Colombia army looks for missing Spanish journalist

Colombian security forces have launched an operation to find a missing Spanish reporter who may have been kidnapped, President Juan Manuel Santos says.

Salud Hernandez Mora, from the El Mundo and El Tiempo newspapers, was last seen on Saturday in north-eastern Colombia, where she was investigating coca crops, the BBC reported.

Spain's foreign ministry says it suspects she was kidnapped by the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The ELN is the second-largest guerrilla group in the country, after Farc.

President Santos said: "I have told the security forces, our generals, commanders and the chief of police to deploy all forces necessary to find her and free her if she is being held."

Hernandez Mora has been a correspondent in Colombia for nearly two decades. She has dual Spanish and Colombian nationality.

El Tiempo (in Spanish) said she had been investigating the eradication of coca crops when she went missing.

The region Hernandez Mora was in is known to have a presence of left-wing guerrilla groups and criminal gangs that profit from drug trafficking.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said that while it was not confirmed she had been kidnapped, "everything suggests" the ELN were behind her disappearance.

More than 260,000 people have died in the conflict in Colombia, which started in the 1960s. A further 45,000 are missing, while 6.6 million people have had to leave their homes.

The Colombian government has entered into peace negotiations with the ELN, which is estimated to have about 1,300 members.

Farc which has about 7,000 members, has been in talks with the government since 2012 and it is expected an agreement will be formally signed by the end of 2016.

Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, who face intimidation from drug traffickers, guerrillas and paramilitaries.

Source : MENA