Missionaries Flee Kidnapping Threat Colombian Guerrillas Abducted An American Who May Be Alive

A group of American missionaries is evacuating its jungle compound in central Colombia because of fears of abduction by leftist guerrillas, authorities said Saturday.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has an estimated 12,000 rebel fighters, kidnapped one member of the Dallas-based Summer Institute of Linguistics last year. They have have demanded $3 million in ransom.

About 100 families have begun leaving the institute camp in Loma Linda, said Mayor Edgar Orlando Parra of nearby Puerto Lleras.

U.S. officials advised the families to move to Bogota, 110 miles northwest, or to other big cities to avoid the danger of kidnapping, he said.

The U.S. Embassy declined to comment.

Telephone calls to institute offices in Bogota and Dallas went unanswered.

The fate of Raymond Rising of Glenwood, Minn., who was abducted near the camp in April 1994, is still unknown.

“We’re waiting for a concrete answer of when you’ll have the money ready or if you’re not going to pay, we’ll tell you when and where you can pick up Raymond’s body,” the rebels said in a September 1994 ransom note.

In a note written from captivity last year, Rising said he was suffering a nerve illness but was being fed three meals a day.

Military intelligence sources said they believe Rising is still alive.

The camp at Loma Linda was established in the 1960s as a center for evangelism and translating the Bible into Indian languages.

In June, two American missionaries who had been kidnapped by leftist rebels in January 1994 were found shot to death east of Bogota.

Timothy Van Dyke of Towanda, Pa., and Stephen Welsh of North Platte, Neb., worked for New Tribes Mission of Sanford, Fla.

Three other New Tribes missionaries were kidnapped in January 1993 and are believed dead.