Lawrence Delloy, son of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, has just won an important victory against the FARC before the courts of the United States. This after a federal judge in New Jersey ordered them to pay members of this organization US$36 million in restitution for the kidnapping of his mother between 2002 and 2008.
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Delloye, through the law firm Scarinci Hollenbeck, filed a lawsuit in 2018 alleging that the group had violated the Anti-Terrorism Act or ATA, which allows victims of this scourge to bring charges before courts of justice. U.S looking for compensation.
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The lawsuit alleges that Betancourt’s kidnapping caused Delloye severe emotional stress. A week ago, Judge Matthew W. Brann concluded that the lawyers had been able to prove that Delloye was sheltered by the ATA and that the FARC were responsible for his ordeal.
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Brann determined that $12 million of that $36 million will go to the victim and $24 million to cover attorneys’ fees and other costs.
It is uncertain, however, if they will be able to collect the funds, since the FARC and its members do not have assets in the US What is clear is that the case sets a precedent for future lawsuits against the group of other victims.
“Although no amount of money can replace the time that Delloye lost with his mother or heal the trauma that the FARC caused her, we are proud to have helped bring about justice in some way,” said Robert Levy, who represented the family. during litigation.
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How likely is it to be able to make the payment to the Farc for the kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt?
Delloye’s case is very similar to the one raised against the FARC by Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes, the three US contractors who were also kidnapped by the FARC and who shared captivity with Betancourt.
In 2012, and after a lawsuit that also used the ATA as a basis, a Florida judge ordered the payment of 318 million dollars in reparations. In theory, those funds could have come from frozen US assets belonging to the organization or one of its members. But since the FARC do not have seized assets in this country, the sentence has not been carried out.
That changed somewhat in 2018, when an amendment to the ATA was passed that now allows victims of terrorist groups to seek redress indirectly through funds seized from individuals associated with the group whose assets are held by the government. American.
The contractors have since sought redress with funds that have been frozen in the US from members, former members, and associates of the regime. Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela who have had links with the FARC.
Among them, the entrepreneur samark lopez, who was included on the Clinton list in 2017 for links to drug trafficking. According to various sources, the US Government has in its possession almost 300 million dollars from the businessman between bank accounts and other assets.
To achieve this, they must demonstrate a link between López and the FARC in a lawsuit that is yet to be resolved. The case has generated attention because Americans are competing for the same funds that the interim government of Juan Guaidó and Venezuelans in exile hoped to receive.
In any case, Delloye could try this same legal maneuver that contractors have been using.
SERGIO GÓMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
On Twitter @sergom68
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