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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| 8 Freed After 16 "Farmers" Kidnapped In Colombia |
| 2004-09-22 |
| September 22, 2004 Eight people were freed after the kidnapping of sixteen farmers in the southern part of the Colombian Department of BolÃÂvar. Even though farmers from the area said that the kidnappers had E.L.N. (Ejército para la Liberación Nacional or Army for National Liberation-Colombia's second largest leftist guerrilla group which is very active in this area) armbands, the possibility that it was the paramilitaries cannot be left out. The author is correct...The paramilitaries are thick in that area of the country. The "farmers" must've been guerrilla sympathizers... The act occurred when the farmers, inhabitants of the municipality of San Jacinto del Cauca, were heading down the Cauca River towards the town of Nechàin the Colombian Department of Antioquia, where they were to buy food & provisions. Yeah, provisions, like machine guns, ammo, landmines, RPG's, ski masks, etc...The usual provisions for a poor farmer from the thick jungles of Colombia... The kidnapping occurred at two o'clock in the afternoon, between the villages of Chanas & Regencia (jurisdiction of San Jacinto del Cauca) opposite Caño de Méjico. Last night the Governor of BolÃÂvar, Carlos Manuel AlàBadrän, said that eight of the sixteen kidnapping victims were freed. The subjects are Catalina Wilches, Alfredo Osuna, Daniel Cortés, Martha Osuna, Jairo López, Jorge Naisir (driver of the boat) & an unidentified woman with her young daughter. The official said that even though some farmers indicate that the kidnappers wore E.L.N. armbands, the possibility that it was the paramilitaries, who also operate in the region, cannot be left out. He added that the victims were made to stop the boat and get out in a remote rural area in the neighboring municipality of Montecristo, very near SerranÃÂa de San Lucas. Off the record he said that the victims that remain in the hands of the armed group are MarÃÂa Tapias, a civil servant in the local hospital in San Jacinto del Cauca, Martha Luz Osorio, Alfredo Osola, Jorge Merchi (a boat driver), José Mora, Juvenal Barragän, Jorge Torres & Andrés Salazar. Six months ago there was another mass kidnapping in this region. In that case, "men" from the Ejérciot Revolucionario del Pueblo (The People's Revolutionary Army) kidnapped a medical team. Troops from the Colombian Army's 11th Brigade were dispatched to the area to try and locate the kidnappers. CARTAGENA via El Tiempo translated especially for Rantburg by Kentucky Beef |
| Posted by:Kentucky Beef |
| #1 Thank you for your especial translations, Kentucky Beef. My own long ago college Spanish has vanished into the mists of time. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-09-22 10:13:27 PM |