I.C.E. News Release

September 29, 2010

ICE deports FARC collaborator to Colombia

WASHINGTON - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deported Ana Isabel Pena-Arevalo, 48, a Colombian national, to Bogota on Tuesday.

Pena-Arevalo was apprehended in Colombia in 2008, as part of a joint investigation conducted by ICE's Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and the FBI. These agencies targeted the illegal exportation of U.S. controlled technologies, including U.S. military technologies, to the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), a U.S. State Department designated foreign terrorist organization.

Pena-Arevalo was extradited from Colombia in March 2009 and paroled into the United States to stand trial.

In June 2010, Pena-Arevalo was convicted for conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Pena-Arevalo was sentenced to 31 months prison, followed by 36 months supervised release.

According to court documents, Pena-Arevalo served in the logistical support and supply networks radio call center operators, patching through high frequency radio calls from FARC leaders operating in the jungle to co-conspirators in urban areas responsible for obtaining materials and supplies for the FARC guerillas. Because neither land line nor cell phone service was available in the jungle areas controlled by the 1st Front, satellite telephones and high frequency radios were the only methods of electronic communication available. The FARC held three Americans hostage from Feb. 13, 2003, until they were rescued in a dramatic Colombian military operation on July 2, 2008. Beginning in September 2006, the three Americans were held hostage by the FARC's 1st Front.

In July 2010, Pena-Arevalo was released from federal criminal custody with time served and processed for removal. The ERO Washington Field Office took custody of Pena-Arevalo pending her removal.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

Last Modified: Thursday, September 30, 2010
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100929washingtondc.htm