Leftist Colombian rebels masquerading as police rescuers kidnapped 12 provincial lawmakers in a daring raid on the legislative assembly in the city of Cali on Thursday, luring victims into buses by announcing a bomb-threat, authorities said.
Witnesses said armed men burst into the chamber in bomb-squad uniforms, using a megaphone to order lawmakers to evacuate through an emergency exit where transportation was waiting. One police officer, who was stationed at the legislature, was shot and killed during the getaway.
The audacious assault in Colombia's second-largest city further stoked fears that the country's 38-year-old mostly rural conflict was evolving into urban guerrilla warfare, just as the nation heads toward May 26 presidential elections.
In a desperate phone interview with a local radio network, the president of the legislature, Juan Carlos Narvaez, confirmed he was among the abducted and asked the armed forces to call off their search. He was speaking from a guerrilla hide-out, apparently reading a statement prepared by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
"The detained lawmakers ask for an end to the military's harassment, that they prioritize negotiation to win our freedom. Our lives are in danger. Please stop the harassment," he said, as army helicopters buzzed Cali's skies.
Narvaez then passed the phone to a man claiming to be a leader of the FARC, who said Latin America's largest and oldest guerrilla force would issue a communique on the kidnapping on Friday.
President Andres Pastrana condemned the attack and canceled his Thursday flight to Costa Rica, where he was scheduled to attend a two-day summit of Latin American leaders. He appealed for the region's presidents to follow Washington's example and brand the FARC "terrorists."
"All Latin American nations should say that any terrorist group, like the FARC, is not welcome in our country," Pastrana said in an apparent reference to the FARC's offices in Mexico.
Thursday's kidnapping follows threats by rebels to take their fight for a state to Colombia's cities after the collapse of peace talks in February. The conflict, which has claimed 40,000 lives in a decade, has long been confined to the lawless countryside.
(China Daily April 12, 2002)
