For many in Colombia, hostage nightmare goes on

CALI, COLOMBIA — Pardon Patricia Nieto if she wasn't swept up in the euphoria that lifted this nation after the recent rescue of 15 hostages held by leftist guerrillas.

The rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which was tricked into giving up long-held hostages, including presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors, is still holding 700 people, including Nieto's husband, Sigifredo Lopez.

Like other victims' family members, Nieto, an attorney, fears that the predicament of her husband and other hostages will now go from international cause celebre to a back-burner issue.

"I rejoice in the happiness of families whose loved ones were released, but we feel abandoned," said Nieto, whose husband, a state legislator, was kidnapped six years ago.

The spectacular commando operation that plucked the captives from insurgent hands July 2 lifted spirits in Colombia, generated admiration for President Alvaro Uribe and delivered another blow to the image of the FARC.

But the rescue's aftermath should also serve as a continuing reminder of the many hostages still being held by rebel groups and criminal bands, hostage families emphasize. Although kidnappings have declined sharply in recent years, Colombia is second only to Iraq in that crime category.

Besides the FARC hostages, a leftist guerrilla group called the National Liberation Army is holding 270 people. Various criminal gangs in Colombia are thought to be holding an additional 1,800 against their will, according to the advocacy group Pais Libre of Bogota.

Hostage release negotiations between the Uribe government and the FARC have never gotten off the ground since he took office in 2002. The only releases during his presidency took place this year through the intervention of Venezuelan President and rebel sympathizer Hugo Chavez, who persuaded the FARC to give up six prisoners, including Betancourt's campaign manager, Clara Rojas.

Past Colombian governments swapped jailed rebels for hostages. But Uribe has rejected rebels' precondition of a demilitarized zone in which they could operate without impediment, much like the zone ceded them by Uribe's predecessor from 1998 to 2002. For their part, the rebels have refused Uribe's prerequisite: that they release hostages first, then negotiate.

"We feel completely impotent, caught between two sides that have hard and fast positions," said Nieto, who with Lopez has sons ages 18 and 20.