SECOND FARC TERRORIST INDICTED FOR 2003 GRENADE ATTACK
ON AMERICANS IN COLOMBIA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General John Ashcroft, Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein of the District of Columbia today announced that a second member of the Colombian terrorist group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) has been indicted on charges of attempted murder and use of weapons of mass destruction for a November 2003 grenade attack aimed at Americans in Colombia.

The eight-count superseding indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., yesterday, charges defendant Adolfo Toledo Medina and a previously indicted defendant, Arturo Montaño Torres, with conspiring in 2003 to murder U.S. nationals who were working in Bogota, Colombia. Count One charges Montaño and Toledo with conspiracy to commit murder of U.S. nationals, in violation of 18 USC Sections 2332(b)(2) and 1111(a). Counts Two through Six charge Montaño and Toledo with attempted murder of U.S. nationals, in violation of 18 USC Section 2332(b)(1). Counts Seven and Eight charge Montaño and Toledo with use of a weapon of mass destruction - a grenade - against U.S. nationals, in violation of 18 USC Sections 2332(a)(1) and (2).

Specifically, the indictment unsealed today charges Montaño and Toledo with the Nov. 15, 2003 grenade attacks at the Bogota Beer Company and Palos De Moguer - two dining establishments in a popular Bogota entertainment and shopping district known as the Zona Rosa. The grenade blasts killed a Colombian woman and injured 73 others, including five Americans.

Montaño was apprehended immediately after the attack by Colombian police - with the help of a local security guard - and he is currently in Colombian custody. Toledo was arrested on Oct. 15, 2004 by Colombian authorities and is also in Colombian custody.

The superseding indictment alleges that the grenade attacks were in retaliation against Americans for the killing of Teofilo Forrero Mobile Column (TFMC) commander Edgar Gustavo Navaro Morales, a/k/a El Mocho, by the Colombian army in October 2003. The TFMC, of which Montaño and Toledo are allegedly members, is responsible for specialized FARC operations in designated geographical areas of Colombia.

The indictment alleges that Montaño and Toledo, selected by unindicted conspirators in the FARC to travel to Bogota to attack and kill U.S. nationals, were provided grenades, other weapons, money and training in the weeks prior to the attacks on the restaurants in Zona Rosa. The indictment further alleges that Montaño and Toledo and others conducted surveillance on restaurants in the two days prior to the attacks. Montaño and Toledo allegedly threw or caused to be thrown a grenade onto an outdoor table at the Bogota Beer Company, killing Colombian national Paola Martinez and injuring dozens of others, including four Americans, and allegedly threw - or caused to be thrown - a grenade into the dining area of Palos De Moguer, where another American was sitting.

The FARC is an armed and violent organization that has been strongly anti-American since its inception in 1966, and has targeted American citizens who work in, visit or do business in Colombia. The group, which was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Secretary of State in October 1997 and most recently in October 2003, engages in terrorist activity including murder, hostage taking and violent destruction of property.

The investigation of this case is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Counterterrorism Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.

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