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Colombian President Calls for Measures to End Kidnapping
Colombian President Andres Pastrana left here for Cali on Monday to attend a security meeting on the Sunday mass kidnapping of 53 hostages, the president's office said.
The meeting, to be attended by military and police officials, will decide what steps the military and police will take to help release the hostages taken on Sunday by the country's second largest rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN).
The hostages were taken after about 200 ELN guerrillas set up two roadblocks on the road between Cali and the Pacific coastal city of Buenaventura, closing a three-kilometer stretch of road.
On Monday, the ELN released 17 of the 53 captives. The rest of them were forced by the guerrillas to move into the mountains close to Cali.
Chief of the army's third brigade, Jaime Canal, told reporters that the army and police troops, supported by Air Force helicopters and airplanes, were after the kidnappers.
But the governor of Valle complained of the lack of a strong police force at such a short distance from Cali, 477 kilometers southwest of Bogota, and made a call to Pastrana to reinforce the military presence on the Cali-Buenaventura road.
Pastrana said Camilo Gomez, the government chief peace negotiator, is keeping in touch with the leadership of the ELN in order to listen to their position. "Once we have an answer, we will take the necessary measures," said Pastrana.
This is the third major kidnapping by the ELN since last year. It kidnapped 150 parishioners in May last year before releasing them a few months later. The rebel group also hijacked an Avianca airplane flying from Bucaramanga to Bogota in April last year.
Although talks between the government and this guerrilla group have started, the two sides have not agreed on the venue.
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