Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

RICARDO FRANCO FRONT • 603February 1979, just 10 days after the overthrow of the monarchy,the families of the victims sensed a cover-up and demanded a morethorough investigation. A subsequent trial from 25 August 1980 to4 September 1980, presided over by Ayatollah Zia Ruhani, a specialprosecutor appointed by Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini, found thesole surviving arsonist, Hussayn Taki Alizadeh, responsible for thearson. Alizadeh admitted during this trial that neither he nor his threecompanions had been agents of the former regime but rather hadstarted the fire due to their religious indignation against the viewingof movies during Ramadhan.RICARDO FRANCO FRONT (RFF). The Frente Ricardo Francowas a Colombian revolutionary guerrilla group not enjoying anystate sponsorship. Formerly it was a front of the RevolutionaryArmed Forces of Colombia (FARC) but severed its ties with themain body of FARC in 1984 due to its members’ disagreement withFARC’s signing the March 1984 peace accord with the Colombiangovernment. The RFF had the same original goal as FARC, that is,creating a Marxist-Leninist revolution in Colombia. It had, however,the additional goals of undercutting FARC’s attempts to gain politicaladvantages from the 1984 agreement and to sabotage the nationalreconciliation process. Sporadic clashes have occurred between RFFand FARC forces ever since the schism occurred.The Ricardo Franco Front had the strongest anti-U.S. stance ofall leftist groups in Colombia and, during 1984–1985, it repeatedlytargeted U.S. diplomatic and commercial facilities. To embarrassFARC and to sabotage the government’s reconciliation scheme, theRFF undertook joint actions in 1985 with the National LiberationArmy (ELN), the one major group rejecting the truce proposals andprocedures, as well as with M-19 guerrillas.In May 1984, the RFF bombed a Honduran airline office, killingtwo and injuring 11 people, and also bombed a U.S. diplomaticoffice. In January 1985 the RFF bombed the Colombian LaborMinistry and the following month conducted eight bombings againstU.S. companies in Medellín, killing one person and injuring another.Deploying 150 guerrillas, the RFF tried to occupy the upper-classsuburb of Cuba near Bogotá in spring 1985, attempting 26 bombingsthroughout the city. In June 1985 the RFF kidnapped an official ofthe state oil company for a $105,000 ransom but killed him only five