Bogota – A group of 25 Colombian environmental researchers and an American professor were kidnapped by suspected leftist rebels as they studied wildlife in a war-torn corner of northwest Colombia, colleagues and the army said on Thursday.
U.S. citizen John Lynch, a reptile expert who teaches at Bogota’s National University, was among the group that included other professors and students. They disappeared near the town of La Union, in Antioquia province, on Wednesday as they analysed flora and fauna for regional environmental group CORNARE.
An officer of the army’s Fourth Brigade blamed the abductions on the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s second largest rebel force that gained notoriety last April when its fighters hijacked a commercial plane and kidnapped all 41 on board.
A month later the same organisation snatched more than 160 worshippers from a Catholic church during Mass in the southwest city of Cali. The rebels are still holding four hostages from the two incidents and most of the others were released after paying hefty ransoms.
“We do not believe they (the environmentalists) are lost because they know the region very well. We think there must have been some sort of abduction,” said Javier Valencia, press secretary for CORNARE.
Gustavo Montanez, vice-rector of the National University, said local officials told him that armed individuals arrived at the group’s campsite on Wednesday afternoon and took the party away at gunpoint. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.
Last year there were almost 3,000 reported abductions in war-torn Colombia.
