COLOMBIA: NGO launches campaign to help relatives of hostages kidnapped by leftist guerrillas discover the fate of their loved ones

Record ID: 1525704

  • Title: COLOMBIA: NGO launches campaign to help relatives of hostages kidnapped by leftist guerrillas discover the fate of their loved ones
  • Date: 27th January 2009
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (JANUARY 27, 2009) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE FOUNDER AND HOST OF "VOICES OF KIDNAPPING" RADIO PROGRAMME, HERBIN HOYOS, TALKING ON HIS MOBILE PHONE BEFORE NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE AND SEEN THROUGH CAMERA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FOUNDER AND HOST OF "VOICES OF KIDNAPPING" RADIO PROGRAMME, HERBIN HOYOS, SAYING: "We embark on a great mission to clear up what happened, to look for the truth in prison cells, the truth known by those who were victims and who have allowed us to get close to them, to offer guarantees as a society and reporting organization, so they are able to deliver the truth and by means of that truth, find the communal graves of those who have been kidnapped and deliver those remains to their loved ones to allow them to mourn, a right they need." GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF MAN READING LETTER RELATIVES OF MISSING HOSTAGE TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RELATIVE OF MISSING HOSTAGE, KATHERINE FRUCHTNIS, SAYING: "They (NGO) are interested in people's cases... As he (Hoyos) was saying... We are not ministers' sons or important government people. Let's say we are normal people who sometimes live well. We are a family of livestock farming but no attention is paid to people like us or let's say the impoverished and I think it's good to at least know where your loved is located."
  • Embargoed: 11th February 2009 08:46
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5PLLPVYFOP0F9IB0I6TETZ55U
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: A non-governmental organization (NGO) launched a campaign on Tuesday (January 27) to help relatives of hostages - who were kidnapped by leftist guerrillas - find out what happened to their loved ones, based on testimonies and confessions given by leftist guerrillas and paramilitaries held in prisons across the country.
    Government statistics and private groups fighting against kidnapping have thousands of names on lists who have been kidnapped by rebels or illegal armed groups.
    Nevertheless, many of those kidnapped were murdered by their captors, died from illness or died trying to escape according to security sources.

    "We embark on a great mission to clear up what happened, to look for the truth in prison cells, the truth known by those who were victims and who have allowed us to get close to them, to offer guarantees as a society and reporting organization, so they are able to deliver the truth and by means of that truth, find the communal graves of those who have been kidnapped and deliver those remains to their loved ones to allow them to mourn, a right they need," Herbin Hoyos, the founder and host of "Voices of Kidnapping" radio programme that relays messages from family members to rebel hostages on a weekly basis, told Reuters Television.
    The radio programme has turned into the only form of contact between hostages with their families and with the outside world, according to testimonies given by hundreds of freed hostages.
    Thousands of people tune into the radio station every Saturday evening, including former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebels and demobilized utlra-right paramilitary squads.
    Some former members of these illegal armed groups have started confessing to their crimes and revealing information of people who were kidnapped for economic reasons and who were then murdered.
    According to the "Free Country" foundation, a private organization fighting against kidnapping and who supports relatives of victims, 23,906 people were kidnapped in Colombia between 1996 and 2008.
    From that total, 2,820 are still held hostage, 388 escaped, 13,927 were freed after paying ransoms worth millions, 843 were freed from pressure by authorities, 1,314 died, 4,555 were rescued and 61 are reported as missing.
    According to Hoyos, the current number of kidnapped people in Colombia is at least 4,200 because many cases are not reported to authorities .
    The relative of missing hostage, Katherine Fruchtnis, welcomed efforts by this organization.

    "They (NGO) are interested in people's cases... As he (Hoyos) was saying... We are not ministers' sons or important government people. Let's say we are normal people who sometimes live well. We are a family of livestock farming but no attention is paid to people like us or let's say the impoverished and I think it's good to at least know where your loved is located," she said.
    Hoyos says he has the names of 300 people who were kidnapped but who were then murdered by their captors or died from illness, according to jailed rebels who look to reduce their prison sentences with their confessions.
    The cocaine-funded rebels have been weakened by military defeats under a U.S.-backed security push and the July rescue of hostage Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian politician.
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