| What'd you expect him to say? "I dunnit and I'm glad"? |
An imprisoned rebel leader wanted in the United States on drug trafficking, kidnapping and terror charges said in an interview published Thursday that he was innocent and was framed by American agents, but he believed his extradition was imminent.
| "I wuz framed! Framed, I tells yez!" |
Ricardo Palmera, who went under the nom de guerre Simon Trinidad, would be the first member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, extradited to the United States from Colombia. He was captured a year ago in Ecuador and brought to Colombia, where he is in a maximum-security prison. Palmera — the most senior Colombian rebel leader ever captured in Colombia — was sentenced in May to 35 years in prison for aggravated kidnapping and rebellion. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said this month he will extradite Palmera to the United States for trial unless the FARC releases dozens of hostages, including three U.S. military contractors, by Dec. 30. |