| The FARC angle makes this worth noticing. |
MIAMI (AP) - Two members of Colombia's largest rebel group pleaded guilty Thursday to federal drug conspiracy charges, the first from the organization known as FARC to be convicted of narcotics trafficking in the United States, prosecutors said.
Cesar Augusto Perez-Parra, 43, and "Roberto" Farouk Shaikh-Reyes, 41, pleaded guilty to charges that they plotted to smuggle more than 4,400 pounds of cocaine about once a month from Colombia to Miami. They were arrested last year before they could import any of the drugs, said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta. Both were associates of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union. Dozens of other FARC members have been indicted on drug trafficking charges, but Perez-Parra and Shaikh-Reyes are the first to be convicted in the U.S., Acosta said.
The suspected supervisor of the two men who pleaded guilty, Ferney Tovar-Parra, is in custody in Colombia and is awaiting extradition to face similar charges in Miami. He is accused of overseeing FARC coca fields and laboratories and of collecting "taxes and fees" for much of the group's cocaine industry.
Perez-Parra and Shaikh-Reyes could face several decades in prison when sentenced in January by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore. |