Besieged Red Cross Suspends Operations

The International Committee of the Red Cross suspended all operations in Colombia after peasants seized the organization’s headquarters in Bogota, the capital, and took 40 officials hostage. About 100 peasants displaced from their homes by the country’s long-running war are demanding that the government and the Red Cross help them find new homes and grant them health care and education. Bogota Police Chief Gen. Argemiro Serna visited the Red Cross offices and dubbed the takeover a “kidnap.” The security forces, however, took no immediate action to oust the protesters.