Colombian guerrillas kidnap six tourists

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BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian guerrillas kidnapped six tourists travelling by boat on a remote river a few days after freeing two high-profile hostages in a deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, authorities said.

The hostage release has fuelled hopes for an accord with the Marxist guerrillas, but they are still holding hundreds of captives for ransom or political leverage, including French Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans.

The six Colombian tourists were kidnapped on late on Sunday afternoon when rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, intercepted their boat in Choco province, a jungle region on the Pacific coast, the Navy said.

"A group of armed men, who identified themselves as members of the FARC, fled kidnapping six of the tourists after stealing fuel from the boat, cash and cellphones from the passengers," the Navy said in a statement.

Chavez last week helped negotiate the release of Clara Rojas and former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez, who were both held for more than five years in jungle camps by the FARC, which Washington brands a drug-trafficking terrorist group.

Captured with Betancourt during her 2002 presidential campaign, Rojas gave birth to a son Emmanuel in 2004. When he was 8 months old the boy was turned over by the FARC to a peasant family in southern Colombia. The two were reunited in Bogota on Sunday.

Attempts to free FARC captives have intensified with French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling Betancourt's release a high foreign policy priority.

But Chavez, a foe of Washington, has stirred tensions with Colombia by demanding President Alvaro Uribe recognize the rebel's political status and urging foreign governments to take the group off their lists of terrorist organizations.

The FARC is deadlocked with conservative Uribe over conditions for swapping dozens of high-profile captives -- including Betancourt, the three Americans, police officers, soldiers and politicians -- for jailed guerrillas.

The rebels insist Uribe pull troops from a large area in southwest Colombia. But Uribe, whose father was killed in a botched FARC kidnapping more than 20 years ago, says creating such a safe haven would allow the guerrillas to regroup.