An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for a FARC guerilla accused of the 1999 kidnapping and murder of three Native Americans who had been working with indigenous groups in northeast Colombia.
FARC guerrilla Luis Alberto Daza Rodríguez, known as ‘El Marrano’, is believed to carried out the killings Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok and Lahenaee Gay under orders from his commanding officer, reported Spanish news agency EFE.
The trio was kidnapped by FARC rebels on February 25 along a highway that runs between the departments of Boyacá and Arauca after they left a community of U’wa where they had been serving as advisors.
One week later, their bodies were found on the Venezuelan bank of the Arauca River, at a spot known as “The Birds.”
The order comes after two fruitless attempts to punish the American’s murders, reports Caracol Radio.
In 2003, Colombia arrested and extradited Nelson Vargas Rueda, believed to be ‘El Marrano’. But Rueda proved his innocence in the U.S. and he was returned to liberty in Colombia.
Then in May 2008, the Colombian army killed Carlos Julio Ávila, also believed to be ‘El Marrano’, yet evidence again revealed that the real ‘El Marrano’ was still at large.
