Farmers hold Belgians hostage

Four Belgian tourists were set to spend a second night in the Guatemalan jungle as hostages of a mob of farmers, as authorities tried to secure their release.

The two couples were seized along with two Guatemalan guides Friday as they traveled up a river near the Caribbean coast by farmers angry over the arrest of a local Maya leader.

A leader of the indigenous farmers group told Guatemalan radio that the six hostages would be held until President Alvaro Colom agreed to talk to them. A government spokesman said he believed that the group was unharmed and that officials were negotiating with the captors by phone while police and troops searched for them on foot.