appearing in the Washington Post Foreign Service, U.S. and Colombian officials originally thought paramilitary groups or drug traffickers were behind the kidnappings. If it was the paramilitaries as Rangel suggested, and as the U.S. and Colombia originally suspected, the motivation is clear. While the peace talks between the rebels and the Colombian government are technically stalled, the government recently filed an indictment against Carlos Castano, leader of Colombia's paramilitary groups. Additionally, the Colombian Army launched an operation to find Castano and bring him to justice. This can be seen as an effort on the part of the government to appease the guerrillas and bring them back to the bargaining table.

It is conceivable that Castano could have used this incident to head off any effort to repair relations between the government and the guerrillas. Castano would have to know that the murder of three Americans, allegedly by the FARC, would certainly wreak havoc with the peace process. Interestingly enough, a friend of Freitas told reporters that Freitas claimed to have been followed last year by paramilitaries. Freitas also told a friend that he had received anonymous phone calls telling him to "back off or die."

If the murders were an effort to scuttle the peace process, they are appearing to be successful. Referring to the murders, Colombian officials said earlier this week that the peace process was close to being canceled. One official labeled the murders, "not only brutal, but really, really dumb." Along the same lines, an unnamed US official said, "I can't think of anything more stupid the FARC could have done. It is just incredible. It doesn't fit how the FARC operates." In fact, normally the FARC uses kidnappings as a fund-raiser by extorting money from the victim's family or employer. Only a fool would think they could extort money with a corpse.

If it was the FARC, there is a good chance that the murders were carried out by a rogue element within the group. We have previously discussed the possibility that there may be splinter groups within the FARC. At this time we can see no plausible motivation for the FARC to carry out such a politically explosive act. However, a splinter group within the FARC may be motivated to do so if it meant derailing the peace process. Of course, the murders are as likely to bring countermeasures down on the splinter group as on the peace process in general.

The other possible culprit is a drug trafficking organization. But, given the information available, these murders do not fall into the drug lords' motives or modus operandi. Drug organizations usually kill people for one or more of the following reasons: to keep someone silent, to punish someone for not paying, to gain market share, or to make a statement. Since it doesn't appear that the three Americans were involved in the drug trade, the only motivation left is making a statement. Incarcerated Colombian drug lords are once again expressing their concern at the possibility that they could be deported to the U.S., and have threatened a campaign of violence to forestall extradition. However, in the past drug traffickers have usually picked more visible and higher profile targets in order to achieve this goal, such as politicians, judges, and law enforcement officers. They also are very explicit about their role, threatening first, killing, and taking credit after. That is not the case here.

The murders of the three Americans in Colombia, allegedly by FARC rebels tied closely to the drug trade, potentially carry very serious repercussions. As we have previously pointed out, the U.S. has been performing a policy ballet, funding the war on Colombian drug traffickers, explicitly staying out of Colombia's war with the FARC, yet linking the FARC and the drug traffickers. This delicately balanced argument has been fueled by elements in the Colombian government and military that seek greater U.S. support for the war against the FARC. We can neither prove nor disprove FARC responsibility for these murders. But bearing in mind the volatility of this issue, and the potential it carries to drag the U.S. deeper into Colombia's domestic problems, it would be worthwhile to carefully re-examine the details of the case, before the incident alters U.S. policy toward Colombia. Something just does not add up here.

Louis Proyect

(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)

Bogota (Reuter) - The brutal killings of three Americans allegedly by Colombian Marxist guerrillas threatened to scuttle the country's peace efforts, even as the rebel group disassociated itself from the murders and blamed them on enemies of peace. The bullet-riddled bodies of Terence Freitas, 24, an environmental scientist from Oakland, Calif., Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, a Native American and resident of New York City and Laheenae Gay, 39, of Hawaii, were found Thursday by a Venezuelan army patrol just across the border from Colombia.

The three Indian rights activists had been blindfolded, with their hands tied behind their backs and shot several times in the head exactly a week after they were kidnapped on Feb.25. The Colombian military and US State Department said they had no doubt the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - which Washington considers a "terrorist" organization was behind the Americans' murder.

A member of the FARC leadership signalled the group was not behind the killings. "This was an act of provocation by enemies of the peace process," a member of the FARC's chief-of-staff, its top policy-making body, said in a phone interview.

Keshena -- The Menominee tribal chairman charged Saturday that the U.S. State Department "exploited" the kidnappings of three American activists, including a member of the Menominee nation, and caused the deaths of the three in an effort to get further public support for the war against Colombian rebels.

But a State Department spokesman called the charges leveled by Menominee Tribal Chairman Apesanahkwat "preposterous".

Their comments came less than two days after the body of Ingrid Washinawatok, 41 -- a Menominee tribal member who lived in Brooklyn, N.Y. -- and those of Los Angeles environmentalist Terence Freitas and Lahe'ena'e Gay of Hawaii were found Thursday night on the Venezuelan side of the Arauca River, which separates Venezuela and Colombia. All were shot with 9mm weapons.

Their bodies were found a week after the three were kidnapped. The three had been working for a week with the U'wa tribe of Colombia, whose culture they were trying to preserve.

Colombian and U.S. officials said Saturday that Marxist guerrillas murdered the three on the direct orders from a senior commander of the insurgents.

Officials blamed the murders on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which often kidnaps foreigners to raise funds but seldom executes its captives. The insurgents customarily deny actions they are not responsible for but have not yet commented on the murders.

In statements he made at a news conference in Keshena Saturday morning and in a later interview, Apesanahkwat agreed that members of FARC likely had killed the three.

But he charged that the U.S. government bore some responsibility for the killings.

The U.S. government, he said, sent money for arms to the Colombian government four or five days after the kidnappings, knowing that those arms would be used against the rebels who held the kidnap victims and that the kidnap victims might well be executed in retaliation. Seventy rebels were killed in a government-led attack just before the kidnap victims were executed, he said.

U.S. monetary support for escalation of the Colombian government's war against the rebels was "orchestrated" after the kidnappings, in order to result in the deaths of the kidnapping victims and to move the American and Colombian people toward greater support of government efforts to quash the rebels, Apesanahkwat charged after the news conference.

"This was horrible," he said. The State Department "hoped to engender outrage to continue their work down there," he said.

State Department spokesman Lee McClenny reacted angrily to Apesanahkwat's allegation.

"Any suggestion that the U.S. government aided or abetted or encouraged the kidnappings or the murders is preposterous," McClenny said.

McClenny also said the U.S. has not provided counter-insurgency funds to Colombia for many years.

It does provide counter-narcotic training and assistance, which is carefully monitored so that it is not used for counter-insurgency purposes, he said.

The Menominee tribe is demanding a congressional committee inquiry into State Department actions in Colombia, according to a release from the tribe.

Apesanahkwat said he was active in attempting to negotiate the release of the hostages as soon as he heard of the capture. "I sent a direct communique to the leadership of FARC two days after she was captured."

The FARC leadership had sent a response by e-mail the morning of the hostages' death, Apesanahkwat said. "They sent greetings to us as a relative indigenous group, and said they were optimistic about seeking her release," he said.

He said he and family and tribal members were stunned to learn of the deaths after optimistic messages from FARC and other sources.

John Fauber of the Journal Sentinel staff and the Washington Post contributed to this report.

MENOMINEE INDIAN TRIBE OF WISCONSIN P.O. Box 210 Keshena, WI 54135-0910

PRESS RELEASE
MENOMINEE NATION
KESHENA, WI
MARCH 6, 1999

The family is deeply concerned about the way the situation was handles by the Justice and State Departments. Throughout the ordeal, the family had been in contact with the State Department, repeatedly correcting information put out by the Agency which was inaccurate. In addition, the family had repeatedly requested cooperation with the State Department regarding negotiating strategy. As a result, the family feels that State Department actions may have needlessly put the three kidnapped individuals lives in peril, and indeed caused their deaths.

While the Americans were held captive for eight days, reports from the International Red Cross, who had been in contact with FARC, indicated that the three were in good health, were well fed, and that the family would be able to send personal messages to the hostages. The Red Cross had communicated to the family that a meeting with FRAC was scheduled on Monday. The family and the Tribal Chairman felt that their release was imminent.

Earlier in the week, the family had communicated to the State Department their concerns over Janet Reno, from the Justice Department, going to Bogota to deliver $230 million dollars to the Columbian government to escalate the war against FRAC. An immediate attack on FRAC forces by the Columbian government in the province where the captives were being held resulted in 70 FRAC dead, the largest number in recent history of the war. Also, army warplanes, helicopter gunships, and heavy artillery were utilized for the first time, marking a significant change in the tactics utilized by the Columbian government against the FRAC. The family had transmitted to the State Department that they believed that these U,.S. actions were putting the lives of the hostages in dire jeopardy. As a result of these U.S. actions , the family and the Menominee government believe that they resulted in the hostages being brutally beaten and killed.

The Menominee Tribe is demanding an inquiry be made by the appropriate Congressional Committees into the State Department actions, which they feel showed no consideration for the three Americans' situation and resulted in their death.

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