Mass Kidnapping Ends Peacefully

BOGOTA, Colombia —  A mass kidnapping came to an abrupt and peaceful end Thursday when a paramilitary force released 201 farm workers abducted at gunpoint in an isolated palm-growing region.

Worn and hungry, the hostages were released along back roads and at an inspection center. Some were left about a four-hour drive from their hometown of Villanueva, in Casanare state, where distressed family members had gathered in the plaza to wait for news.

Authorities improvised a medical station at a farm near Villanueva and were debriefing the freed workers throughout the day.

On Tuesday afternoon, in what appears to have been a brazen recruitment drive, men in fatigues stopped hundreds of workers returning from palm oil plantations and abducted the youngest men.

“They were two hellish days,” said a former hostage who gave his first name as Nelson. Speaking on a local television broadcast shortly after his release, he identified his kidnappers as members of the outlawed United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, a network of private armies that enjoy tacit support from local military units and are bent on annihilating Marxist rebels.

Nelson said the militiamen took the group on a seven-hour ride in covered trucks to a training base. The gunmen, led by a hooded commander, then tried to entice the captives to join their battle against guerrillas.

“They said if we stayed voluntarily they would pay us,” Nelson said. “They painted pretty pictures, but nobody liked the idea.”

Local authorities said none of the hostages stayed behind.

Gen. Ramiro Bautista, commander of the Colombian army’s 16th Brigade, said the paramilitary force opted for the surprise release when it learned that about 1,000 government soldiers had been dispatched to the region to track it down.

“We mustn’t think this was a noble gesture by the self-defense groups,” he said. “It was the product of the pressure we applied as soon as we learned of this delinquent act.”

Individual kidnappings are daily, almost hourly, events in Colombia and normally result in ransom demands. But mass kidnappings are fast becoming a publicity tool for the country’s warring factions.

Last month, members of the Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army kidnapped about 100 oil workers in neighboring Arauca state. The rebels quickly released the hostages, but not before calling national attention to their demand for a safe site at which to hold peace talks.

In the sleepy village of Villanueva, virtually every resident knew a kidnap victim. From the beginning, military officials pointed to paramilitary forces as the likely culprits, and Colombians are all too familiar with the militiamen’s reputation for torturing and massacring suspected rebel collaborators.

Tensions heightened Wednesday when a local paramilitary faction issued a communique claiming responsibility for the kidnapping. In the statement, a local commander said his band had detained 300 people and planned to interrogate them about intelligence reports “regarding a possible infiltration by communist guerrilla elements” in the area.

All but 26 people would be released immediately, the statement said, and those remaining would “have to explain certain behavior.”

Authorities said Thursday that the final hostage tally came to 201, not 300, and that all the victims had been released unharmed. The AUC central command has not commented.