Top FARC Commander Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison for Conspiring to Import Tons of Cocaine into the United States

According to the Superseding Indictment filed in District of Columbia federal court, other documents filed in this case, and statements made in court:

The FARC, which occupies large swaths of territory in Colombia, is a hierarchical organization which, at its height during the time of the conspiracy, was comprised of 12,000 to 18,000 members. At the lowest level, the FARC is made up of 77 distinct military units, called Fronts, organized by geographical location. These in turn are grouped into seven blocs.

AGUILAR RAMIREZ was the commander of the FARCs 1st Front and was ultimately responsible for all of that Fronts criminal activities. Among other things, AGUILAR RAMIREZ conspired with others to manufacture and distribute thousands of tons of cocaine in Colombia, with the knowledge and intent that such cocaine would be imported into the United States.

In late 2001 or early 2002, the FARC leadership, including AGUILAR RAMIREZ, participated in a meeting in which they further resolved, among other things, to: increase cocaine trafficking routes overseas, including to the United States; establish better ways to exchange cocaine and cocaine paste for weapons; and to pay more to campesinos for cocaine paste.

AGUILAR RAMIREZ was captured on July 2, 2008, while holding three American hostages—KEITH STANSELL, THOMAS HOWES, and MARC GONSALVES. These three men, and United States citizen TOM JANIS, were captured by the FARC in February 2003, after their plane crashed in FARC-occupied territory in the Colombian jungle. JANIS was executed, and the remaining three men were held hostage by the FARC for over five years until they, and several Colombian hostages, were freed in a Colombian military operation on the date of AGUILAR RAMIREZs capture.

Subsequently, on July 16, 2009, AGUILAR RAMIREZ, 50, was extradited to the United States. AGUILAR RAMIREZ was originally charged in a hostage-taking conspiracy as well as a narcotics importation conspiracy, but the Colombian Supreme Court approved AGUILAR RAMIREZs extradition on narcotics charges only.

On December 16, 2009, during his guilty plea proceeding, AGUILAR RAMIREZ acknowledged that from approximately 1998 through July 2, 2008, he was the commander of the 1 Front st of the FARC and that he led and directed other members of the 1st Front in the manufacture and distribution of ton quantities of cocaine, knowing and intending that the cocaine would be imported into the United States.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: Today, Gerardo Aguilar Ramirez—a FARC commander and cocaine kingpin—was brought to justice for his role in leading the FARCs worldwide cocaine empire. The incarceration of narco-terrorists like Aguilar Ramirez helps to choke the international drug trade. This Office will continue to work with our partners at the DEA to incapacitate dangerous narco-terrorists who seek to pour drugs into the United States.

DEA Special Agent-in-Charge JOHN P. GILBRIDE stated: Gerardo Aguilar Ramirez conspired to manufacture and distribute thousands of kilograms of cocaine in the United States to fuel the FARCs narco-terrorist mission. Ramirez violently commanded the 1st Front for over 10 years until his arrest and today he has been sentenced and will pay for his crimes against American and Colombian citizens who have seen the damages of cocaine trafficking and abuse throughout both our nations. I commend the diligent and brave work of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, the Organized Crime Strike Force, DEAs Bogota Country Office, and the Colombian government.

The investigation resulting in these charges was led by the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, working with the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force ( which consists of agents and officers from the DEA, the New York City Police Department, the United States Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Department of Homeland Securitys Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the New York State Police ) and the DEAs Bogota, Colombia, Country Office. The investigation, conducted under the auspices of the Department of Justices Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program, involved unprecedented cooperation from the Colombian government. Mr. BHARARA praised all the law enforcement partners involved in the investigation, and thanked the Department of Justice Criminal Divisions Office of International Affairs, as well as Criminal Divisions Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section attachés in Bogota for their involvement in the extradition process.

This case is being prosecuted in the District of Columbia by the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York. Special Assistant United States Attorneys PABLO QUIÑONES and RANDALL JACKSON, of the Offices Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit, are in charge of the prosecution.

Source: Media Newswire