A former Colombian guerrilla, who testified in the case against extradited FARC commander alias “Simon Trinidad,” may be deported from the United States, according to her lawyer.
Lawyer Grisell Ybarra said that alias “Maryanne Arango” was offered U.S. residence in exchange for providing information in the case against Trinidad, but that the U.S. may fail to comply with this promise based on the justification that she is a “terrorist equal to ‘Trinidad’,” newspaper El Tiempo reported Thursday.
According to the lawyer, Arango, who originally traveled to the U.S. to give testimony in 2006, with special permission and a promise of permanent residency, was going to be deported in 2009, but received a letter from the U.S. government ordering the deportation process to be halted.
“She waits a year and they didn’t do anything with her (…) she didn’t have to come here to the United States, she could have gone to another country to hide herself,” said Ybarra, reported W Radio. She added that Arango has letters signed by the FBI in which it is recognized that her life was in danger in Colombia because of the information she had turned in against Trinidad.
Ybarra said that “it is sad that one has to shame themselves for a government so that they comply with their word. If the American government doesn’t comply with people who are going to cooperate, well nobody is going to keep helping them.”
In October 2006, Arango testified against Trinidad in the case of the kidnapping of three U.S. contractors by the FARC in Colombia. After two mistrials, Trinidad, who was originally extradited in 2004, was ruled guilty of conspiracy to retain the three U.S. citizens as hostages, and sentenced to 60 years in a U.S. prison.
