Spanish reporter feared kidnapped in Colombia
Tuesday, May 24, 2016 @ 7:52 AM
A SPANISH reporter has gone missing in Colombia, and is feared to have been kidnapped.
Salud Hernández Mora (pictured) is thought to have been abducted by the National Liberation Army (ELN) whilst covering the production of the coca plant – drunk as a herbal tea in the western countries of South America and the principal ingredient of cocaine – in the town of La Tarra, north of the Colombian city of Santander.
But authorities in La Tarra say they have no evidence to support the theory that she has been kidnapped.
Hernández Mora, a columnist with the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo and local correspondent for the Spanish daily broadsheet El Mundo, was last seen on Saturday after having travelled to the still-unsettled Catatumbo district for work.
Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos has sent out a search party, and Spanish foreign minister José Manuel García-Margallo is following the operation closely.
As Hernández Mora has joint Spanish and Colombian nationality, it is the South American country’s authorities which are mainly responsible for searching for and safeguarding her, but Spain will remain on standby to help out and keep tabs on the Colombian government to ensure they are making every effort.
The ELN is said to be more decentralised and has less of a strict hierarchy than the FARC, and has strong links with Ecuador along with commanders spread out in local areas.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com