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Osama Bin Laden's terrorist organization has become increasingly reliant on organized crime, including cocaine smuggling, human trafficking and kidnapping, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday in Manhattan's federal court. The charges filed against three alleged al-Qaeda associates by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan is the latest chilling evidence of a convergence between terrorism and organized crime. Oumar Issa, Harouna Touré and Idriss Abelrahman were snatched in Ghana on Wednesday by a Drug Enforcement Administration sting and shipped to New York, where they arrived on Friday to face charges of conspiracy to commit acts of narco-terrorism and providing material support...

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed narcotics and terrorism charges on Friday against three West Africans they identified as associates of Al Qaeda and a related terrorist group. While the United States Drug Enforcement Administration has long maintained that Al Qaeda has been involved in drug trafficking, officials at the agency said the case represented the first time such charges had been brought against people linked with the group. The three men — identified as Oumar Issa, Harouna Touré and Idriss Abelrahman — were arrested on Wednesday in Ghana and flown to the United States on Thursday night, law enforcement officials...

Note: The following text is a quote: Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Capture of Three Members of Colombian Terrorist Group Charged with Hostage-Taking of U.S. Citizen PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JOHN V. GILLIES, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Miami Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") and MICHELE M. LEONHART, the Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"), announced today the arrest of EDILBERTO BERRIO ORTIZ, a/k/a "El Gavilan," ALEJANDRO PALACIOS RENGIFO, a/k/a "El Gato," a/k/a "Yimi," and ANDERSON CHAMAPURO DOGIRAMA, a/k/a "El Tigre," a/k/a "Dairon," three members of the...

The situation in neighboring Venezuela is going from strange to foreboding. President Hugo Chavez has been unsuccessful in getting the voters to make him president for life, but he has used his presidential powers to replace thousands of key officials with people selected mainly for their loyalty to Hugo Chavez. Since the government controls so much of the economy (mainly because of the oil industry), this has had disastrous results. There are increasing power blackouts, and an increasing number of state employees are not getting paid, or paid on time. There are increasing shortages of consumer goods. There is growing...

The situation in neighboring Venezuela is going from strange to foreboding. President Hugo Chavez has been unsuccessful in getting the voters to make him president for life, but he has used his presidential powers to replace thousands of key officials with people selected mainly for their loyalty to Hugo Chavez. Since the government controls so much of the economy (mainly because of the oil industry), this has had disastrous results. There are increasing power blackouts, and an increasing number of state employees are not getting paid, or paid on time. There are increasing shortages of consumer goods. There is growing...

Colombia: Pastor Martyred On Sept. 21, Pastor Manuel was shot and killed by The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas in San Jose del Guaviare, Colombia, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. FARC guerrillas made an appointment with Pastor Manuel and his family. “He thought they were going to authorize him to have a church officially, which he had discuss[ed] and asked [for] before,” said VOM contacts. “One of them came in [the house] with the pastor’s wife, Gloria, and his daughter while the pastor was outside. He was shot five times.” A FARC guerrilla who was...

Note: The following text is a quote: Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Members and Associates of Colombian Guerilla Front with Terrorism and Hostage-Taking of U.S. Citizen Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michele M. Leonhart, the Acting Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Michael J. Folmar, the Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Miami Division of the FBI, announced today the unsealing of two indictments charging a total of 12 members and associates of the 57th Front of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a Colombian terrorist group, with conspiracy to provide...

ngrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian politician held hostage for more than six years by guerrillas in the Colombian jungle, told CBC News in an exclusive interview that her captors despised her. "I was a politician. They hated politicians. I was a person with some education. They had none, so they thought I [had] a privileged social background and they hated me for that," Betancourt told the CBC's Mellissa Fung in an excerpt from an interview that will air on The National on Monday at 9 p.m. ET.

SNIPPET: "Most importantly, Chavez has friends - powerful friends -- around the world who are assisting him in his goal of establishing communism as the dominant force in the world. Both Russia and China are assisting Chavez in spreading the message that the United States is "the most savage, cruel, and murderous empire that has existed in the history of the world," and Chavez's solution: 21st Century Socialism." SNIPPET: "The Moscow elite are not only supporting Chavez the dictator with weapons, but also Chavez the Marxist revolutionary with a high profile platform for his revolutionary rhetoric. In early September 2009...

(English-language translation) BOGOTA - On Saturday, Colombia extradited to the United States FARC [member] Nancy Conde Rubio, from whom the authorities intercepted her telephone conversations and thus secured the rescue of 15 kidnapping victims in the guerrilla [organization's] power. There were three Americans among the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) captives. Thirty-seven-year-old Conde was extradited on an airplane belonging to U.S. anti-drug authorities, said General Luis Ramírez with the Police Criminal Investigation Directorate. He added that the airplane was initially headed for Florida and, from there, the detainee, who was wearing handcuffs and a bulletproof vest, will be taken to the...

BOGOTA (AP) — A captured leftist rebel who unwittingly helped officials rescue 15 hostages — including three American military contractors — was bundled aboard a plane to Florida on Saturday to face charges of terrorism in a U.S. federal court. Prosecutors say that Nancy Conde Rubio, 37, led a finance and supply operation for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. She is also the former girlfriend of rebel Gerardo Aguilar, who helped keep watch over the hostages. Aguilar, alias "Cesar," was extradited to the U.S. in July. Colombia also sent back another woman and eight men to face...

The government of Andorra has frozen “billions of dollars” in bank accounts linked to Iran, Venezuela, and a variety of terrorist groups, according to the daily Diairi d’Andorra, which publishes in Catalan. The Andorran move, announced on Thursday, was carried out in conjunction with a top secret U.S. Treasury investigation in Miami involving money laundered through Venezuelan banks that was transferred to corresponding banks in the United States. From Miami, the funds were then wired to accounts in Andorra that were controlled by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, members of his family and his regime. But the funds were also used...

Leadership: Gen. Ulysses Grant won our Civil War by doggedly pursuing the enemy even after winning battles. That's occurring in Colombia, where President Uribe is stepping up an already impressive war effort.As we went to press, Colombia was set to sign a pact over the weekend with the U.S. for access to seven military bases on its territory. It's an unprecedented vote of confidence in U.S. troops and will substantially expand both countries' capacity to fight drugs and terror. But more than that, it's a strong sign President Alvaro Uribe intends to crush FARC's Marxist narcoterrorists, the group that's been...

The Law: Terrorists have had lots to celebrate recently as court rulings from Bangkok to Madrid wiped out years of work to stop them and raised doubts about treating the war on terror as a law-enforcement action.Last Friday, a U.S. federal judge ordered the release of Sheik Mohammed al-Moayad, a Yemeni cleric convicted in 2005 of financing Hamas and trying to bankroll al-Qaida by as much as $20 million. Al-Moayad had been sentenced to 75 years, but based on claims of improperly admitted evidence, a judge ordered him freed. Now set for deportation, he will likely kill again. Then on...

Brasilia, ANSA General Jim Jones, security advisor to president Barack Obama, said today that members of FARC are in Venezuela organizing attacks on Colombia and the government of Hugo Chavez “is not doing much to combat it”, according to Estado de Sao Paulo. “We know with some certainty that significant elements of Farc are active inside Venezuela and the Venezuelan government has done little to combat this” declared Jones, who met yesterday in Brasilia with the Brazilian chancellor Celso Amorim. “Venezuela and other countries in the region have their differences with the United States” and the installation of US bases...

El Salvador has officially joined the Red regimes of Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Bolivia. South America is turning Red, dark Red, and little is being said to alert North Americans of the encroaching Red plague. Perhaps that's because North America is moving in the same direction. The President of the United States has surrounded himself with socialists, and some of those closest to him have had a part in turning South America Red. According to the Associated Press (March 17, 2009), Mauricio Funes, the presidential candidate of the Farbundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) is the new head of...

Americas: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has been caught arming Colombia's FARC — again. It's more than state sponsorship of terror. The persistence of his acts signals a proxy war against the U.S. It's time to recognize that.Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that top officials in Venezuela, as recently as May, were shipping weapons to FARC, the Marxist narcoterrorists trying to overthrow the Colombian government. It's an eye-opener, given that a month earlier, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had "turned the page" with Venezuela's strongman, laughing, shaking hands and backslapping with him as Chavez declared: "I...

The materials point to detailed collaborations between the guerrillas and high-ranking military and intelligence officials in Mr. Chávez’s government as recently as several weeks ago, countering the president’s frequent statements that his administration does not assist the rebels. “We do not protect them,” he said in late July. The new evidence — drawn from computer material captured from the rebels, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC — comes at a low point for ties between Venezuela and Colombia.

Members of the FARC used a homeless woman as a human bomb to attack a police station in the south of Colombia, authorities say. The woman was sent to deliver a package at a local police station that exploded when she arrived. The woman died and fourteen others were injured, authorities say. According to police sources, the bomb was given to the woman by guerrillas of the FARC's 'Mariscal Sucre front' who activated the bomb when the woman arrived at the target. The woman died immediately.

The Colombian rebel group the FARC is in possession of advanced weaponry manufactured by the Swedish firm Saab Bofors Dynamics, according to a report in the Colombian weekly newspaper Semana.

BOGOTA -- Swedish-made anti-tank rocket launchers sold to Venezuela years ago were obtained by Colombia's main rebel group, and Sweden said Monday it was demanding an explanation. Colombia said its military found the weapons in a captured rebel arms cache and that Sweden had recently confirmed they originally were sold to Venezuela's military. The confirmation strengthens Colombian allegations that Hugo Chavez's government has aided the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The bazooka-like AT-4 single-use launchers, made by Saab Bofors Dynamics, lack the precision and range of surface-to-air weapons and there is no evidence FARC rebels have used...

Ok guys I need some volunteers to help me. If you know Spanish and can read Spanish or have a good computer translator I need your help.FARC I believe is deeply involved in leftist politics in all of the ALBA countries and I want to prove it. So what I need at this point is different key articles that will point to FARC growth in these countries since the rise to power of leftist in all of these countries. Venezuela, Honduras, Ecuador, Bolvia, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, San Vicente and Grenadines, Cuba, ..these are all ALBA countries....

FARC terrorist group condemns 'coup' against Zelaya The communiqué expressed "solidarity with the just struggle fighter of the people of Morazán to overthrow the tyranny." They qualify Uribe's position as a "double standard" 24.07.09 - Updated: 24.07.09 08:48 pm - Writing: redaccion@elheraldo.hn Bogota Colombia . The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, one of the most vicious of the planet, yesterday condemned the military coup against the government of President Zelaya in Honduras. " The FARC have been condemned worldwide for heinous crimes, terrorist attacks, kidnappings and drug-related activities. It was formed as a Marxist-Leninist guerrillas in 1964, since...

He calls himself "Cesar," but his real name is Gerardo Aguilar Ramirez. As "comandante" of the 1st Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- and one of the top 10 leaders of the hyperviolent FARC -- he has well-earned credentials as a drug-dealing terrorist with a penchant for trading in hostages. On Thursday, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents put Cesar in shackles, marched him aboard an aircraft here in Bogota and took him to the United States to stand trial for his crimes. Our Fox News' "War Stories" team was here to record the event -- and a...

BOGOTA, Columbia (AP) -- An hour-long video police found in a computer of an alleged rebel appears to dispel any doubts that Colombia's largest rebel army gave money to the 2006 election campaign of President Rafael Correa of Ecuador. The video shows the second-ranking commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia reading the deathbed manifesto of founding leader Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda. The manifesto clearly acknowledges FARC contributions to Correa's campaign, but it's still possible that Correa wasn't aware of them. The video, given to The Associated Press by a government official on condition of anonymity due to political sensitivity,...

BOGOTA — He calls himself "Cesar," but his real name is Gerardo Aguilar Ramirez. As "comandante" of the 1st Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — and one of the top 10 leaders of the hyper-violent FARC — he has well-earned credentials as a drug-dealing terrorist with a penchant for trading in hostages. This Thursday, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents put Ramirez, aka Cesar, in shackles, marched him aboard an aircraft here in Bogota, and took him to the U.S. to stand trial for his crimes. Our Fox News' "War Stories" team was here to record the event...

Two of the District's top law enforcement officials are warning that dozens of federal prisoners with ties to Colombian rebel groups and international drug rings are a threat to security at the D.C. Jail and pose a risk of escape into the surrounding neighborhood. The concerns have led city officials to ask the federal government for more money to provide security for the increasing numbers of prisoners, who are being held at the District's corrections campus in Southeast. Devon Brown, director of the D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC), outlined concerns about such prisoners in a U.S. District Court filing last...

SNIPPET: "The "coup" in the Central American nation of Honduras is the first major blow to the Marxist expansion sponsored by Hugo Chavez, but the American people are to a great extent being kept in the dark by the centralized news media." SNIPPET: "Chavez's threats against the new Honduran government should be taken seriously. The sale of sophisticated small arms, advanced jet fighters, and battle tanks by Russia to Venezuela has made the Chavez regime a significant regional power. Chavez has close ties with the most important guerrilla group in the region, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombian, a Marxist...

A Colombian associate of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is once again linked to FARC terrorists and Marxist Dictator Hugo Chavez with the revelation of damning new messages concerning Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba that are currently being investigated by Colombian military officials.

Marxist rebels killed seven police officers in a roadside ambush in southwestern Colombia, officials said. A top rebel leader also was believed to be killed in a separate attack, said army Gen. Gustavo Adolfo Ricaurte. Juan Carlos Usuga, known as El Enano (The Dwarf), was among at least 25 guerrillas killed by a joint police and air force task force that destroyed a rebel camp in the Amazonian jungle, Ricaurte said. The six police agents and a lieutenant died in a roadside blast on their return from inspecting the rebel stronghold, which the air force had bombed, said Cauca Gov....

BANGKOK, Thailand — A Russian arms dealer accused of breaking U.N. arms embargoes by supplying weapons to African war zones was arrested Thursday in Bangkok, Thai police said. Viktor Bout was arrested in the heart of the capital city on a warrant issued by a Thai court, said Police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan, head of the Crime Suppression Bureau. The warrant stemmed from an earlier one issued by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, he said. A U.S. Embassy spokesman "congratulated" Thai police for the arrest but could not provide details about the role U.S. officials played in it. Details of...

Kendall Myers, 72, who appeared in federal court in Washington on Wednesday charged with spying for Havana for nearly 30 years, had a fascination with Northern Ireland. The Daily Telegraph has established that as well as seeking the envoy's post, which carried the rank of ambassador, Mr Myers travelled to the British Isles and met British and Irish officials, senior Northern Ireland politicians and intelligence officers. .... "Anything this guy could have found from his European responsibilities he might have funnelled to the Cubans for them to sell off," said John Bolton, a former top State Department official in the...

Note: The following text is a quote: Former State Department Official and Wife Arrested for Serving as Illegal Agents of Cuba for Nearly 30 Years Couple Allegedly Conspired to Provide Classified Information to Cuban Government A former State Department official and his wife have been arrested on charges of serving as illegal agents of the Cuban government for nearly 30 years and conspiring to provide classified U.S. information to the Cuban government. The arrests were announced today by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Joseph Persichini, Jr.,...

A Colombian associate of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is once again linked to FARC terrorists and Marxist Dictator Hugo Chavez with the revelation of damning new messages concerning Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba that are currently being investigated by Colombian military officials. Once again we have a powerful American politician, this one the Speaker of the House of Representatives, linked to those attempting to institute Marxist regimes to our South. Why does the U.S. media steadily ignore the ties Speaker Pelosi has to Chavez and the terrorist group FARC through her association with Senator Córdoba? Isn't it awfully big news...

The District of Columbia has approached the Justice Department about security concerns arising from the housing of more than 10 suspected narcoterrorists in its jail - concerns that foreshadow problems the Obama administration might face if it brings Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States for trial. D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles brought up the narcoterrorists when asked during an interview about the prospect of detainees from the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, being brought to the District for trial. Although the attorney general did not directly link the District's situation with the decisions facing the federal government,...

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Colombia High Threat Environment for Terrorism & Crime CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS Americas - Colombia 22 May 2009 RELATED REPORTS 14 May 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: COLOMBIA CONFIRMS H1N1 2009 INFLUENZA CASES 20 Apr 2009 FARC CONTINUES TO TARGET COMMERCE IN EXTORTION CAMPAIGN 25 Mar 2009 TRAVEL WARNING: COLOMBIA 20 Mar 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: COLOMBIA BLACK MARCH ADVISORY 27 Jan 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA, EXPLOSION; REPORTS OF TWO FATALITIES The U.S. Embassy Bogotá issued the following Warden Message on May...

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Note: The following text is a quote: Colombian National Arraigned on Charges of Providing Material Support to the FARC WASHINGTON - A 32-year-old Colombian citizen, Luz Mery Gutierrez Vergara, who was extradited from the Republic of Colombia on Thursday, made her initial appearance today in federal court in Washington, D.C., to face charges for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to provide material support to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, commonly known as the "FARC," announced Jeffrey A. Taylor, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, David S. Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, Jonathan I. Solomon,...

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2009 – Three American contractors who survived five and a half years in a Colombian jungle likened their captivity to being on the “planet of the apes,” said one of the three contractors held by the terrorist organization known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. “We were off this planet for so long that we would marvel at something basic, as basic as a flat floor and a flat wall. It was a totally different planet that we had escaped or been rescued from,” Tom Howes told online journalists and bloggers during a...

MEXICO CITY, March 9 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said the armed forces are ready for a war with Colombia should the country provoke it. "In case of a provocation on the part of Colombia's armed forces or infringements on Venezuela's sovereignty, I will give an order to strike with Su aircraft and tanks. I will not let anyone disrespect Venezuela and its sovereignty," Chavez said Sunday on his weekly TV show, "Hello, President." Chavez said this in response to Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos's recent statements, which said that Colombia's military will keep killing rebels...

BOGOTA -- Three Americans held captive by Colombia's leftist rebels for 5 1/2 years published a memoir Thursday full of wrenching survival stories and unkind words about Ingrid Betancourt, the most famous hostage who shared their jungle prisons. The chronicle of the U.S. military contractors' 1,967 days as rebel captives describes their pain and perseverance, mind-numbing boredom in jungle cages, forced marches in chains, close calls under fire and ultimately, a miraculous rescue. ( Read Rest at Link)

Monzer al-Kassar, 63, a longtime resident of Spain known as the "Prince of Marbella" for his lifestyle in the glitzy seaside town, was sentenced after being convicted in November of agreeing to sell millions of dollars of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

During his 10 years in office, socialist Chavez, a fierce critic of the United States, has often expressed admiration and affinity for the FARC. In 2007, Chavez said his country shared a border not with Colombia, but with territory controlled by the FARC. .... In an interview last year, Chavez political advisor Alberto Muller Rojas acknowledged the presence of Colombian rebels, saying that Venezuela has been a safe haven for more than 1 million Colombians fleeing war over the last several decades. .... On many Saturdays, rebel mule trains descend from the rugged Perija Mountains through the two dozen Indian...

As the old saying goes, once a tyrant always a tyrant, Chavez is acting in his usual idiotic ways. In a story recently, the tyrant dictator of Venezuela accused Obama of having Bush's stench. Looks like Obama's suggestion of Chavez supporting FARC, rubbed the plump tyrant the wrong way. Yes I realize it's not a real saying, but it should be! This story is interesting for both political ideologies....

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez apparently doesn't appreciate Barack Obama's classifying him as a supporter of Colombian terror group, FARC, likening the president-elect's odor to that of Chavez nemesis President Bush. In an interview airing on Venezuelan television and reported by The Washington Post Monday, Chavez said Obama has "the same stench" as Bush. The comment harkens back to September 2006, when Chavez followed Bush at an appearance at the United Nations General Assembly opening and said he could still smell the "sulfur" left behind by the U.S. president's presence at the podium. In an interview that aired on Univision last...

HP-1353 "Treasury Designates Additional FARC International Commission Members" SNIPPET: "Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated three international representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a narco-terrorist organization. The OFAC action was taken pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act), which applies financial sanctions against significant foreign narcotics traffickers and organizations, like the FARC. "Today's action exposes three additional members of the FARC's International Commission," said Adam J. Szubin, Director of OFAC. "The FARC is one of the world's largest suppliers of cocaine and continues to be...

The US State Department announced plans on Monday to promote online youth groups as a new and powerful way to fight crime, political oppression and terrorism. Drawing inspiration from a movement against FARC rebels in Colombia, the State Department is joining forces with Facebook, Google, MTV, Howcast and others in New York City next week to get the "ball rolling." It said 17 groups from South Africa, Britain and the Middle East which have an online presence like the "Million Voices Against the FARC" will attend a conference at Columbia University Law School from December 3-5. Observers from seven organizations...

Who Will Guarantee the Peace? Written by The American TFP    Wednesday, November 19 2008 Since 1990, a crowd has gathered every year at Fort Benning in mid-November to protest against the activities of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly called the School of the Americas) and demand its closure. The annual event is not so much a protest, but rather a gathering of the remnants of the religious and cultural left who create a sixties-like carnival atmosphere around Fort Benning. The Army’s efforts to “dialogue� with the protesters by opening their doors to any who wish to...

Embassy guard accuses Obama of doing deals with terrorists Rashid Razaq A SENIOR security officer at the US embassy in London is being investigated after accusing Barack Obama of brokering secret deals with terrorists. Joe Hubbard, a security supervisor who is in charge of patrolling the Grosvenor Square building, claims the President-elect secured backing from terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Colombian guerrilla group FARC, in return for changing US policy. In a vitriolic tirade in an online blog, Mr Hubbard, an American, accuses Obama of having a hidden Muslim agenda and claims his election campaign was funded by anonymous Middle...

Pelosi's ties to Chavez have real consequences