FARC

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Crisis Deepens as Colombia Links Ecuador to FARC

Ecuador, Venezuela send troops to Colombian borders

(Newser) - The tension in Latin America deepened last night as a Colombian general charged that Ecuador’s president had ties to a FARC leader killed by Colombian forces Saturday. Ecuador and Venezuela have both mobilized troops to their borders in response to the raid, which they claim took place on Ecuadorean...

Chavez Sends Troops to Colombian Border

Venezuelan prez angry after rebel is killed

(Newser) - Hugo Chavez sent thousands of Venezuelan troops to the Colombian border today after Colombia killed a FARC rebel leader, CNN reports. Chavez accused Colombia of being a US puppet and said Ecuador's border was violated in the attack. "We have to liberate Colombia," said Chavez, who is linked...

Colombian Troops Kill Top FARC Leader

He's the group's highest-ranking member to be killed

(Newser) - Colombian forces have for the first time killed one of FARC's top leaders, the BBC reports. The military attacked a rebel camp and killed Raul Reyes, a member of the group's ruling secretariat who had been a top candidate to take over the organization. The attack comes just days after...

FARC Hostage Near Death in Jungle
FARC Hostage Near Death
in Jungle

FARC Hostage Near Death in Jungle

Former presidential candidate gravely ill, says released captive

(Newser) - A high-profile hostage still held by Colombian rebels is near death because of mistreatment and a lack of medicine, a former fellow captive said today. Ingrid Betancourt, seized by FARC rebels six years ago while campaigning for the presidency, is sick with hepatitis and liver problems, says Luis Eladio Perez,...

FARC Rebels Free 4 Hostages
FARC Rebels Free 4 Hostages

FARC Rebels Free 4 Hostages

Prisoners were politicians, who had been held for more than 6 years

(Newser) - Colombian FARC rebels today set free four former Colombian legislators who had been held hostage for more than six years. The deal was brokered by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and three of the four will fly to Caracas to speak with him. The fourth is in poor health and may...

Thousands Protest Colombia Rebels
Thousands Protest Colombia Rebels

Thousands Protest Colombia Rebels

Movement harnesses Facebook in mass rally

(Newser) - In a mammoth Facebook-inspired protest, as many as 2 million demonstrators flooded the streets of Bogota yesterday, and thousands more marched in other parts of Colombia and nearly 100 cities worldwide as people called for an end to Colombia's guerrilla group FARC. "No more kidnapping, no more lies, no...

Chavez Linked to Columbian Drug Trade

FARC guerrillas run cocaine through Venezuela

(Newser) - Hugo Chavez recently grabbed headlines by brokering the release of two women held hostage by FARC, Colombia's guerrilla rebels. But Chavez was no neutral mediator: FARC operates openly in Venezuela, and even hand-in-hand with government agencies, both to wage war in Colombia and smuggle Colombian cocaine into Europe, the Guardian ...

Colombia's FARC to Free 3 More Hostages

Health reasons, Chavez's diplomatic role cited in release

(Newser) - Colombia’s FARC rebel group will release three lawmakers for health reasons after more than 6 years in captivity, the BBC reports. Taking a pointed side in the dispute between Hugo Chavez and Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, the rebels said in a statement to local media that they were releasing...

Letters Bare Misery of Colombian Captives

Remaining hostages reveal life chained by neck and suffering from jungle fevers

(Newser) - Eight captives left behind with Colombian rebels describe a miserable existence chained by the neck and suffering excruciating diseases in letters carried out last week by two freed hostages. One weakened captive, a police officer, describes "dragging myself " through the jungle "with only my arms because I...

Colombian Hostage Reunited With Son
Colombian Hostage Reunited
With Son

Colombian Hostage Reunited With Son

Rojas meets child rebels took from her

(Newser) - A Colombian woman held captive for nearly six years by rebels was reunited yesterday with the son she had as a hostage. Clara Rojas' baby, Emmanuel, fathered by one of the rebels, was taken from her when he was just eight months old, suffering from a broken arm and a...

2 Colombian Hostages Freed
2 Colombian Hostages Freed

2 Colombian Hostages Freed

Red Cross helicopters carrying pair to Caracas

(Newser) - Colombian rebels have released two women hostages, Hugo Chavez said in a press conference today, as Red Cross helicopters were flying the freed Colombians to Caracas. The women, both held in the jungle for years, are Consuelo Gonzalez, a politician, and Clara Rojas, an aide to former presidential candidate Ingrid...

Director Rips Bush in Colombia Hostage Drama

Rescue undermined by US, says Stone

(Newser) - Maverick Hollywood director Oliver Stone had a front-row seat on the scene of the failed hostage rescue mission in Colombia last month—and has returned blaming that nation's government and President Bush. "Shame on Bush,” Stone told the Guardian. Colombian rebels reneged on a deal to free two...

Rebels Admit They Don't Have Hostage Boy

Farc captive to have been freed in deal was in Bogota foster home

(Newser) - Rebels in Colombia have acknowledged that the 3-year-old boy in foster care in Bogota is Emmanuel, the son of one of the hostages they are holding and the focus of a much-publicized release that fell through last week. Farc rebels had announced the release of Emmanuel, his mother Clara Rojas,...

DNA Tests Show Rebels Don't Have Colombian Boy

Alleged hostage is actually in foster care

(Newser) - DNA tests all but confirmed today that a 3-year-old boy Colombian rebels had pledged to include in a hostage-release deal has actually been in foster care since 2005. The group FARC negotiated the release of Emmanuel Rojas—born to a female hostage and her rebel captor—with Hugo Chavez; the...

Colombia Prez: Rebels Don't Have Hostage's Love Child

DNA to determine if boy is orphan in custody

(Newser) - Relatives of FARC hostage Clara Rojas yesterday underwent DNA testing to determine whether a boy surrendered to a Bogota orphanage 2 years ago is her 3-year-old son, as Colombian president Alvaro Uribe contends. Uribe yesterday said FARC rebels couldn't release Emmanuel Rojas, along with his mother and another hostage, as...

Colombian Rescue Deal Collapses
Colombian Rescue Deal Collapses

Colombian Rescue Deal Collapses

Hostages stuck in jungle; guerrillas, army blame each other

(Newser) - A Venezuela-brokered deal to rescue three hostages from Colombian rebels has fallen apart, Reuters reports. The leftist FARC rebels blamed the deal's failure on stepped-up Colombian army operations in the area and refused to relinquish hostages "due to fear for their safety and the safety of members involved in...

Colombia Hostage Rescue Stalls
Colombia Hostage
Rescue Stalls

Colombia Hostage Rescue Stalls

Director Oliver Stone joins operation in push for freedom

(Newser) - An expected hostage release negotiated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with Colombian leftist rebels failed to materialize yesterday, setting the stage for a more dramatic event today as Latin American politicians and diplomats—and Hollywood film director Oliver Stone—joined rescuers and officials waiting for the rebels' next move, reports...

Mission Begins to Rescue Hostages in Colombia

Chavez sends choppers into jungle

(Newser) - Helicopters sent by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to rescue hostages from Colombian rebels have landed at the edge of a Colombian wilderness and are awaiting a go-ahead from the rebels, the BBC reports. Guerrillas plan to release two women, seized more than five years ago, and a young boy fathered in...

Hostages Could Be Free in Hours: Chávez

Ready to get Colombian captives, including boy born in jungle

(Newser) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said today that three of the hostages being held by the Colombian rebel group FARC could be freed within hours. Chávez has received permission from the Colombian government to enter its airspace and retrieve the captives. The captives who might be freed will not...

Venezuela To Pick Up Hostages in Colombia

Guerrillas will release under Chavez plan

(Newser) - Three hostages held for more than five years by Marxist guerrillas will soon go free after Colombia agreed today to a handover plan engineered by Hugo Chavez, Reuters reports. Venezuelan planes and helicopters will pick up Clara Rojas, a former vice presidential candidate kidnapped in 2002; the young son she...

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