Colombian President Orders Use Of Force To
Rescue Kidnapped Governor
BOGOTA - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe
Tuesday ordered the use of military force to
rescue the provincial governor, Luis
Francisco Cuellar, and other hostages
kidnapped by rebels.
"We can't keep waiting for the terrorists'
caprice. It is time to play hard to promote
the rescue of hostages by military force,"
Uribe said in a statement on Tuesday.
The military and the police had been ordered
"to make all necessary efforts" to rescue
Cuellar and other hostages in the hands of
the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), he stressed.
Cuellar, the 69-year-old governor of Caqueta
province, was kidnapped on Monday night. It
is reported that a policeman in charge of
the security in Caqueta was killed during
the assault.
The Colombian government has offered one
billion Colombian pesos (about 500,000 U.S.
dollars) as a reward to anyone who could
provide information about Monday's
kidnapping.
Caqueta province, situated in southern
Colombia, has been a stronghold of the FARC.
The rebels abducted French-Colombian
presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt
there in 2002.
Along with Cuellar, the guerilla group is
still holding more than 20 police and
soldiers hostage, some kidnapped more than a
decade ago.
Uribe has made the elimination of the FARC a
priority. On Dec. 16, the head of the ninth
front of the FARC, nicknamed "Danilo," was
killed during an air raid by the Colombian
Air Force.
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