"SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia (AP) -- A candidate in Colombia's upcoming presidential elections was abducted by leftist guerrillas as she was traveling to a former rebel-controlled town, her campaign spokeswoman said Sunday.
Former Sen. Ingrid Betancourt and campaign manager Clara Rojas were kidnapped Saturday by rebels with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by its Spanish acronym FARC -- spokeswoman Diana Rodriguez told The Associated Press.
Rodriguez said the rebels released three men who had accompanied Betancourt and her aide. The three were at an army base in the city of Florencia, Rodriguez said. She said the three men, including a French photographer and a Colombian cameraman, were unharmed. Their names were not immediately known.
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Betancourt, 40, had left Florencia on Saturday afternoon by car for the former rebel town of San Vicente del Caguan, which army troops captured earlier in the day.
Colombia's government said it had warned Betancourt not to make the trip because it was too dangerous. Officials had turned down requests by Betancourt for ground and air transportation to San Vicente, about 170 miles (250 kilometers) south of Bogota.
Interior Minister Armando Estrada stressed that the government was searching for Betancourt and doing what it could to establish security in the war zone.
"It is good that politicians are doing what they can to draw support for their campaigns and their causes ... but it was not necessary to make that trip in those conditions," Estrada said, asking other candidates to refrain from visiting the area for the moment.
Two other presidential candidates, Noemi Sanin and Horacio Serpa, heeded the military's warning and postponed visits to San Vicente, the government said.
"I join all Colombians in hoping for her freedom," Sanin said in an interview Sunday with RCN radio. "Our situation is difficult. ... Terrorism and threats to security [in Colombia] are endless."
Betancourt was last seen at 3 p.m. Saturday at an army checkpoint on the road. An army commander there urged her party not to continue, the government said.
Betancourt had planned to meet with San Vicente Mayor Nestor Leon Ramirez, a member of her political party. She had told reporters she was determined to stage a rally in San Vicente for "respect for human rights."
Betancourt's husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, said his wife felt she needed to be with the people of San Vicente "during the good and the bad."
San Vicente was the capital of a swath of southern Colombia controlled by the FARC until Thursday. President Andres Pastrana had ceded the zone to the leftist rebels in 1998 in hopes of brokering an end to Colombia's 38-year war.
Citing repeated FARC attacks on military and civilian targets, Pastrana ordered the military to reoccupy the area, and troops entered San Vicente at dawn Saturday.
Betancourt is a severe critic of the rebels but had received little support in presidential polls.
She was one of four presidential candidates who traveled into guerrilla territory in February to cajole rebel and government peace negotiators to make progress.
"What were you thinking when you decided to join the guerrillas?" she asked rebel leaders during a nationally televised forum in the zone in February. "Did you think the guerrillas would be involved in cocaine?"
-CNN
For those of you who dont know what's going on:
1) For more than 50 years Colombia has had a serious problem with marxist guerillas. They were marxist up until the late 70's, when they became narco-guerrillas.
2) In the 90's the weak gov. LOANED, GAVE AWAY an area the size of SWITZERLAND to the guerillas in an attempt to make some sort of peace agreement. Since the early 80's the gov. has tried and tried and tried to make peace, but only succeeded with one of the guerrilla groups, the M-19 movement. Ironically, the M-19 seemed to be the only remaining paramilitary group that were doing what they were doing for political reasons. The are now a legal political party, and one of their top leaders is involved in Gov. issues and has even been governor of one of our "states" (Departamentos).
3) While this territory was "loaned" and alleged "peace talks" went underway, the FARC and ELN (the 2 most powerful groups) kept on attacking towns, blowing stuff up, kidnapping, killing and terrorizing the population. It was a classical case of what had been going on since the early 80's: Gov. wants to talk, guerillas send token guys to talk with but with no real intention to make any peace, and instead make demands upon demands on the gov. to make THEIR (the guerillas) bussiness "easier".
For feks sake, the region the gov. loaned them was THE hotbed for cocaine processing. WOW, how the hell the gov. demilitarized and ceased activity in that region because the guerrillas ASKED for it is BEYOND me.
4) For the first time in 50 years a president makes a real decision, albeit probably the only one in his entire life. Pastrana has finally realized, after almost 2 years, that the Guerrillas dont want any peace. He sent in a force to attack the guerrillas in the demilitarized zone, sending those scumbags to the 9th level of hell and shoving them out of the area. LEAD is what those people understand.
5) Now this moronic woman running to be president, against ALL common sense and advice , visits without any protection an area FILLED with *very* pissed off guerrillas.
She wont get out of it alive. Not unless the gov. gives the guerrillas another big concession in return. And the gov. doesnt give a damn about her (rightfully, what an idiot!). Any chances she had (lol 1%) of winning an election just dissapeared. Not that it will matter, she's dead anyway.
IMO, we shouldve just evacuated the civilian population and asked the US to drop an H-bomb. Wouldve been much quicker and effective. The trees will grow back in a few years.
RANT OFF
