Colombian guerrillas have kidnapped six tourists travelling by boat on a remote river, authorities said.
The six Colombian tourists were kidnapped on late yesterday afternoon when rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the Farc, intercepted their boat in Choco province, a jungle region on the Pacific coast.
The seizure came a few days after the freeing of two high-profile hostages in a deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
That release raised hopes for an accord with the Marxist guerrillas, but they are still holding hundreds of captives for ransom or political leverage, including French Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans.
Mr Chavez last week helped negotiate the release of Clara Rojas and former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez, who were both held for more than five years in jungle camps by the Farc, which Washington brands a drug-trafficking terrorist group.
Captured with Ms Betancourt during her 2002 presidential campaign, Ms Rojas gave birth to a son Emmanuel in 2004. When he was eight months old the boy was turned over by the Farc to a peasant family in southern Colombia. The two were reunited in Bogotá yesterday.