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Rebels take senator hostage
25/02/2002 07:52 - (SA)
San Vicente Del Caguan, Colombia - Leftist guerrillas are holding a presidential candidate hostage
after abducting her at a roadblock at the weekend as she was driving
into a volatile area of southern Colombia where government troops
are trying to oust the rebels.
Senator Ingrid Betancourt, an outspoken critic of the rebels, and
her campaign manager, Clara Rojas, were being held on Sunday by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Betancourt's campaign spokesperson, Diana Rodriguez, said the
senator's entourage ran into the rebel roadblock on Saturday afternoon
as they tried to reach San Vicente del Caguan, the main town inside
a rebel zone the government began attacking last week.
President Andres Pastrana had ceded the Switzerland-sized
enclave to the FARC in 1998 as an incentive to end Colombia's war.
He called off peace talks and ordered the army to retake the zone
after guerrillas hijacked an airplane and kidnapped another senator
on Wednesday.
Three men traveling in the same car, including two Colombians
and a French photographer on assignment for Marie Claire magazine,
were detained for several hours on Saturday and released.
FARC has not confirmed or denied kidnapping
French President Jacques Chirac telephoned Pastrana on Sunday to
express his "deep concern" over Betancourt's kidnapping. Chirac
also spoke by telephone with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to
ask him to try and secure her release.
Betancourt is well known in France, where she spent her college
years and, last year, launched a best-selling memoir. She is also
divorced from a French diplomat.
The FARC has not confirmed or denied it has Betancourt. There
has been little word from rebel leaders since Pastrana called off
negotiations with the 16 000-strong rebel army.
"We have to wait for the FARC to say why they kidnapped the
presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, to know what decisions
can be taken and how to manage this difficult situation," Interior
Minister Armando Estrada Villa said before meeting with Pastrana on
the case.
Betancourt's abduction outside the zone underscored how tenuous
government control is in southern Colombia as thousands of troops
creep slowly into a rebel stronghold of jungle and pasture.
Officials say they warned Betancourt not to attempt the trip.
Airstrikes pounded hundreds of rebel targets on the first night
of the campaign and troops reached San Vicente del Caguan on
Saturday. But thousands of FARC fighters melted into the nearby
countryside, popping out from time to time to set roadblocks.
Troops say they're moving slowly to avoid ambushes and
minefields.
'They're here! They're here!'
On Sunday, the army captured Vista Hermosa and Mesetas in the
eastern half of the rebel zone after marching for more than 24
hours.
"They're here! They're here!" residents shouted in Vista Hermosa
as 20 heavily armed soldiers began patrolling the streets on a busy
market day.
One soldier stood with his assault rifle in front of a yellow
billboard with the likeness of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che"
Guevara.
Later, army chief General
Jorge Mora flew by helicopter into the
sweltering town. He assured a crowd of 2 000 residents they would
be safe now, saying, "you are Colombians and you never ceased to
be."
Critics had called the rebel safe haven a quasi-independent
guerrilla republic. Many residents now worry they could be seen as
traitors for having coexisted so long with the FARC.
Little troop movement was seen in San Vicente del Caguan, the
largest of the former rebel-held towns with 22 000 people.
Residents welcomed police after a three-year absence.
"Having the police back is something we've been waiting for. The
government never should have left here," said Carlos Tabares, owner
of a farming supply store.
Senator 'irresponsible' to travel into war zone
News of Betancourt's kidnapping overshadowed the low-intensity
ground offensive against the FARC.
Betancourt's mother went on television with an impassioned plea
for the rebels to free her daughter, an activist who is near the
bottom of presidential polls as the candidate of the "Oxygen-Green"
party.
Leading presidential candidates pleaded for Betancourt's
release, as did Interior Minister Armando Estrada.
But the government also suggested Betancourt had been
"irresponsible" for traveling into the war zone from the southern
city of Florencia.
In addition to the warning, the military had
turned down her requests for ground and air transport to San
Vicente.
The crusading, 40-year-old senator, who has railed against
corrupt politicians as well as the guerrillas, is known for her
brashness.
She was one of four presidential candidates who traveled into
guerrilla territory in February to cajole rebel and government
peace negotiators to make progress toward ending the 38-year war.
At a round-table with senior guerrilla commanders, she lambasted
the FARC for getting involved in the cocaine trade to finance its
war.
- Sapa-AP
- SAPA
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