Anti-kidnapping agents on Saturday freed two Canadian tourists kidnapped since Thursday in the Colombian city of Cali (south), the country’s army said in a statement.

The kidnappers have not yet been arrested because they fled, leaving the victims behind during the rescue operation, said the army, which is offering a reward for information on their fate.

Meanwhile, units establish possible escape routes for those responsible.

The press release from the military authority ensures that the people concerned have been found “safe and sound” and that they have already contacted their families.

The plagiarism occurred in a hotel in Cali, in the department of Valle del Cauca, one of the cities that receives the most foreign visitors in the country.

Between January and September 2023, 245 kidnappings were recorded in Colombia, according to police, representing an increase of more than 70% compared to the same period of 2022, when there were 142 cases.

In October 2023, the father of Colombian Liverpool footballer Luis Díaz was kidnapped by National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas in his hometown on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.

Luis Manuel Díaz Jiménez, father of the Colombian team, was held captive for 12 days, in a case that scrutinized peace talks between the Guevarist armed group and the government.

Colombia is a country where half a century of armed conflict has left more than 50,000 victims of kidnappings, according to figures from the State Truth Commission.

40% were committed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) – a guerrilla group that signed peace in 2016 – and a further 24% by far-right paramilitary groups.

One of the most emblematic cases is that of Ingrid Betancourt, a Franco-Colombian politician kidnapped for more than six years by the FARC. She was liberated by the army during so-called Operation Check in 2008, during which no weapons were fired.