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“JUSTICE FOR TODD SMITH” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S4929 on May 11, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
JUSTICE FOR TODD SMITH
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, just today I initiated an effort to ask Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo to reopen an investigation into the brutal torture-murder of a young journalist from my state.
The 28-year-old reporter, Todd Smith, was found dead 15 years ago, his body discovered in Peru's violent coca-producing region. This son of a Florida appellate judge worked for The Tampa Tribune, and was investigating the drug traffic in the northern Peruvian jungle.
Officials in Peru were quick to say the murder was the work of the Shining Path--a Maoist insurgent group said to be involved in protecting cultivators of the coca plant. Specifically, Peru's Interior Ministry said Todd had been captured by Maoist rebels and possibly sold to drug traffickers for $30,000.
Four years later, a secret counterterrorism trial in Peru resulted in a Shining Path guerrilla being sentenced to 30 years in prison for taking part in the murder.
He was the only person ever tried for the crime--and even he reportedly has received an early release. Little else was known.
Now, however, the transcript of that secret 1993 trial has emerged, including an intelligence report that identifies a businessman who founded a Peru airline as one of the masterminds behind Todd's killing. The complete court file was obtained by a Lima-based institute for a free press and society.
According to one of several detailed intelligence reports in the trial transcript, the guerrillas who tortured and strangled Todd were working for Peru businessman Fernando Zevallos, and two others allegedly involved in the drug trade.
But Zevallos--labeled a Peruvian cocaine kingpin last year by the Bush administration--was never charged in the case. The New York Times quotes American and Peruvian authorities as saying he has evaded justice for so long by bribing court officials and killing witnesses.
It has been over 15 years since a son of Florida and a member of the fourth estate was tortured and strangled to death in the jungles of Peru--and clearly, justice has yet to be served.
In January, I went to Peru and there I established a working relationship with President Toledo and was joined by Ambassador Ferrero, Peru's ambassador to the United States
Today, through proper diplomatic channels, I made a formal request that President Toledo immediately reopen the investigation into Todd Smith's death; and, that his government cooperate fully with our State Department and FBI. And Ambassador Ferrero told me he ``would put all
[his] effort into this.
I hope my Senate colleagues will join me in demanding that justice finally be served in this case.
Todd's parents, and his two sisters, deserve no less.
Mr. President, I am going to birddog this with everything I have to see that this case is brought to justice. I do believe the Peruvian government clearly has an interest, now that the secret court files have come to light, to get to the bottom of this. I earnestly hope we will get the cooperation of the Peruvian government in reopening the investigation. There is no excuse, when an American newspaper reporter is brutally tortured and murdered, that we should not have all the facts. If it leads, in fact, to this businessman, then so be it. We owe this especially to this family in Florida that for so long has not known any of the facts of this brutal killing of their son.
I yield the floor.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Amendment No. 742 To Amendment No. 605
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Talent amendment at the desk, which is identical to the amendment previously agreed to, be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. Inhofe], for Mr. Talent, proposes an amendment numbered 742.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To require notice regarding the criteria for small business concerns to participate in Federally funded projects)
At the end of subtitle H of title I, add the following:
SEC. 18__. NOTICE REGARDING PARTICIPATION OF SMALL BUSINESS
CONCERNS.
The Secretary of Transportation shall notify each State or political subdivision of a State to which the Secretary of Transportation awards a grant or other Federal funds of the criteria for participation by a small business concern in any program or project that is funded, in whole or in part, by the Federal Government under section 155 of the Small Business Reauthorization and Manufacturing Assistance Act of 2004 (15 U.S.C. 567g).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the request is agreed to.
The amendment (No. 742) was agreed to.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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