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Alleged kidnapping kingpin caught

November 24, 2003

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Authorities captured a suspected rebel Friday who they say coordinated the operation to kidnap foreign backpackers in the mountains of northern Colombia two months ago, the attorney general's office said. The alleged member of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, was identified as Edison Ramos Alcazar. He was being questioned in the city of Santa Marta, where he was captured, the office said.

The arrest came a day after the ELN announced it would free two of the seven foreigners next Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the planned release would be affected.

Camouflage-clad gunmen of the ELN seized four Israelis, two Britons, a German and a Spaniard from archaeological ruins in the Sierra Nevada mountains in September. One of the hostages, a British teenager, escaped soon after the kidnapping.

The ELN said Thursday it decided to free Reinhilt Weigel of Germany and Asier Huegen Echeverria of Spain next Monday because a humanitarian commission agreed to visit the Sierra Nevadas to examine the plight of impoverished villagers there - one of the rebels' key demands.

The rebel group made no mention of the other hostages.

Officials from the Catholic Church and human rights workers began traveling to the region Friday to participate in the commission, which planned to visit at least six villages in the junglecovered mountains starting Saturday.

The United Nations will also have a role in the commission, Dario Mejia, the nation's interim human rights ombudsman, told Caracol Radio.

Another group of officials will be present in the region to facilitate Monday's handover, Mejia said.

Defense Minister Jorge Alberto Uribe said the government was happy that it looked like at least two of the hostages would be freed.

"The liberation of any Colombian or foreigner is an act that should be applauded, and should fill us with joy," Uribe told Caracol Radio.

The rebels have in the past repeatedly said they would release the foreigners, but then added demands that the government refused.

The commander of the nation's armed forces, Gen. Carlos Ospina, said his troops will continue searching for the foreigners in the mountains, which soar up from Colombia's Caribbean Coast.