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Panamanian patrols to hunt for missing Americans
PANAMA CITY, Panama (CNN) -- Panamanian police plan to send patrols to search for three missing Americans believed kidnapped by a Colombian paramilitary group last week, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Panama said. The spokesman, Guy Olson, said consular officials have received no news about the three since Sunday, when the Panamanian national police reported them missing from the remote jungle province of Darien near the Colombian border. "I don't think it really changes the level of concern," Olson said. "This is a very, very remote, heavily forested area. Groups go into that area and disappear for lengths of time." The three are Robert Pelton, 47, who has dual citizenship with Canada; Mark Wedeven, 22; and Megan Smaker, 22. A State Department official said three U.S. military helicopters arrived in Panama on a separate humanitarian mission that does not involve search patrols. Pelton, a freelance journalist who formerly worked for CNN, was on assignment in Panama for National Geographic Adventure magazine, said spokeswoman Caryn Davidson. She said the two others with Pelton were traveling companions. "While details are sketchy, we have been in contact with his family as well as government authorities and are closely monitoring the situation through U.S. officials," a statement from the magazine said Wednesday. "We're hopeful that the situation will be resolved quickly and peacefully." Pelton is perhaps best known for being the first to gain access to U.S. Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh in Afghanistan, an interview that aired on CNN. He also has produced a Travel Channel program, "Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places," in which he enters hot spots around the globe and meets with rebel leaders and insurgents. The United States is working with Panama in the search, officials said, and the Canadian government has been staying in touch with American authorities, said Reynald Doiron, a Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman. Panamanian national police said a witness told them the three were ambushed by guerrilla forces Friday afternoon in Darien. The group, in the company of a Panamanian guide, fled into the jungle. The witness, who escaped, told police the attackers wore armbands with the initials AUC -- a Spanish abbreviation for the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a paramilitary group. The U.S. Embassy said Tuesday it had seen reports that the group is holding the three for their own safety because of rebels in the area and will release them soon to humanitarian organizations. Olson said those reports were encouraging. The U.S. State Department has designated the group as a foreign terrorist organization. In the fall, the Justice Department charged leaders of the group with trafficking more than 17 tons of cocaine into the United States and Europe since 1997.
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