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U.S. Treasury targets more Colombian FARC supporters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Thursday said it blacklisted six more companies and 13 individuals linked with Colombia's FARC guerrillas in an effort to squeeze the group's financing from narcotics sales.
The Treasury said that among companies added to its list of specially designated narcotics traffickers were three money exchange firms in Bogota, a call center in Villavicencio and two other Bogota firms it called "front companies" for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC.
The designations ban Americans from transactions with the firms and individuals, and freeze any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction. It is the Treasury's fifth action targeting FARC's financing sources in the past eight months.
The Treasury said one of the 13 individuals added to the list was Alexander Farfan Suarez, who was captured by Colombian authorities in a military operation on July 2 that freed 15 hostages, including Franco-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. citizens.
The Treasury also blacklisted Nancy Conde Rubio, who it said used the Communicaciones Unidas de Colombia Ltda call center to run a logistical and financial support network of FARC's "First Front." The Treasury said she directed individuals and entities that used money from illegal drug sales to buy weapons, ammunition, communications gear, medical equipment, uniforms and airplane fuel.
The Colombian government has been battling FARC for four decades and holds hundreds of Colombians for ransom and political leverage.
Led by U.S.-backed president Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian military has pushed the guerrillas onto the defensive this year with a series of strikes using information by deserters who are fleeing FARC ranks in record numbers.
(Reporting by David Lawder, editing by Vicki Allen)
