A leader of Colombia’s smaller rebel group has been released from prison today in hopes that he will be able to persuade his fellow guerrillas to hold peace talks.

The Colombian army said today it seized €32.1m worth of cocaine belonging to leftist guerrillas that was hidden in a cove on the outskirts of a city near Venezuela’s border.

Elan Corporation plc today announced that it will report its first quarter 2004 financial results on May 13, before US and European financial markets open.

Freed jungle hostage Mark Henderson finally made it home for Christmas today.

Five backpackers have begun their final trek to freedom in the jungle-covered mountains of northern Colombia after three months in captivity, a member of a humanitarian mission said today.

A humanitarian commission boarded a helicopter and flew deep into a snow-capped Colombian mountain range today in hopes of picking up two foreign backpackers whom their rebel captors have pledged to release.

A humanitarian commission today took a firsthand look at impoverished villages in northern Colombia, meeting a key demand of a rebel group holding seven foreign backpackers.

A massive search for seven foreign backpackers being held captive by leftist rebels in northern Colombia will continue, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe vowed today.

Catholic Church mediators who travelled to the jungles of northern Colombia to try to negotiate the release of seven foreign tourists said they were heading home after receiving no word from rebels behind the mass abduction.

Colombian guerrilla leaders holding seven tourists hostage said today they wanted to exchange the seven foreign backpackers for imprisoned rebels, but they did not make it a requisite for freeing the tourists.

Colombian guerrillas have said they would be prepared to consider an exchange of seven hostages for rebels held in prison, it was reported today.

A senior Roman Catholic Church leader met with imprisoned leaders of Colombia’s second-largest rebel group as part of stepped up efforts to secure the release of seven foreign hostages.

A car bomb blast in a Colombian town’s shopping centre killed at least 20 people and injured 20 others today, police said.

A British reporter and a US photographer on assignment for the Los Angeles Times have been kidnapped by Colombian rebels.

A British newspaper reporter and an American photographer have been kidnapped by Colombian rebels, the first foreign journalists to be abducted in recent memory in the country’s long war.

Elan (NYSE: ELN) the Irish pharmaceuticals company, dropped sharply on the Irish stock exchange today, losing more than 50 percent to reach €2.45 in late trading.

Colombia’s second largest guerrilla army has accused the armed forces of endangering the peace process by stepping up military actions during a rebel truce.

A British man has reportedly shot dead during clashes between Colombian troops and the country’s second largest guerilla group.

A 40-year-old Irishman has died in Colombia in a gunfight between the country’s army and its second-largest left-wing guerrilla group, the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional.

A car bomb ripped through a car park behind a hotel and killed at least four people last night in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, fire officials said.