PETITION TO DONALD TRUMP: “DO NOT REPATRIATE ‘SIMON TRINIDAD’”

Petition to Donald Trump: “Do not repatriate ‘Simon Trinidad’”

If SimónTrinidad is repatriated, he will not serve any jail time for this heinous crime, or any of the other terrorist acts he has been charged with, including a massacre in the town of Bojaya, where FARC terrorists bombed a church, killing 119 civilians

May 26, 2017

We, the undersigned, respectfully petition the United States Government to deny any request from the Government of Colombia to pardon, release or repatriate FARC terrorist Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera, a.k.a. ‘Simon Trinidad.’ Trinidad is currently serving a 60-year sentence in the United States for his role in the 2003 kidnapping of U.S. contractors.

Thomas Janis, a decorated U.S. Army officer and Vietnam veteran, was piloting an aerial drug surveillance mission with three other U.S. contractors and Colombian Army Sgt. Luis Alcides Cruz when they crash-landed in the Colombian jungle. FARC terrorists murdered Thomas Janis and Sgt. Cruz, and kidnapped Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Thomas Howes. They were held captive for five years before being rescued in a Colombian military operation.

On May 25, 2017, the FARC-linked news portal ANNCOL tweeted that the Colombian government had initiated a request for the “humanitarian repatriation for political prisoner Simon Trinidad.” A letter dated May 19, 2017, from the Office of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, confirms that the matter of Trinidad’s repatriation had been remitted to the Foreign Relations Department.

FARC narco-terrorists have been requesting Trinidad’s release since so-called “peace” negotiations began between the FARC and the Santos government. As part of the agreement, FARC terrorists will not be subject to jail sentences, even for war crimes. Impunity for heinous crimes was one of the primary reasons Colombian people voted against the deal in an October 2, 2016, plebiscite — a result which was ignored by President Santos and the Colombian Congress.

If Trinidad is repatriated, he will not serve any jail time for this heinous crime, or any of the other terrorist acts he has been charged with, including a massacre in the town of Bojaya, where FARC terrorists bombed a church, killing 119 civilians, and the murder of former minister of culture Consuelo Araujo. Trinidad was also the leader of the FARC front that kidnapped and murdered Frank Pescatore, a U.S. geologist and father of four — a crime that has gone unpunished.

In December 2016, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Lindsay Graham penned a letter to then-President Obama in response to information that the Government of Colombia was seeking a Presidential pardon for Trinidad. They argued that such a move would send the wrong message to the FARC and undermine the U.S. judicial system. Their argument still holds. The United States cannot allow the Colombian deal to subvert U.S. justice and the rule of law. The argument that Trinidad is a “political prisoner” is baseless, and submitting to the request would only serve to further legitimize narco-terrorism.

Please, sign here: https://www.change.org/p/donald-trump-do-not-repatriate-simon-trinidad-no-repatriar-a-simon-trinidad