MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Correspondent Diego D'Pablos and cameraman Carlos Melo went missing in Colombia’s northern Norte de Santander Department, close to the Venezuelan border, together with Salud Hernández Mora, a reporter working for El Mundo, Spain’s second largest printed daily.
According to El Mundo, Mora was released on Friday. She said after the release that her kidnapping was "a serious mistake by the ELN [National Liberation Army]" and that the two other reporters would be released "tonight or tomorrow at the latest." Mora claimed that the ELN did not give a reason for the kidnapping.
Earlier this week, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that a large-scale search operation was underway for the three journalists who had disappeared in the guerilla-held conflict zone.
At least three guerilla movements – the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the los Pelusos armed group are active in the area where the journalists disappeared.
RCN exige la inmediata liberación de comunicadores Salud Hernández, Diego D'Pablos y Carlos Melo. #QueRegresenYahttps://t.co/AtBkGnvyk7
— Noticias RCN (@NoticiasRCN) May 26, 2016
The ELN is the second-largest rebel group in Colombia after FARC.
