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Guatemalan farmers take Belgian tourists hostage

Farmers fighting for the release of their imprisoned leader took four Belgians, their Guatemalan guide and a boat operator hostage on Friday, Guatemala's national tourist agency said.

The Belgians -- two women and two men -- were taken captive in Rio Dulce, a tourist area 250km northeast of Guatemala City, said Jose Roberto Goubaud, spokesman for the tourism institute.

"Police have specific instructions to not do anything to put the tourists in danger,'' Goubaud said.

In a telephone interview from the boat where they were being held, one of the kidnapped Belgians said they were touring caves in the region on Friday morning when they were kidnapped.

"When we returned to the boat, two people that we didn't know ... came on board and suddenly we had 15 people on the boat," said Eric Stosstris, 62.

Stosstris identified the other Belgian captives as his wife Jenny Stosstris, 59, and their friends Gabriel and Mary Paul Van Huysse, ages 64 and 62, all from Ghent.

The kidnappers moved them from place to place after the abduction, he said.

"We are held against our will, but they haven't hurt us," Stosstris said, speaking from a cellphone belonging to one of the kidnappers. "They haven't fed us, but they promised they will do it shortly."

The kidnappers belong to the same group that took 29 policemen hostage last month in the Caribbean coastal town of Livingston, Goubaud said.

On Feb. 23, an angry mob of farmers held the officers for almost two days before releasing them in exchange for talks about legalizing their land claims and dropping charges against their jailed leader, Ramiro Choc.

Choc was arrested on Feb. 14 on charges of illegal land invasion, robbery and holding people against their will. At the time of the first hostage-taking, he urged his supporters to release the police officers in a telephone call from jail.

Officials accuse Choc of inciting locals to seize land and take over protected nature reserves.
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