Rebel sentenced for massacres

             BOGOTA --(EFE)-- The rebel leader Luis Fernando Calderon, who led a front
             of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, was sentenced Thursday to
             seven years in prison for the death of 11 people in the banana plantations in
             northwestern Colombia.

             The sentence against Calderon was given by the National Court, known as
             ``justice without a face'' (anonymous judges in order to prevent retaliations), which
             tried the guerrilla leader for the crime of ``aggravated homicide.''

             Calderon, alias ``Richard,'' led the FARC front that was said by the authorities to
             have committed three raids on banana plantations in the area of Uraba, during
             which 11 farmworkers were killed. The acts occurred on Feb. 14, 1996, in
             Apartado, the main village in the region of the province of Antioquia, in
             northwestern Colombia.