Colombians hold mass rally

BOGOTA, Colombia – More than a million people marched through Colombia’s major cities Thursday and drivers honked horns in unison in a mass protest to demand the immediate liberation of the country’s kidnap victims.

In all, some 3,000 Colombians are being held by kidnappers, according to the anti-abduction citizens group Pais Libre. Those being held include former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors in the hands of leftist rebels.

Thursday’s protest was organized after leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said last week that 11 state lawmakers the rebels had held for more than five years were killed in a “crossfire.”

Called by the government and the church, marches and “human chains” were staged at noon in different cities from the Amazon jungle outpost of Leticia to the Caribbean city of Cartagena.

Wearing white T-shirts and waving flags, thousands marched on Bogota’s main plaza. Leading the march was President Alvaro Uribe, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Unconditional freedom now!”

Over the past decade, common criminals, far-right militias and leftist rebels have kidnapped more than 23,000 people, making Colombia the world leader in abductions. Over the same period, more than 1,000 died in captivity.