Colombian Rebels Release 33 Church Hostages

Seventeen days after kidnapping them during Mass, leftist rebels ceremoniously released 33 hostages in front of television cameras on Tuesday night, but kept at least 20 others captive.

The freed churchgoers were delivered to a 12-member commission of Colombian and international politicians including Venezuela’s ambassador and German lawmaker Bernd Schmidbauer.

Visibly exhausted, wearing rain ponchos, black rubber boots and clothes dampened by the day’s heavy rains, the freed hostages carried plastic bags with their belongings out of the mountains as they were ushered single file into the hands of the receiving commission by the guerrillas.

“I’m feeling very emotional,” said one former captive, a woman of about 55. “We were always waiting for this.”

Among those released by the National Liberation Army, or ELN, were three minors and the parish priest, the Rev. Humberto Cadavid.

“The Colombian state is being held hostage,” he told reporters, because if the rebels can abduct an entire church full of people “where is the security, where is the tranquillity in Colombia?”

The release came after President Andres Pastrana agreed to pull all troops out of the area where the hostages were held.

“It’s clear to the National Liberation Army that this government is not interested in a political solution,” said the guerrilla commander who presided over the release in the hamlet of El Cedro.

The commander, Liliana Becerra, wore a black ski mask, covering her face. She repeated the rebels’ demand that the government demilitarize four municipalities in the northern state of Bolivar.

The freed hostages were among about 160 people grabbed by rebels May 30 in the La Maria church on Cali’s southern outskirts.

Most of those seized were freed later that day in mountains south of Cali as soldiers gave chase. Five more people were freed June 5.

In addition to those from the church kidnapping, the ELN still holds 24 people from its April 12 hijacking of a domestic Avianca airlines flight.