4 U.S. Birders Seized in Colombia
Leftist rebels are holding four American bird-watchers that they abducted at a roadblock south of the capital, a government official said Thursday. The four were among 27 people taken captive.
The Americans--three men and a woman--were on a bird-watching trip Monday when they were stopped at a rebel roadblock 35 miles south of Bogota, the official said.
The U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment. Radio reports identified the Americans as Peter Shen, Todd Richardson, Lois Agustino and Thomas Fiore. Shen is from New York City, a source close to the investigation said. The hometowns of the others were not immediately known.
Witnesses said that the roadblock had been set up for several hours and that neither police nor soldiers intervened.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the nation’s largest rebel group, was believed responsible for the kidnappings.
Colombia has the greatest diversity of birds in the world.
It also has the world’s highest kidnapping rate, with an average of about four abductions a day.
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