Farc Spanish "representative" arrested (Updated)

UPDATES: "MADRID, Spain (AP) - A Spanish woman suspected of being a liaison between the leadership of Colombia's FARC rebel group and its members based in Europe was freed on conditional bail Sunday, a court said"

Farc 'Spanish cell leader' arrested

A Spanish woman suspected of being the leader of the Spanish cell of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) has been arrested, Spanish police have said. Maria Remedios Garcia Albert, 57, was arrested at her home in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, northeast of Spain's capital Madrid, the police said on Saturday.  The interior ministry said Garcia Albert had provided logistical support for the Farc and had direct contacts with Raul Reyes, Farc's deputy leader who was killed by Colombian troops in Ecuador earlier this year.

An analysis of Reyes' computer, facts from which were passed on to Spanish investigators by Colombian authorities, had led them to identify Garcia Albert. Garcia Albert travelled to secret camps in Colombia last year for "meetings with top leaders of the terrorist group," according to the Spanish interior ministry. She was discovered in possession of "several amounts of money" which she was preparing to send to representatives of the Farc in Europe, the ministry said in a statement.

'Series of arrests'

In Colombia's capital Bogota, General Oscar Naranjo, the director of the national police force, welcomed the arrest as an important breakthrough in the investigation of the Farc's links with Europe. "This arrest is the start of a series of arrests which will take place in Europe, especially of people linked to the Farc," he told Radio RCN in Bogota. He described Garcia Albert as a member of the Farc's "international commission". He said Reyes' computer files contained "a significant number of names of people living abroad, some of them Europeans and others Colombian".
  
Using her position within the Organisation of Solidarity for Asia, Africa and Latin Americas, a Spanish non-governmental organisation, Garcia Albert had "offered cover and logistical support in Spain to various leaders of the terrorist organisation like Luis Edgar Devia Silvia (Reyes) and  Ovidio Salinas Perez, alias Juan Antonio Rojas," the interior ministry statement said.

The Colombian authorities have recently warned that large amounts of money raised from cocaine by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - or Farc - are often invested in Europe....In a statement, the Spanish police said Ms Garcia had travelled to Colombia last year - and held operational meetings with the militant group's secretariat.  She is said to have taken direct orders from Raul Reyes - a senior Farc commander who was killed by the Colombian army in March. Information from his computer hard drive is said to have led the police to make this arrest.