Leftist rebels have announced they will liberate three politicians held hostage for more than six years because of health problems, Colombian radio Caracol reported.
The radio network said yesterday that it received an e-mail from rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), announcing the rebels will release Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Perez and Orlando Beltran, all kidnapped in 2001, without putting a date on the liberation.
The e-mail could not immediately be confirmed, but the FARC have made previous announcements about hostages through similar channels.
FARC said it would like to free the hostages in Colombian territory to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez or a delegate chosen by him.
In the statement, dated Jan. 31, the rebels said that they would free the hostages because of Chavez's work in trying to mediate a deal between the FARC and the Colombian government that would swap dozens of hostages in return for the release of hundreds of imprisoned rebels.
"These liberations are a direct consequence of the realistic, complete and transparent effort by President Chavez and other friendly governments in the search for a political solution to this humanitarian crisis," the statement said.
The Colombian government rescinded Chavez's role as a mediator, accusing him of going behind President Alvaro Uribe's back and directly contacting Colombia's top generals.
The FARC released two high-profile hostages last month, including an aide to French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, Clara Rojas.
The two, who were freed to representatives of the Venezuelan government, brought letters from other hostages still in captivity, detailing the terrible conditions in which they were forced to live.
The rebels repeated their desire in the statement for a deal that would exchange their hostages, such as Betancourt and three kidnapped US defense contractors, for jailed rebels.
Former senator Eladio Perez was kidnapped in June 2001. Other hostages have said that he has been held in jungle camps along with Betancourt.
Polanco, a political leader, was kidnapped along with her two sons and another dozen others in August 2001. The other hostages were gradually released.
Marches to denounce the FARC and their kidnapping tactics are scheduled to be held today in Colombia and cities around the world, with nearly 100,000 people confirming their participation on the social networking Web site Facebook.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
Scientists yesterday announced a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that might provide insight into the brains of other organisms and even people. The research detailed more than 50 million connections between more than 139,000 neurons — brain nerve cells — in the insect, a species whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster and is often used in neurobiological studies. The research sought to decipher how brains are wired and the signals underlying healthy brain functions. It could also pave the way for mapping the brains of other species. “You might
PROTESTS: A crowd near Congress waved placards that read: ‘How can we have freedom without education?’ and: ‘No peace for the government’ Argentine President Javier Milei has made good on threats to veto proposed increases to university funding, with the measure made official early yesterday after a day of major student-led protests. Thousands of people joined the demonstration on Wednesday in defense of the country’s public university system — the second large-scale protest in six months on the issue. The law, which would have guaranteed funding for universities, was criticized by Milei, a self-professed “anarcho-capitalist” who came to power vowing to take a figurative chainsaw to public spending to tame chronically high inflation and eliminate the deficit. A huge crowd packed a square outside Congress
RSS