Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jan 2003
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2003 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Andrew Gumbel, in Los Angeles

JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED BY COLOMBIAN REBELS

An American travel writer who specialises in guiding readers through
the world's trouble spots has been kidnapped in Panama, apparently by
Colombian guerrillas on a cross-border raid.

Robert Young Pelton, author of The World's Most Dangerous Places and
other books offering advice on avoiding precisely the kind of trouble
he has now encountered, was seized along with two travel companions
during an armed raid on a cluster of Indian villages in the so-called
Darien Gap, an area of remote rainforest frequented by arms and drugs
smugglers.

A seasoned reporter as well as a travel writer, Mr Pelton was in the
area researching an article for National Geographic Adventure Magazine.

Word of his capture reached his wife, Linda Pelton, at their home in
California earlier this week. The leader of a far-right Colombian
paramilitary group, Carlos Castano, has since claimed responsibility
for taking the three reporters, but said he did it for their own
safety and would soon release them to the Roman Catholic Church.

A Panamanian guide who had been with Mr Pelton and his companions told
reporters he urged them not to go too deep into the rainforest. Four
Indians are believed to have died in the cross-border raid.

Mr Pelton's previous exploits include reporting from Chechnya and
Afghanistan, where he was the first person to interview John Walker
Lindh, the so-called American Taliban. He has also survived a plane
crash in Indonesia, various car accidents and an attack by killer bees
in Africa.
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