June 20 (UPI) — Colombia’s ombudsman said it demands the immediate release of two Dutch journalists who were kidnapped possibly by the National Liberation Army, or ELN, rebel group.
The kidnapping occurred Saturday in Colombia’s Norte de Santander Department, when the two journalists, Derk Johannes Bolt, 68, and Eugenio Ernest, 52, were driving in a truck on an assignment for the Spoorloos Dutch TV program. Bolt and Ernest were tracking down the biological mother of a Colombian girl who was adopted in the Netherlands years ago.
“The Defender of the Public demands immediate release of two Dutch taken today in El Tarra, Norte de Santander,” the Ombudsman’s Office of Colombia said in a statement on Monday. “The Public Defender and representatives will do humanitarian work to resolve situation of the Dutch nationals.”
The Colombian Army said it was determined ELN rebels “illegally retained” the Dutch nationals. Colombian security forces on Monday launched an operation to find the Dutch nationals.
The ELN has urged to prevent a rush to judgment about the circumstances of the kidnapping, adding that it is not clear whether its rebels carried out the abduction.
“We are investigating to help clarify the case,” the ELN said in a statement.
The ELN, like the FARC rebel group, began as a Marxist-inspired insurgency in the 1960s. It was never as large or as powerful as FARC, but like FARC, its members engaged in drug-trafficking, kidnapping and other illegal activity to fund their campaign against the government.
There are an estimated 2,500 ELN rebels living mostly in Colombia’s rural, mountainous areas. More than 220,000 people have died and about 5 million have been internally displaced due to the Colombian conflict, which is primarily attributed to FARC, since its founding in 1964.
The FARC rebel group recently struck a peace deal with the Colombian government. The ELN is taking part in negotiations with the Colombian government to reach a similar deal.
