A spokesman for the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) announced on May 28 that the killers of three activists working with the U'wa were given community service sentences by FARC for the murders. State Department spokesman James Rubin called the sentences "outrageous" and said U.S. demands for justice in the case would not be met until the FARC members responsible for the killings were handed over to "the appropriate authorities." FARC has repeatedly refused to hand over the members implicated in the murders.
Ingrid Washinawatok of Wisconsin, Lahe'ena'e Gay of Hawai'i, and Terrence Freitas of California were in Columbia working on an education program with the U'wa when they were abducted by low-ranking members of FARC on March 3. Their bodies were found near the Venezuelan border on March 4.
According to the FARC spokesman, the killers could be required to teach reading and writing to illiterate Columbians or work on a highway construction project.
Article copyright Cultural Survival, Inc.
