Posted on 07/24/2006 10:38:08 AM PDT by proud_yank
BOGOTA — Nine environmentalists were released Sunday by their rebel captors after they disappeared mysteriously days earlier while conducting research in northern Colombia, the military said.
The researchers work for Corpocesar, an environmental office in the government of the province of Cesar, which has partnerships with Conservation International. They had been researching in the Sierra de Perija, some 600 kilometres north of the capital of Bogota and did not return Thursday as expected.
Cesar province is home to leftist rebels and far-right paramilitaries locked in a four-decade civil war.
Given that Colombia has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world, there were fears they had been abducted but no confirmation. Authorities announced the group's disappearance Sunday, but held off from confirming it was a kidnapping before they heard from the abductors.
The military said rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, kidnapped the nine on Friday morning.
“We are doing major operations in the area, closing off the escape routes and because of this pressure, they were forced to free the hostages,” said General Jairo Pena, who is overseeing the army in the area.
The army said some guerrillas surrendered under pressure from the military operations. The rebels told the army they kidnapped the nine for propaganda purposes and to raise revenue by ransom, Gen. Pena said.
The army estimates some 35 rebels were involved.
“We are chasing them now,” said Gen. Pena.
A resident in the area alerted the army Saturday evening of the abduction and the military immediately began searching for the hostages.
The nine included five researchers from a local government environment office, a cameraman, two guides and a driver.
Why? We have extra here if they need more...
There is no justice in this world...
ROFL!
Couldn't stand having them around, I suppose.
Well, that certainly didn't take long...I guess as soon as they realized nobody would want to pay good money to get them back.
They couldn't stand the smell and the whining.
I hope the Columbians checked the ID's of the enviro's that were released, our FBI are still looking for three eco-terrorists they think fled our country.
Hehehehe...they realized we would pay anything to have them back so they turned 'em loose. Somebody should have told the rebels we would pay for them to keep 'em. Dumb shittes...
ping
Since they obviously aren't a military threat they can always kill them easily enough after they have overthrown the government.
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