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    March 12, 2012

Colombian FARC Rebel Pleads Not Guilty in US to Hostage-Taking

   VOA News

   An alleged member of Colombia's FARC rebel group has pleaded not guilty
   to taking three Americans hostage after their single-engine plane
   crash-landed in Colombia in 2003.
   Alexander Beltran Herrera entered the plea during an arraignment in a
   U.S. federal court in Washington Monday.
   Beltran Herrera was extradited to the United States. Another court
   hearing is scheduled for May 4. He faces a possible sentence of life in
   prison if convicted.
   Prosecutors say Beltran Herrera was involved in the seizing of the
   three U.S. government contractors after their aircraft made the crash
   landing. Another American and a Colombian national were murdered by the
   FARC at the crash site.
   The three Americans were released in 2008 during a Colombian military
   operation that also freed former Colombian presidential candidate
   Ingrid Betancourt.

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