NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      BOGOTA (CWNews.com) - According to news reports broadcast by radio and television stations in Colombia, the bishop who was kidnapped last week is being held by a small splinter group, rather than one of the country's major guerrilla forces. Church officials fear that if the report is accurate, the process of negotiating the bishop's release could be complicated.

      Bishop Jose de Jesus Quintero of Tibu was taken captive on Sunday, August 15. The original reports of the kidnapping -- based on eyewitness testimony from a priest who was captured alongside the bishop, and then released -- indicated that his captors were members of the National Liberation Army (ELN).

      However, the ELN denied any involvement in the kidnapping. And sources within the Colombian bishops' conference indicated that they had not dismissed the possibility that the bishop might have been kidnapped by another group, masquerading as the ELN.

      The latest reports suggest that the bishop might be in the hands of the Jose Libardo Toro Front, a small group which split off from other rebel forces in 1991. Until these reports surfaced, officials in Colombia had thought the Jose Libardo Toro Front had disbanded.

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