Rebel accused of kidnapping American contractors arrested in southern Colombia

Colombia’s police on Saturday said they had arrested a suspected FARC rebel convicted of taking part in the 2003 kidnapping of three American military contractors. The defense workers weren’t released until 2008.

“Giovanny,” the nom-de-guerre of Duverney, is one of the guerrillas closest to “El Paisa, the feared commander of the Teofilo Foreo elite unit of the FARC, said the police in a press release on Saturday.

The rebel is convicted for a number of war crimes , including the kidnapping of the three US military contractors whose plane had crashed in the jungle in FARC-controlled area.

The arrested suspect was captured in the city of Florencia, the capital of the southern Caqueta state.

Location of the arrest

Due to his long list of convictions and indictments, authorities said the 32-year-old suspect was one of the most bloody guerrillas in the FARC, an organization suspected of having carried out thousands of human rights violations in its 50-year existence.

“Giovanny” had a lotal of 19 arrest warrants against him, said the National Police commander, General Rodolfo Palomino, on Twitter.

Sources

• Capturan a alias “Giovanny”, hombre de confianza del máximo cabecilla de la Teófilo Forero de las Farc alias “el paisa” (Radio Santa Fe)
• Golpe a la Teófilo Forero de las Farc (National Police)