NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      CALI, Colombia (CWNews.com) - Despite assurances by Colombian rebels that they took more than 160 people hostage from a Catholic church almost three weeks ago to highlight their desire for peace talks, Church officials in Cali said the rebels are instead seeking ransom for some captives.

      Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino of Cali said on Wednesday that he had been informed that the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels had demanded ransoms from some of the families of their victims. Most of the captives have been released, but at least 20 from the church remain in custody. "They want to make money at the expense of the pain and suffering of the hostages," said the archbishop.

      Although some relatives have admitted privately that ransoms have been demanded, none were willing to say it publicly. "We who were freed think that those who remain captive are going to have to pay ransoms -- although the guerrillas never told us as much," said freed hostage Rafael Posada, adding that those still held were "people of means."

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