Colombian Indians Rescue Aid Worker

Unarmed Colombian Indians mobbed Marxist rebels stuck in a damaged vehicle and forced them to release a Swiss aid worker who had been kidnapped 30 hours earlier, officials said Thursday.

Florian Arnold, 51, was freed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, late Wednesday in Cauca province, where he has spent the past 25 years helping indigenous communities build schools and improve agriculture.

The guerrillas’ vehicle broke down as they tried to escape along a rural road. Dozens of native Indians surrounded them and refused to let them continue until they let Arnold go, said a top Colombian human rights official, Dario Mejia.

“Basically, the kidnappers were kidnapped,” Mejia, the acting ombudsman, said.

He said the local ombudsman’s office conveyed the Indians’ demands to local guerrilla commanders, who then ordered their subordinates to free their captive. Arnold looked worn but in good health. He said the surprise rescue gave new meaning to the years he had dedicated to the community.

“I became aware that what I’m doing is really worth it, by the reaction of the people. I realized that what I’m doing here makes sense,” Arnold said.

Tribal leader Ramiro Pito said the FARC guerrillas told him: “We made a mistake. We cannot have the entire community coming out against us.”

In 2001, the rebels kidnapped three German aid workers in Cauca province, prompting threats from the European Union to cancel aid to Colombia and sparking protest marches by local Indians. One abductee escaped his captors; the other two were released months later.