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.
DISASTER: The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded a magnitude 5.7 and tremors reached as far as Kolkata, India, more than 300km away from the epicenter A powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh yesterday outside the crowded capital, Dhaka, killing at least five people and injuring about a hundred, the government said. The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 10:38am near Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 33km from Dhaka, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake sparked fear and chaos with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off. AFP reporters in Dhaka said they saw people weeping in the streets while others appeared shocked. Bangladesh Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus expressed his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts.” At least five people,
ON THE LAM: The Brazilian Supreme Court said that the former president tried to burn his ankle monitor off as part of an attempt to orchestrate his escape from Brazil Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro — under house arrest while he appeals a conviction for a foiled coup attempt — was taken into custody on Saturday after the Brazilian Supreme Court deemed him a high flight risk. The court said the far-right firebrand — who was sentenced to 27 years in prison over a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections — had attempted to disable his ankle monitor to flee. Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro’s detention was a preventive measure as final appeals play out. In a video made
It is one of the world’s most famous unsolved codes whose answer could sell for a fortune — but two US friends say they have already found the secret hidden by Kryptos. The S-shaped copper sculpture has baffled cryptography enthusiasts since its 1990 installation on the grounds of the CIA headquarters in Virginia, with three of its four messages deciphered so far. Yet K4, the final passage, has kept codebreakers scratching their heads. Sculptor Jim Sanborn, 80, has been so overwhelmed by guesses that he started charging US$50 for each response. Sanborn in August announced he would auction the 97-character solution to K4
SHOW OF FORCE: The US has held nine multilateral drills near Guam in the past four months, which Australia said was important to deter coercion in the region Five Chinese research vessels, including ships used for space and missile tracking and underwater mapping, were active in the northwest Pacific last month, as the US stepped up military exercises, data compiled by a Guam-based group shows. Rapid militarization in the northern Pacific gets insufficient attention, the Pacific Center for Island Security said, adding that it makes island populations a potential target in any great-power conflict. “If you look at the number of US and bilateral and multilateral exercises, there is a lot of activity,” Leland Bettis, the director of the group that seeks to flag regional security risks, said in an
RSS