Hi Chatters,

Again this is a copyrighted Reuters story that I found on the CNN website.
There are two more stories about the Colombian rebels to be found there. I do
not want to over abuse the cross posting of copyrighted stories, as it is I
hope that CNN-Reuters will be understanding if they are aware of what I am
doing, so if you want to read the others please check the out on the CNN
website found at http://www.cnn.com
Anybody who has trouble finding the stories, I will try to help by sending the
specific e-mail addresses of the articles to you.

Important: Also, as one of the post to Birdchat today stated we should leave
the resolution of this to the experts who ARE working on resolving this very
touchy situation. I feel that this strongly applies to me as I know how badly
I want to do something and have expressed the same in one of my posts. BUT in
rethinking my emotional need to act, I realized that in my ignorance of what
is actually happening I might _cause_ problems instead of helping the
situation. So I am going to do the right thing now and wait for that day,
which I hope that is soon, to read that all of the hostages have been
releases. So I strongly urge all concerned birders to also restrain
themselves in there frustration and do likewise. I am sure that if our help
is needed that the families will ask for our help through the net. Please
understand importance of this request. Thank you.

What follows is a copyrighted news story of CNN and Reuters:

Colombia Army Holds Back to Avoid Risk to Hostages

Reuters
30-MAR-98
By Karl Penhaul

BOGOTA, March 30 (Reuters) - The Colombian army scaled back military
operations on Monday as aid agencies scoured a mountainous region east of
Bogota in search of guerrillas who took four Americans and an Italian hostage
a week ago.

A commander for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which is
holding the hostages, threatened over the weekend to kill the Americans if
they proved to be undercover U.S. intelligence agents.

But a key rebel spokesman downplayed that threat on Monday, saying any
decision about the fate of the five hostages would have to be taken by the
FARC's national leadership.

``If they are found to have nothing to do with the war, then the problem would
be resolved very quickly and in the best manner,'' Marco Leon Calarca, the
FARC's top international spokesman, told Reuters in Mexico City, where he
lives.

If they were found to be agents, he said, the situation would ``get more
complicated.''

``We would have to wait for a decision from the national leadership of the
FARC,'' he said, adding that the rebel group would respect the hostages' human
rights.

The FARC, one of Latin America's oldest and largest rebel forces, carried out
the abduction at a roadblock on a major highway just 35 miles (50 km) east of
the Colombian capital last Monday.

``From the outset, the FARC has been using these hostages as a human shield to
avoid army action,'' Gen. Freddy Padilla, head of the army's 7th Brigade, told
Reuters by telephone.

``We know the exact point where this group is, but we have not attacked them
to ensure that the hostages are not injured,'' Padilla added, explaining that
army aircraft had been flying over the rebel column. He said rebels fired on
one helicopter on Monday as it flew supplies to ground troops camped out in
the area. One crew member was hurt.

In a speech on Monday, President Ernesto Samper called on foreign governments
to suspend contact with the FARC's international delegates until all the
hostages were released.

Spain, Mexico, Venezuela and Costa Rica have been active in trying to help
Colombia prepare a deal with the rebels to end the country's 30-year-old civil
conflict.

Calarca, the rebel spokesman, was arrested last week in Bolivia but was
released after three days and returned to Mexico City, where he heads a small
team of FARC activists trying to boost the rebels' international image.

Representatives of Colombia's Human Rights Ombudsman's Office and the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) traveled on Monday to the
mountain village of El Calvario, close to where the hostages were first taken.

``Either today or tomorrow we hope to make contact with the (guerrilla)
commander to establish the full list of people he is holding and remind him of
the (norms of international) humanitarian law,'' an ICRC spokesman said.

There is still confusion over how many people the FARC actually seized at the
roadblock. The rebels said they seized 18 -- nine of whom they released on
Friday -- but the army said they kidnapped 32 people.

The U.S. Embassy has declined to confirm the names of the American hostages,
but Colombian media have identified them as Peter Chen, Todd Mark, Thomas
Fiore and Louise Agustine.

The U.S. State Department has said all four were on a bird-watching trip. The
Italian, Vito Candela, lives in Colombia and owns a well-known Bogota
restaurant.

In comments to NTC television news on Saturday, a FARC regional chieftain
known by his alias of Romana, whose 53rd Front is holding the Americans, said
he would ``apply revolutionary justice'' to the captives if they were found to
have ties to U.S. intelligence agencies.

But Padilla said he doubted Romana would carry out the threat. ``It would be a
grave political error to kill those foreigners,'' he said. ``That is a
terrorist proposal.''

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.

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!

March 30, 1998
9:42 pm PDT