Bogota, Feb 7 (AFP/APP):At least 34 people are currently held hostage in Colombia, experiencing its worst wave of violence by armed groups since a 2016 peace deal ended decades of conflict, the country’s rights ombudsman said Monday.
The official did not specify how long the 34 have been held, nor by which groups, but said the number was likely larger given widespread fear among the population to report missing persons.
“I make a new appeal to all illegal and criminal armed groups to stop the kidnapping; a crime that violates the right to freedom and human dignity of the 34,” ombudsman Carlos Camargo said in a video distributed to media.
During six decades of internal conflict drawing in guerrilla groups, drug traffickers and paramilitary organizations, kidnapping was widely used as a weapon of war and a source of financing from ransom.
At the height of the conflicts as many as nine people were taken per day, according to official data.
Since laying down arms under the 2016 deal, bosses of the now-defunct FARC guerrilla group are standing trial for some 21,000 kidnappings.
If they admit guilt and pay reparations to their victims, they can receive sentences other than prison.
Although the violence subsided after 2016, Colombia is experiencing a new cycle of murders and kidnappings at the hands of groups mainly financed by drug trafficking in the world’s largest cocaine exporter.
So far this year, six kidnappings have been reported, said Camargo.
“But the figure may be higher due to the difficult public order situation in regions such as Arauca (in the northeast) where many inhabitants prefer to remain silent to avoid reprisal,” he added.
Experts point to the state’s failure to reclaim remote territories following the departure of the warring guerrillas after 2016, allowing other criminal gangs to take their place.
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