World

Mass Abduction In Colombia

May 30, 1999 / 10:45 PM EDT / AP

Leftist Colombian rebels kidnapped about 100 churchgoers, including children, from a Mass on Sunday in an exclusive neighborhood and drove them into the countryside in trucks.

Pursued by army troops and police commandos into nearby mountains after the daring mass abduction in the western city of Cali, the rebels later abandoned at least 79 of the hostages, said armed forces chief Gen. Fernando Tapias.

Just as the weekly Roman Catholic children's Mass was ending at the rustic La Maria church, about 30 uniformed rebels forced the worshippers out of the wooden pews and onto two canvas-covered trucks, then drove them out of the southern residential district of Ciudad Jardin.

The rebels, who shot and killed the bodyguard of one of the churchgoers, belonged to the National Liberation Army, or ELN, Colombia's second-largest rebel band, authorities said.

"Nothing like this has happened before. It's a detestable thing," said Rafael Cuellar, acting director in Cali of the state security agency, or DAS.

There was no claim of responsibility for the abduction, which highlighted the mounting insecurity of this country in the throes of a 35-year-old civil conflict.

Mayor Ricardo Cobo said authorities had compiled a list of 99 people believed loaded into the trucks and spirited away by the rebels. He said about 150 were attending the service in the temporary open-air chapel. A new chapel is under construction nearby.

The trucks headed south with the hostages into guerrilla-held mountains above the town of Jamundi.

At least two guerrillas were killed and one rebel and two soldiers wounded in firefights, said Col. Gerardo Contreras, operations commander of the army's Third Brigade, before troops reached the abandoned hostages.

Most of the liberated hostages were flown to a Cali military base, but there was no information on their conditions or why they were let go. None were known to have been seriously injured.

Guerrillas control some 40 percent of rural Colombia, but have no history of major operations in urban centers.

"It's very serious the audacity of these groups," Cobo said.

ELN leaders have complained that President Andres Pastrana has taken them far less seriously in peace overtures than the larger and more powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces, or FARC.

Sunday's kidnapping comes six weeks after ELN rebels hijacked a domestic Avianca flight, forcing it to land on a remote airstrip and herding away the 41 passengers and crew. The ELN still holds 25 of the people it seized in the April 12 airline abduction.

Pastrana was en route to Canada on Sunday when the mass abduction occurred and left Finance Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo in charge.

Restrepo called an extraordinary meeting of security advisors and said the incident would "make the peace process more difficult instead of easier."

Sunday's mass abduction further exacerbated he fears of Colombia's elite. The southern residential district of Ciudad Jardin is home to some of Cali's richest residents.

Hours after Sunday's abduction, shocked family members were still milling about in the parking lot among the cars of the hostages, many of them expensive late model sport utility vehicles.

Ilse de Posada chain-smoked cigarettes as she paced the lot. Her 6-year-old daughter, Raquel, was among those taken. Posada said the girl is asthmatic and needs medication or she'll choke to death.

"I'll exchange myself for the girl," said the distraught Posada.

The ELN and FARC have a strong presence in the countryside surrounding Cali, the country's third-largest city.

Ransom kidnapping is a key revenue source for both groups, but Sunday's abduction, like the Avianca plane abduction, appeared to have political overtones.