Colombian rebels free 5 captives
2013-02-13 13:00
Bogota - Colombian rebels from the National Liberation
Army said on Tuesday they had freed two Peruvians and three Colombians
kidnapped last month from a gold mine in the north of the country.
The ELN, as Colombia's second biggest guerrilla group is
known, did not mention a Canadian seized at the same time.
Colombian military and police sources could not
immediately confirm the release of the five captives.
The men, all of whom worked at the Snow mine project
belonging to Canada's Braeval, were freed after being told the charges against
them, the rebel group said in a statement.
The ELN is also holding two Germans believed to be
retirees who were travelling as tourists in Colombia.
The rebels have asked for proof that the men are not
intelligence agents.
The mine workers' kidnapping demonstrates that although
security in the Andean nation has improved in recent years, there are still
great risks for people in remote mountain and jungle areas.
The kidnapping of foreigners, including oil workers and
tourists, had been a common method of pressuring the government over the past
decade and of keeping people from venturing into rebel-controlled areas.
Military pressure and widespread anger among Colombians
and in the international community seemed to slow the trend until recently.
It is not known how many foreigners remain in rebel
camps.
Considered a terrorist group by the US and the EU, the
ELN is not included in negotiations under way in Cuba between the Colombian
government and the nation's biggest insurgent group Farc, or the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, to bring an end to five decades of war.
The Farc has said it will release two captive police
officers and a soldier this week.
For more than 10 years, military strikes against the ELN
and the Farc have severely weakened the rebel groups and limited their ability
to attack the country's economic drivers, helping attract billions of dollars
in foreign investment.
However, an escalation of violence in recent weeks has
killed scores of insurgents and government troops, showing that while the
groups are weakened, they are by no means spent.
Inspired by the Cuban revolution and established by
radical Catholic priests, the ELN was founded in 1964, the same year the Farc
was established.
Attacks against oil and mining installations increased
substantially last year, and the government is beefing up the roughly 70 000
troops defending these operations.
