Pubdate: Fri, 29 Sep 2006
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2006 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Vanessa Blum, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

2 LINKED TO COLOMBIAN GUERRILA GROUP PLEAD GUILTY IN MIAMI TO COCAINE PLOT

Miami -- Two reputed associates of Colombia's largest guerrilla group 
pleaded guilty to drug charges in federal court Thursday, handing 
U.S. prosecutors what they say are their first convictions against 
accused members of the violent paramilitary group known as the FARC.

Cesar Augusto Perez-Parra and Farouk Shaikh-Reyes, who prosecutors 
contend worked for the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, 
admitted to a plot that started in 2003 to import 1,000 to 2,000 
kilograms of cocaine into South Florida every 15 to 45 days.

The men were arranging the deal with individuals cooperating with the 
U.S. government, and the drugs were never supplied, prosecutors said.

Perez-Parra, 43, and Shaikh-Reyes, 41, were extradited to the United 
States earlier this year.

Prosecutors accuse a third alleged FARC member named in the February 
2005 indictment of overseeing coca fields and laboratories, and 
charging fees and taxes to individuals involved in the cocaine trade. 
Ferney Tovar-Parra is awaiting extradition from Colombia.

U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said the guilty pleas from Perez- 
Parra and Shaikh-Reyes, coming on the heels of Tuesday's convictions 
of two founders of the notorious Cali cocaine cartel, signal the 
government's commitment to fight drug trafficking.

Miami attorney Philip Horowitz, who represents Shaikh-Reyes, disputed 
that his client was a member of the FARC, a group U.S. officials 
consider a terrorist organization.

"My client pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to 
distribute cocaine," he said. "My client was never charged with being 
a member of FARC, he never admitted to it and he wouldn't admit to it."

Prosecutors are recommending prison terms of roughly six years for 
Shaikh-Reyes and about 11 years for Perez-Parra.

On Thursday, Department of Treasury officials added Tovar-Parra and 
other FARC leaders to a list of known narcotics traffickers, which 
freezes their financial assets.

According to federal authorities, FARC supplies more than 60 percent 
of the cocaine entering the United States. To protect their hold on 
cocaine exports from Colombia, FARC commanders order the executions 
of farmers who defy their rules, U.S. officials said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elaine