Colombian Rebels Admit Killing U.S. Trio

Guerrillas admitted Wednesday that one of their field officers ordered the killing of three kidnapped Americans, but they added that the rebels will judge him themselves rather than turn him over to authorities.

The admission marked a turning point for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, this nation’s oldest and largest insurgent group, as it attempts to gain legitimacy for its 3-decade-old conflict with the government.

However, it fell far short of U.S. demands that those responsible for the slayings be extradited to the United States. The rebel statement also conflicts with a Colombian intelligence version of events, which blames higher-ranking insurgents, including the brother of a top commander.

Raul Reyes, one of the top seven commanders of the rebel group, said the lower-ranking field officer, known as Comandante Gildardo, ordered the Americans killed without consulting his superiors.

Reyes spoke at a news conference in territory that the Colombian government ceded to the guerrillas late last year as a condition for peace talks.

“It is not the policy of the FARC to disappear Colombians or foreigners,” he said.

Gildardo will be sentenced by the guerrillas, Reyes announced.

“Considering the gravity [of the crime], he could be executed,” Reyes said.

The bodies of native American Ingrid Washinawatok, native Hawaiian Laheenae Gay and Californian Terence Freitas were found Friday in a Venezuelan border town a week after they had been kidnapped. Freitas, an environmentalist, and the two women had visited the U’wa Indians in a remote area of Colombia near the border.

Based mainly on an intercepted radio message, authorities believe that the Americans were killed after Washinawatok was bitten by a poisonous spider. Colombian intelligence officials speculate that the guerrillas then decided to kill the captives in order to escape blame for the kidnapping and her death.

They believe that one of the voices in the radio communication belonged to German Briceno. He is the brother of FARC Commander Jorge Briceno. Gen. Fernando Tapias, head of Colombia’s armed forces, said Briceno, not Gildardo, is the head of the guerrillas who operate in that border region.

Yet member of Congress Antonio Navarro, a former guerrilla, said of the rebels’ admission: “It’s a change in the FARC tradition. In the past, they denied things that we all knew were true. It gives an important breath of air to the peace process.”

The killings, which occurred while Colombia’s peace talks are suspended, have raised questions about whether the negotiations will resume April 20.