Will Captured Illegal Arms Dealer Victor Bout, the "Merchant of Death" Link Democrats to the FARC Terror Group?

On March 1, 2008, FARC Rebel leader Raul Reyes was killed when his Ecuadorean camp was raided by Colombian forces. Reyes was left exposed after Venezuelan tyrant and fellow Marxist Hugo Chavez placed a call to the satellite phone of the narco-terrorist. This allowed the army to find the exact location where Reyes was hiding.


FARC Leader Raul Reyes was killed by Colombian forces in 2008. (LePoint)

After the attack on the Marxist FARC terror camp by the Colombian forces, two computers belonging to the FARC leader were seized from the campsite (Video HERE). These computers contained a goldmine of information on the organization including:

— FARC connections with Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa
— Records of $300 million offerings from Hugo Chavez
— Thank you notes from Hugo Chavez dating back to 1992
— Uranium purchasing records
— Admit to killing the sister of former President Cesar Gaviria
— Admit to planting a 2003 car bomb killing 36 at a Bogota upper crust club
— Directions on how to make a Dirty Bomb
— Information that led to the discovery of 60 pounds of uranium
— Letter to Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi asking for cash to buy surface-to-air missiles
— Meetings with “gringos” about Barack Obama
— Information on Russian illegal arms dealer Viktor Bout who was later captured
— FARC funding Correa’s campaign
— Cuban links to FARC
— Links to US Democrats
— $480,000 of FARC cash in Costa Rican safe house
— $100,000 to President Correa’s campaign for election
— Chavez attempts to buy arms for FARC through the Belarus regime
— FARC branches in 17 countries including Germany and Switzerland
— FARC terrorists expanded operations to 17 countries
— FARC terrorists expanded operations to Germany and Switzerland

Also, just days after the computers were discovered Viktor Bout, allegedly one of the world’s most notorious arms traffickers, was arrested in Thailand. The Spanish-language press reported that he was located thanks to the FARC computer files. The U.S. Department of Justice charged Bout with conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to kill US officers or employees and conspiring to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.

Interpol later confirmed that the computers had not been tampered with by the Colombian government. The findings discredited Venezuelan assertions that the files were bogus and gave Colombia the international backing it sought.

The FARC Computers also contained documents that reportedly showed US Democrats were secretly reaching out to the FARC terrorists.
Not only were the FARC terrorists of Colombia hoping Barack Obama would win the presidential election because he was most aligned with the Colombian Marxist group but the terrorists were also reportedly communicating with US Democrats on the sly.

Today the Thai government agreed to extradite Viktor Bout to the United States for trial.
The AP reported:

A Thai appeals court on Friday ordered the extradition of suspected Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout to the United States, angering Moscow but paving the way to put the man dubbed the “Merchant of Death” on trial.

Shackled in leg irons, Bout vowed to prove his innocence in an American courtroom.

“We will face the trial in the United States and win it,” Bout told reporters in Russian after the verdict, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

The court ordered Bout’s extradition within three months, overturning a lower court’s ruling in August 2009 that rejected a U.S. request that he face trial there. No further judicial appeals are possible in Thailand…

…Bout, a 43-year-old former Soviet air force officer, is reputed to be one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. He has allegedly supplied weapons that fueled civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa, with clients including Liberia’s Charles Taylor and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and both sides of the civil war in Angola.

The head of a lucrative air transport empire, Bout has long evaded U.N. and U.S. sanctions aimed at blocking his financial activities and restricting his travel. He has denied any involvement in illicit activities and claims he ran a legitimate business.

The 2005 Nicolas Cage film, “Lord of War,” is loosely based on Bout’s life.

Bout’s nickname arose from his 1990s-era notoriety for running a fleet of aging Soviet-era cargo planes to conflict-ridden hotspots in Africa. A high-ranking minister at Britain’s Foreign Office first used it in 2000 to single out Bout for his alleged arms role in Africa.

Dressed in an orange prison uniform, Bout stood after the verdict was announced. Tears welled in his eyes as he hugged his wife and daughter, who wept. He was led out of the courtroom and back to a Bangkok prison where court officials said he would remain until the extradition is processed.

“This is the most unfair decision possible,” his wife, Alla Bout, told reporters, speaking in Russian through a translator. “It is known the world over that this is a political case.”

Bout’s arrest by Thai authorities in March 2008 landed Bout in prison for the first time and set off a legal tug-of-war between the U.S. and Russia.

The trial of Victor Bout may be revealing in a number of ways. Will he be able to link the Marxist FARC terror group to democrats?
We will see.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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