Treasury Department Freezes Assets Of 8 FARC Members

September 30, 2008 6:53 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The U.S. Treasury Department has frozen the assets of eight international representatives of Colombia's rebel group and banned Americans from dealing with them.

The move was made Tuesday to prevent the so-called envoys of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC to Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico and Canada from obtaining recruits, support and protection for the group's drug trafficking and terrorism operations.

The asset freeze order affects Jairo Alfonse Lesmes Bulla, Orlay Jurado Palomino, Francisco Antonio Cadena Collazos, Nubia Calderon de Trujillo, Ovidio Salinas Perez, Jorge Davalos Torres, Efrain Pablo Rejo Freire and Liliana Lopez Palacios. According to the Department, Bulla represents FARC in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay. Palomino represents FARC in Venezuela and Collazos is the envoy to Brazil.