EU official kidnapped in Colombia found safe

A Spanish official with the European Commission who was kidnapped more than a month ago in Colombia has been found safe in Venezuela after escaping from his captors, Colombian authorities said today.

Carlos Ayala, 59, was kidnapped on April 15 by Colombia’s main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, after he arrived in the Colombian city of Cucuta, 250 miles north-east of Bogota, said an official with Colombia’s secret police DAS.

The official said DAS agents travelled to the town of Guasdualito in Venezuela near the Colombian border to pick up Ayala, but he said no other details were immediately available. It was not clear whether his captors had been holding him in Venezuela, or if he went there after escaping.

Colombia is the kidnapping capital of the world, with about 1,500 people abducted last year, mainly by leftist rebels for ransom.

Ayala travelled to Cucuta to explore possible locations for a social centre he wanted to set up to help families affected by violence in Norte de Santander state, one of Colombia’s main cocaine-producing regions that is being fought over by Marxist rebels and their right-wing paramilitary foes.

The commission was not involved in the project.

Ayala has been based in Bogota since 2003 working on social development issues. He has a wife and four children who all live in Madrid.

The FARC and a smaller rebel group have been battling the Colombian government for social revolution for decades. They use drug trafficking and kidnapping to fund their efforts.