Red Cross hostage drama continues in Bogota

Four members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, including three Swiss, are still being held hostage by disgruntled Colombian farmers at the ICRC offices in the capital, Bogota.

Four members of the International Committee of the Red Cross are still being held hostage by disgruntled Colombian farmers at the ICRC offices in the capital, Bogota.

The Geneva-based ICRC suspended its operations in Colombia after about 50 farmers armed with sticks stormed the building and took 37 of its personnel hostage. 33 of the captives were later released.

An ICRC spokeswoman in Geneva, Corinne Adam, said the hostages, who include three Swiss nationals, would be rotated if the situation continued. She said their lives were not in danger.

The farmers, angry at being displaced from their land, are using the four captives as bargaining chips in negotiations with the government.

“ICRC staff members will accompany some of the farmers to talks with the government later today”, Adam said. But she said the ICRC would not negotiate on behalf of the hostage-takers.

“We must get beyond this temporary solution, and find a peaceful long-term solution,” she added.

Before they stormed the building on Tuesday, the farmers had been camped out in front of the offices for three weeks to raise awareness of their plight. They are believed to be part of a group of farmers who have been driven from their homes by Colombia’s civil war.

The ICRC has been active in Colombia for more than 30 years. It is now mainly involved in assisting displaced people by providing them with medical care, food and non-food items, clothes and tools for repairing houses.

The occupation of the Bogota headquarters is the first major test for the new ICRC president, Jakob Kellenberger, who took over on January 1.