Today's Stories: Chilean president calls for probe into Pinochet's secret accounts US fugitive deported from Mexico Colombian brothers freed after 3 years

The FBI's most-wanted list has now been updated.

The CDE received a report made by a commission of the US Senateas part of an investigation on Riggs Bank, based in Washington, D.C.

According to the Senate report, Riggs helped Pinochet hide millions of dollars when he was detained in Britain in 1998.

Pinochet deposited between 4 million to 8 million US dollars in his Riggs accounts from 1994 to 2002, violating US anti-money-laundering safeguards, the report said.

According to the report, the bank referred to Pinochet as a "retired pensioner" and with a "high-ranking position in the public sector for many years."

Although the government was unable to order the CDE to conduct the investigation, it is necessary for lawyers to analyze whether legal proceedings could start against Pinochet, Lagos was quoted as saying.

Chile hired Claudio Grossman, dean of the American University, as an attorney to study the report of the US Senate and determine its legal repercussion.

The government decided to provide the relevant information to the CDE in order to send a message that the country is determined to carry out the investigation on the secret accounts.

"Our problem is not whether these accounts were under this or that name, but why these accounts were created, who generated them and whether or not there are other accounts, and so on," Chilean Interior Minister Jose M. Insulza said.

"All this has to be found out and we are going to do it with tranquillity," Insulza said.

Pinochet, 88, who took control of Chile by ousting constitutional President Salvador Allende in 1973, was arrested inLondon on Oct. 16, 1998, after Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon issued an arrest warrant to have him extradited to Spain for charges of torture, terrorism and genocide. He was later released on grounds of poor health.

He and his security agents face hundreds of charges of homicide,kidnapping and torture in Chile but none of corruption, despite the fact that Pinochet owns a mansion in Santiago and at least four other properties in the country.

There have been several failed attempts to probe his finances by journalists or lawmakers since the 1980s.
 

US fugitive deported from Mexico
A man on the FBI's list of 10 most-wanted suspects is back in US custody after being deported by Mexico.

Michael Alfonso, who is accused of murdering two former girlfriends, was arrested by police in the western Mexican state of Veracruz.

He was identified after his case and photograph were featured on the popular TV show America's Most Wanted.

A viewer recognised Mr Alfonso, 35, and alerted the American embassy in Mexico City, officials said.

The viewer is expected to pocket the $50,000 rewards offered by the FBI for information leading to the arrest.

US Ambassador Tony Garza described the capture as an example of close cooperation between US and Mexican law enforcement officials.

Mr Alfonso, a native on Wheaton, Illinois, is accused of killing two girlfriends found shot dead in 1992 and 2001.

Colombian brothers freed after 3 years
NEIVA, Colombia -- The Lozada brothers were teenagers when Marxist guerrillas disguised as police burst into their luxury apartment and dragged them and their mother, a congresswoman, from their beds.

The brothers spent three years sleeping on piles of leaves under plastic sheeting in malaria-infested rebel camps until this week, when their father made a ransom deal and a five-day trek across steep paths and jungle rivers brought them to freedom.

"I didn't care about the lack of food or a bed. The only thing that kept me going was the hope of seeing my family," Juan Sebastian Lozada, now 18, said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press at his home in the southern city of Neiva, where he was abducted July 28, 2001.

He and his brother, Jaime Felipe, 20, wore jeans and T-shirts and looked drawn but otherwise healthy. They said they now will dedicate their lives to winning the release of their mother, Gloria Polanco.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's main guerrilla group waging a 40-year war to topple the government, has included Polanco -- along with three captured U.S. military contractors -- on a long list of "political prisoners" it wants to exchange for jailed rebels.

The brothers said the FARC separated them from their mother six months into their ordeal.

"They came for her one night and told us she was going to give an interview before being released, and that we would be released shortly afterward," Jaime Felipe said. "We knew they were lying. It was the worst moment. All I could do was pray."

The brothers said the rebels never beat them but would sometimes play cruel mind games, such as depriving them of reading material or board games for long stretches or giving false promises of their imminent release.

But they were always permitted to listen to newscasts on a crackly radio, their only contact with the outside world.

"The only time I felt happy was when I would hear my father's voice. It gave us strength," Juan Sebastian said.

Jaime Lozada, a former senator and regional governor, said the FARC contacted him shortly after the kidnapping of his wife and sons and demanded $800,000 for their release.

"It was an absurd sum. Nobody has that kind of money in Colombia," Lozada said.

The father said he negotiated over the coming years with several FARC commanders through a system of messengers, who traveled back and forth from guerrilla strongholds bearing handwritten notes.

After two years, the rebels reduced their ransom demand to $400,000, which Lozada said was still far beyond his reach. Then, two weeks ago, the two sides unexpectedly struck a deal. Lozada declined to reveal how much he ultimately paid.

Government and army leaders this week denounced his decision to pay, warning that it would only encourage more kidnappings and help fund the FARC's armed struggle.

Lozada said he felt humiliated having to give in to the rebels, but he could not let his sons "slowly die in the jungle." He also blamed the government for failing to protect his family in the first place.

The Lozada brothers said they often dreamed of escape but knew it was futile.

"There were between 20 and 30 armed guards at every camp we stayed in," Jaime Felipe said. "And where would we run to? We were trapped in the middle of the jungle."

Jaime Felipe wants to go to college in Bogota this fall, while Juan Sebastian hopes to squeeze the three years of classes he missed into six months at his former school in Neiva, 150 miles southeast of the capital.

Both said their priority in life now is to lobby the Colombian government to agree to a prisoner exchange with the rebels so their mother can return home.

The administration of hardline President Alvaro Uribe has ruled out such any deal unless freed rebels agree to go abroad to ensure they cannot commit further crimes on Colombian soil, a move the FARC deems unacceptable.

The United States also says it will not make any concessions to the FARC, which it considers a terrorist organization, despite the rebels' capture of three Americans in February 2002 after their plane crash-landed during an anti-drug mission in guerrilla-held territory.

Jaime Felipe knows what is at stake for his family.

"If the government doesn't negotiate, she (my mother) and the Americans will die," he said.