Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders welcomed the release as “very good news” – ELN rebels from Colombia free Dutch journalists at last.
Two journalists working for Dutch programme Spoorloos were abducted last weekend by rebels in Colombia. The Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands immediately has started the process of negotiation to free their citizen from ELN rebels. The journalists have been released after a day of conflicting reports about their fate.
The abducted journalists work for Spoorloos, a program on Kro-Ncrv TV that helps people from the Netherlands to trace their biological relatives around the world. Today, the guerrilla group ELN consist of about 1,500 fighters, this group is a real headache for the government of Colombia. ELN is the last guerrilla structure still active in the country.
Journalists were released by ELN fighters in Colombia
Colombia’s ombudsman office, which handles human rights issues, wrote on Twitter that the rebel group freed reporters in a rural area of Norte de Santander state. The office posted accompanying photos purporting to show the pair, pictured with some of the rebels, along with Colombian human rights officials.
The process of journalists’ releasing was ended in a rural area of the Catatumbo region, near the border with Venezuela.
