Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Earth Science News .




PILLAGING PIRATES
Four Chinese hostages freed in Colombia
by Staff Writers
Bogota (AFP) Nov 22, 2012


Four Chinese oil company employees held hostage since June 2011, allegedly by Colombia's FARC rebels, have been freed in southern Colombia, their embassy said Thursday.

"They released the four last night in the department of Caqueta. They are in good spirits," said the spokesman of China's embassy in Bogota.

The official said the identity of the kidnappers was still unknown. He confirmed that the four hostages -- three engineers and a translator -- are Chinese citizens.

President Juan Manuel Santos welcomed the news in a message on Twitter.

"I talked to the Chinese ambassador and want to celebrate the release of the four Chinese citizens. Kidnapping is not something that should be repeated again," the president wrote.

The four were turned over to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Caqueta by unidentified men who were dressed in civilian clothes and were not armed, the ICRC said.

They were then taken to the town of San Vicente del Caguan and from there were flown to Bogota aboard an aircraft leased by the Chinese embassy, the ICRC said.

"It's excellent news for the families of the freed people, after a long time of waiting and uncertainty," the head of the ICRC in Colombia Jordi Raich said in a statement.

The hostages worked for Emerald Energy oil company, a British based subsidiary of the Chinese group Sinochem.

They were traveling in car driven by a Colombian when they were kidnapped. The driver was released hours later.

Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon charged that the four had been held since their kidnapping by the FARC, the leftist rebel group that is currently in peace talks in Havana with the Colombian government.

"The FARC once again shows its true face: the face of a lying and traitorous organization," said Pinzon.

"After announcing with bells and whistles that they did not have a single hostage, today we can confirm that the FARC turned over to the Red Cross four Chinese citizens who have been kidnapped since June of last year," he said.

National Police chief Jose Roberto Leon Riano said the Colombian government provided "humanitarian assistance" at the request of the Red Cross but gave no details of the government's role in the release.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Latin America's largest rebel group, has just begun peace talks with the government aimed at ending their decades-long conflict.

Earlier this year the FARC announced they would stop abducting civilians, whose ransoms had helped fund the group's activities.

In early April, FARC rebels freed 10 policemen and soldiers and said they were holding no more hostages.

But victims' associations in Colombia claim the rebels still hold a number of captives.

.


Related Links
21st Century Pirates






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








PILLAGING PIRATES
Piracy will swell again if seas not policed: S.African Navy
Cape Town (AFP) Nov 08, 2012
South Africa will send anti-piracy patrols to the waters off Mozambique and Tanzania this month, a senior navy official said on Thursday, while warning of a resurgence in attacks if the continent's oceans are not policed. "Piracy is not over," said Rear Admiral Bernhard Teuteberg, director of maritime strategy for the South African Navy on the side-lines of a conference on African maritime s ... read more


PILLAGING PIRATES
Haitian president talks quake relief with Pope Benedict XVI

Storm gives New Yorkers new family - each other

Victims of Hurricane Sandy forgotten in Haiti

European reconstruction bank admits Kosovo

PILLAGING PIRATES
Thermogenerator from the Printer

University of Glasgow and Clyde Space set to put brakes on space junk problem

Study reveals clues to cause of hydrogen embrittlement in metals

Smartphones crushing point-and-shoot camera market

PILLAGING PIRATES
Australia approves plan to save vital river system

At least one-third of marine species remain undescribed

EU finally ends shark finning

El Nino unlikely to hit by year-end: UN weather agency

PILLAGING PIRATES
Scientists say new signs of global warming in Russian Arctic

Warming Temperatures Will Change Greenland's Face

New dating of sea-level records reveals rapid response between ice volume and polar temperature

Melting Glaciers Raise Sea Level

PILLAGING PIRATES
Flower power to purge poison and produce platinum

Afghanistan: Bad weather foils poppy crops

Brazil native people say farmers poisoned stream

Thanksgiving turkeys in genetic study

PILLAGING PIRATES
More eruptions tipped as N. Zealand volcano disrupts flights

Rain-battered Britain braces for floods

'Lord of the Rings' volcano erupts in New Zealand

At least six major earthquakes on the Alhama de Murcia fault in the last 300,000 years

PILLAGING PIRATES
DR Congo president sacks chief of land forces

DRC: M23 gains spark fears of wider war

Sudan army confirms it attacked near S. Sudan border

Nigeria to send 600 troops to Mali: defence minister

PILLAGING PIRATES
A 3-D light switch for the brain

Scientists improve dating of early human settlement

Oldest home in Scotland unearthed

Archaeologists identify spear tips used in hunting a half-million years ago




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement