Four Belgian tourists held hostage by protesting farmers were released late on Saturday after security forces in boats and helicopters located the group in Guatemala's eastern jungle, officials said.
The four Belgians, their Guatemalan guide and a boat operator were traveling in a tourist area 250km northeast of Guatemala City when they were abducted on Friday by farmers demanding the release of their jailed leader.
Authorities had been negotiating with the kidnappers, while at the same time 150 police officers in boats and soldiers in helicopters searched the jungle area for the hostages to mount a rescue mission if talks failed, officials said.
Late on Saturday, Ronaldo Robles, communications secretary for the presidential office, said the Belgians were free.
Luis Chol, a member of the farmers' group that took the six hostages, said they were forced to release the Belgians because they were being attacked.
The police "followed us and attacked us and killed one of our comrades," he said by telephone.
Robles denied anyone was killed. He said the hostages would be taken to a naval base on the Guatemalan Caribbean and then flown to Guatemala City.
The Belgians were identified as Eric Stosstris, 62, his wife Jenny Stosstris, 59, and their friends Gabriel and Mary Paul van Huysse, ages 64 and 62, all from Ghent.
Robles said they were exchanged for three farmers who had been arrested by police earlier on Saturday. It was unclear if the two Guatemalans had been released.
Rolando Yoc, a human rights official who was mediating the standoff, said "now it is up to the government to set up negotiations as planned."
The government had said they wouldn't meet any of the farmers' demands until the tourists were released.
The farmers are demanding the legalization of their land claims and freedom for their leader, Ramiro Choc, who was arrested on Feb. 14 on charges of illegal land invasion and robbery.
They say they have lived on the disputed land for more than a decade and that a powerful person is trying to kick them off it.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS