Hostage Handover Fails in Colombia
The promised release of two hostages held for six months by leftist rebels failed to take place Saturday — with the government blaming jungle rains and relatives saying the state sabotaged the handover by sending troops to the region. In a surprise gesture, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said March 15 that it would free a police officer and an 18-year old cadet seized last year. The rebels gave an exact time and place for their handover — Saturday at noon in the Amazon basin hamlet of Afilador, 340 miles south of the capital. Full Story