The U.S. Treasury Department has designated three individuals as representatives of the Colombian rebel group FARC, a move that freezes any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.
The department Wednesday said the three individuals - Omar Arturo Zabala Padilla, Maria Remedios Garcia Albert, and Vlaudin Rodrigo Vega - are key members of FARC's International Commission and represent the group in France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and Australia.
In a statement, the director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, Adam Szubin, said FARC is one of the world's largest suppliers of cocaine and continues to be Colombia's "most notorious and vicious narco-terrorist organization."
The designation of the three individuals as FARC representatives means Americans are prohibited from doing business with them.
The United States, Colombia and the European Union have designated the FARC - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - a terrorist organization. The leftist group is fighting in Colombia's long-running civil war, which also involves rightist paramilitaries and government forces.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
