NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three Colombian men accused of belonging to the Colombian rebel group FARC have been arrested and charged with holding a U.S. citizen hostage for more than 10 months, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday. Edilberto Berrio Ortiz, Alejandro Palacios Rengifo and Anderson Chamapuro Dogirama were arrested by Colombian authorities on Thursday. U.S. prosecutors say they are members of FARC's 57th Front. The American they are accused of holding hostage was kidnapped in April 2008 in... Read Full Story
At least seven rebels were killed Saturday in the bombing of a rebel camp by the military in the jungles of the southeastern province of Guaviare, officials said.
The insurgent base, located in a rural area near the town of Calamar, belonged to the First Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, an official of the Omega Joint Task Force, the elite military squad responsible for the operation, said.
The official told media that the camp was bombed by the... Read Full Story
At least 18 leftist rebels and soldiers were killed in the past week in southwestern Colombia clashes as Latin America's oldest guerrilla conflict continues to rage, a military official said Saturday. Thirteen members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has been battling the government in Bogota for 45 years, and five soldiers were killed in the fighting, the official told AFP. The toll could not immediately be confirmed by an independent source. The military... Read Full Story
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe agreed on Saturday to rebel demands that they be allowed to free hostages one at a time rather than all at once, a reversal in government policy that could speed up releases. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is holding 24 soldiers and police, some for as long as 12 years. Uribe previously insisted the guerrillas free all the hostages at one time, a condition the FARC rejected. The change in government position could set... Read Full Story
Former Franco-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt called on the FARC guerrilla group to free all the prisoners it is holding in the jungles of Colombia. "I want to talk to the FARC and tell them that we are disgusted. I want to talk to the FARC to say to them that enough is enough and that we want them to open the door," she said late Thursday. Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate who was held for more than six years by the FARC, made the remarks after being awarded a prize... Read Full Story
Plans for South American neighbors to renew diplomatic ties after nearly going to war in 2008 stalled Thursday following an Ecuadoran arrest warrant for the chief of Colombia's armed forces. A meeting of the commanders of each country's military in Ecuador was cancelled when an Ecuadoran judge issued an arrest warrant for Colombian General Freddy Padilla, Ecuadoran Security Minister Miguel Carvajal said. A Colombian source told AFP that Bogota feared an attempt to arrest Padilla would... Read Full Story
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Videos of 10 Colombian soldiers and police officers held by Marxist rebels for as long as 11 years aired on television Monday, but efforts aimed at freeing the gaunt-looking hostages remained frozen. The men are seen bound around the neck by chains secured by copper-colored padlocks. A tarp of camouflage material hanging behind them to hide their location, they speak directly to their families in the videos and plea for freedom. Leftist Senator Piedad Cordoba has been... Read Full Story
BOGOTA (Reuters) - A Colombian senator on Monday released rebel videos of kidnapped soldiers and police who pleaded with the government to negotiate their release after some of them have spent more than a decade in jungle camps. The grainy videos showed the nine hostages alone in the jungle or sitting before colored sheets hiding their location as they sent wishes to wives, sons and daughters and urged President Alvaro Uribe not to forget them. "What is happening, are we not human any more... Read Full Story
Videos of nine hostages held by Colombian rebels were turned over to their families Monday as proof they remain alive. Videos of six Colombian police officers and three soldiers were obtained by Sen. Piedad Cordoba, who has been a liaison between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in efforts to release the hostages. Each man appears in a separate video, three to six minutes long, speaking to the camera either at a desk in front of a curtain or in a dark... Read Full Story
The top guerrilla leader in Colombia denied in comments published Thursday that his organization received anti-tank weapons from Venezuela or funded the electoral ambitions of Ecuador's president. Alfonso Cano, commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, accused Colombian President Alvaro Uribe of "media terrorism for insinuating that Venezuela's government provided rocket launchers we captured a long time ago in a military battle on the border." His comments were published by... Read Full Story
