An armed group kidnapped 11 Colombian citizens partying at a farm near the northeastern Venezuelan city of Guanare on Monday. The group includes three minors.
Local daily El Nacional reported that the authorities presume the crime was a vendetta between narcotrafficking groups, but the police would not confirm this account to Reuters’ Spanish edition.
“What we have confirmed is the number of persons kidnapped and that they of Colombian nationality. Of causes and motives, there is no confirmed version,” an anonymous police source told the wire service.
A study by Holland-based NGO IKV Pax Christi in August revelaed that Venezuela is one of the 10 country with the greatest quantity of kidnappings. There were 382 victims in 2006 and the study suggested a large additional percentage went unreported.
The case is the third kidnapping of Colombians outside their home country in the last month. On September 19, two Colombian engineers were kidnapped while working on a natural gas project in Yemen. The same day, by coincidence, ten government officials were kidnapped in Ecuador by the FARC.