Former FARC Member Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison
November 10 2015 - 4:46PM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Armental
A member of a Colombian terrorist group was sentenced Tuesday to
27 years in prison for his role in a 2003 hostage-taking of three
American Defense department contractors.
Diego Alfonso Navarrete Beltrán, 43 years old, was the third
leader of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias Colombianas (FARC)
convicted in the hostage taking of Marc D. Gonsalves, Thomas R.
Howes and Keith Stansell, employees of a Northrop Grumman Corp.
subsidiary. The men, along with fellow American Thomas Janis and
Sgt. Luis Alcides Cruz of the Colombian military, were captured
when their antidrug surveillance plane went down in FARC-held
territory in 2003. Messrs. Gonsalves, Howes and Stansell were
rescued in 2008, after 1,967 days in captivity, along with other
hostages, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid
Betancourt.
Messrs. Gonsalves, Howes and Stansell recounted their captivity
in the 2009 book "Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 Days in the
Colombian Jungle."
Messrs. Janis and Cruz were killed by FARC rebels, the
authorities said.
FARC was formed in 1964 as the armed wing of the Colombian
Communist Party. In September, FARC and Colombian government
leaders reached an agreement paving the way for a peace pact.
Negotiations continue.
Mr. Navarrette Beltrán, one of the armed guards, was charged in
absentia and brought to the U.S. last year. As part of a plea deal
reached this summer, Mr. Navarrette Beltrán pleaded guilty to three
charges of aiding in the hostage-taking of the three Americans.
Additional charges, including of supporting a terrorist
organization, were dismissed.
In court documents, his lawyer asked the judge for clemency,
saying Mr. Navarrette Beltrán joined the armed group out of
curiosity but was forced to stay put.
"For 19 years my life in the FARC consisted of following orders
and staying alive," Mr. Navarrette Beltrán told the court in a
letter written by his lawyer.
Mr. Navarrette Beltrán said that as a rank-and-file guerrilla
member, "I had no part in the decision to hold them."
"I sympathize deeply with the hostages that I guarded and regret
the part that I played in their captivity," Mr. Navarrette Beltrán,
who faced life in prison, apologized, asking the judge to "sentence
the individual who stands before you and not punish me for the sins
of the FARC."
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 10, 2015 16:31 ET (21:31 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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