Colombia’s interior minister doubted Thursday the veracity of statements by guerrilla groups FARC and ELN who both have denied kidnapping the 10-year-old daughter of a mayor in northeast Colombia.
Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras explained that the state can not trust in the statements and that their job is to continue in search of Nohora Valentina Muñoz, without ruling out any hypothesis as to who her captors could be.
“We are not sure, all these statements are hearsay, the (Colombian) military intelligence is not sure of the authenticity of these statements,” said commander of the Armed Forces, General Alejandro Navas.
The FARC’s 10th Front released a statement regarding the kidnapping of Mayor Jorge Enrique Muñoz’s daughter on Thursday, and on Saturday the ELN had given a written response in which they denied being involved in the case.
“These are ploys, and they are often deceptive strategies,” Navas explained, as he warned that “the truth is that military forces are moving forward with air and ground operations” in the region where the girl was taken captive on September 29.
Nohora Valentina Muñoz was abducted on her way to school with her mother Pilar Gutierrez in the municipality of Fortul.
At her primary school, students and teachers have been continually protesting the release of their classmate and friend while Colombia’s minister for the interior publicly denounced the kidnapping as “a crime against humanity.”
Colombian authorities are offering an award of $75,000 dollars for information regarding Nohora’s release, and both the International Committee of the Red Cross is assisting in mediation and the Catholic Church have spoken out publicly, begging for Nohora’s return.
The Arauca department, where the 10-year old girl was kidnapped, has a high presence of both ELN and FARC activity.
