Two Dutch journalists who have been held hostage by Colombia’s last-standing rebel group ELN have been released, the guerrillas and television network RCN said Friday.
According to one of the ELN’s Twitter accounts, the two Dutchmen “have already been released and are in perfect condition.”
https://twitter.com/ELN_RANPAL_COL/status/878315816684408834
The release was confirmed by television network RCN, which reported that television presenter Derk Bolt and his cameraman Eugenio Follender were surrendered to a humanitarian delegation in Catatumbo, a region in the northwest of Colombia where they had been taken hostage on Saturday.
#ÚltimoMinuto Fueron liberados los dos periodistas holandeses secuestrados por ELN en Norte de Santander https://t.co/Jv1hhSm51L pic.twitter.com/XcjVhXHuwD
— Noticias RCN (@NoticiasRCN) June 23, 2017
The release was not immediately confirmed by Colombian authorities.
Bolt and Follender work for a Dutch television program called “Spoorloos” that is dedicated to finding the Colombian birth parents of adopted Dutch citizens.
The two disappeared in the municipality of El Tarra while on their way to Tibu, both located in what is considered ELN heartland.
The ELN later claimed responsibility for the taking hostage of the journalist and vowed to release them, which according to the guerrillas and the television station happened on Friday morning.
