MADRID 9 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Colombian authorities have reported that the former guerrilla of the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Ricardo Ramos and several members of his family have been released after several days kidnapped by the National Liberation Army (ELN) in the state of Arauca, in the north of the country.
The Ombudsman’s Office has confirmed the information in a statement and has indicated that five members of his family were also kidnapped and have already been released.
The handover of the kidnapped people took place in a rural area of the municipality of Tame after a series of intense combats between the Colombian Army and the guerrillas in Arauca. However, these clashes have ended without victims or injuries, although the troops have recovered the lifeless body of a man identified as Jorge Alberto García Duque, kidnapped on December 12 of last year.
The Ombudsman’s Office, which had activated its urgent search mechanism, has thus achieved the rescue of the six kidnapped people with the support of local authorities. “Welcome to freedom! Together with the Catholic Church and the Personería of Tame, we received the six people who were kidnapped by the ELN since last January 6, among whom were a peace signer with a hearing disability and part of his family,” the organization has stated in its X account.
Ramos and his family – his mother, his wife and three other members – had been kidnapped on January 6 in the afternoon, near the Former Territorial Space for Training and Reintegration (AETCR) Philippines, located in the Caño Tigre village, in the Arauquita municipality (Arauca).
A group of armed men entered the area and forcibly detained them. Shortly after, the Army began a series of operations to find the whereabouts of all of them and achieve their release, although there was little information about what happened.