Colombian prosecutors have charged senior officials in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s main rebel group, with the use of outlawed chemical weapons, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 21).

The Colombian prosecutor’s office issued warrants Friday for the top leaders of the FARC for “using illegal warfare methods in utilizing chemical weapons,” a spokeswoman for the office said. 

The charges are based partly on a U.S. Defense Department investigation that detected traces of cyanide in the corpse of one out of four policemen killed in an attack last year.  Because cyanide was only found in one tissue sample, however, U.S. medical investigators could not be certain that the attack involved the use of a chemical weapon, the investigators said in a report.

If the FARC did use poison gas, it would be the first time they have done so in 38 years of civil war in Colombia, according to the AP (Andrew Selsky, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Aug. 21).

For further information, see:

CDC List of Chemical Agents

Federation of American Scientists Information on Chemical Weapons

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