God, may the following news report turn out to be totally true and that this
whole thing will be over by Monday, betterTODAY!!!!

Again a copyrighted news story from CNN-Reuters. Please restrict its
distribution to other birders. Thanks.


U.S. Hostages May Be Freed Soon Colombia General

Reuters
04-APR-98
By Karl Penhaul

BOGOTA, April 4 (Reuters) - Three Americans held hostage by leftist rebels in
mountains just outside Bogota could be released on Saturday or Sunday now that
a death threat hanging over them has been lifted, army chiefs said.

Guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) issued a
communique on Friday night accepting that the U.S. citizens, who were
kidnapped 13 days ago, were not undercover intelligence agents, as they first
suspected.

The regional rebel commander, known as Romana, had said shortly after
capturing the Americans that he would kill them only if they were spies.

The U.S. State Department insisted that the hostages, named by immigration
officials as Louise Agustine, 62, Todd Mark, 32, and Peter Shen, were on a
bird-watching trip to Colombia.

The FARC freed a fourth American, Thomas Fiori, 43 -- snatched at the same
time as the others -- Thursday. For unexplained reasons, Fiori told local
media he had escaped from his captors as they slept.

``Last night's communique is a good indication that the Americans will be
freed,'' Gen. Freddy Padilla, head of the army's 7th Brigade, told Reuters on
Saturday.

``The most intelligent thing would be to release them as quickly as possible.
I think that could be today or tomorrow,'' he added, explaining that low-key
military operations were still going on in the rugged mountain region about 35
miles (55 km) east of the capital where the hostages were being held.

Aid agencies, which have been trying to mediate in the hostage-taking, were
more cautious, saying there was no indication when the kidnap victims might be
liberated.

The four Americans were abducted, along with Italian Vito Candela and a group
of Colombians, March 23 at a rebel roadblock on a major highway that connects
Bogota to the eastern plains region.

Top FARC commanders recently warned of growing U.S. intervention in Colombia's
internal affairs. They said they would begin targeting all U.S. advisers in
the Andean nation, accusing them of heading covert counterinsurgency
operations.

U.S. authorities say some 200 advisers are currently based in Colombia, all
involved in counternarcotics, not anti-guerrilla, operations.

It appears to have been the rebels' mounting suspicion that U.S. personnel
were backing the Colombian army in the fight against them that sparked the
initial death threats against the U.S. bird-watchers.

In Friday's communique, telephoned to local radio stations, the FARC's so-
called 53rd Front said it had ``completed its checks and found that none of
the U.S. nationals has links to security organizations.''

It said Fiori had been released as a goodwill gesture. He has not talked to
the media since arriving back in Bogota after his kidnapping and is now
thought to have left for New York.

The FARC, Latin America's oldest and largest rebel army, was blamed for
kidnapping more than 900 people last year and using ransom payments to
bankroll its long-running war to topple the state.

According to a report published Friday in El Tiempo, the country's leading
newspaper, at least 81 Americans have been kidnapped in Colombia since 1980.
The country is notorious for having one of the highest rates of abduction in
the world.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.
Copyright 1998 Cable News Network, Inc. A Time Warner Company


If you want to sign up for your own CNN news service and not have to wait for
me to forward these posts you can go to CNN at http://www.cnn.com It is
simple, free and is done by paging all the way down their home page. On the
right side, almost the last thing on the page is a hot-key that is head
with"Custom News" Register for your personal news. Click on it and answer
the questions and you will receive a daily news service with only stories you
are interested in. Well, almost only. In the personal section, the Target
section, of your personal news put "Birdwatching or Birding" This is were I
am find the news story waiting for me each day about the kidnapping. Other
interesting news stories have appeared under "birds" in the past, which is
also one of my options. Also, you may want to check the country "Colombia" in
the world news section to insure you get all of the stories.

Great birding and find that next lifer,

John (One of Birders2)

John + Irma = 2, we are birders, too.

John C. LeVine
Birders2 at aol.com
Los Angeles, CA

Please put <To Birders2> in subject line when e-mailing us personally. I do
not open all of the 200-300 e-mails I receive each day, but I want to be sure
to read your e-mails to us. Thanks!

April 4, 1998
1:47pm PST