Aug. 21 WASHINGTON D.C.—An alleged Colombian drug trafficker, who is also charged with holding American citizens hostage, made an appearance with three other co-defendants in a federal D.C. courthouse today as he waits to stand trial on “cocaine importation conspiracy charges.”

Gerardo Aguilar Ramirez, 50, whose nom de guerre is “Cesar,” appeared for a hearing on a motion to suppress his statement given to a Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, special agent after being transferred into the custody of U.S. government officials. His court-appointed lawyer, Carmen Hernandez, called it “a standard motion” and said that it was the prosecuting U.S. attorneys’ burden to prove her client gave his statement “knowingly and willingly.” 

But another motion, filed at the last minute on behalf of a co-defendant, requesting that the presiding judge recuse himself from the case caused Aguilar Ramirez’s day in court to be postponed.

Aguilar Ramirez’s co-defendants are Jorge Enrique Rodriquez Mendieta, aka “Ivan Vargas”; Erminso Cuevas Cabrera, aka “Mincho”; and Juan Jose Martinez Vega, aka “Chiguiro.” They are all named in the indictment unsealed Mar. 1, 2006 and have independent counsel. All four have entered pleas of “not guilty.”

Martinez Vega’s lawyer, Richard Gilbert, petitioned for the Honorable Thomas F. Hogan, a federal judge in the Washington D.C. circuit, to remove himself from this case. Gilbert said the judge made some factual findings in favor of the prosecution at a previous hearing which leads him to believe the judge is “prejudiced for the government.”

Judge Hogan asked the other defense attorneys to let him know by Aug. 26 whether or not they agreed with the motion to have him removed before making his decision.

Aguilar Ramirez was arrested on Jul. 2, 2008 and extradited to the United States a year later by the DEA. According to his indictment, he was a commander for the 1^st Front of the FARC—Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a terrorist organization with over 10,000 members. Originally the military wing of the Colombian Communist party, it has evolved into a cocaine- producing and trafficking narco-insurgency.

A Department of Justice press release says he is also charged in a separate indictment in a “hostage-taking conspiracy” involving four Americans: Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Tom Janis, all defense contractors who crash landed in 2003 into FARC territory in the jungles of Colombia. They were captured, Janis was executed, and the remaining three were held hostage for five years until they were rescued in a dramatic mission, dubbed Operation Jaque. The document also states Aguilar Ramirez was captured during that mission while holding the three Americans hostage.

The Colombian Supreme Court did not approve his extradition on this additional indictment so he will stand trial on Jan. 5, 2010, on the narcotics charges only. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randall Jackson and Eric Snyder from the Southern District of New York will be prosecuting the case.