Talks resume on ransom for hostages in Bogota

Negotiations between the government and leftist guerrillas resumed Wednesday for the ransom of 21 foreign diplomats held for a week in the dominican Embassy, but the Colombian armed forces warned against releasing imprisoned guerrillas.

Two Foreign Ministry officials, Ramiro Zambrano and Camillo Jimenez, met with a hooded woman guerrilla and the hostaged Mexican ambassador, Ricardo Galan, in a police van in front of the embassy.

While the talks proceeded after a two-day recess, the armed forces issued what appeared to be an indirect warning that they would not tolerate the release of 311 jailed leftists. But the prisoner release is the guerrillas' key ransom demand. The warning came in an editorial in a military newspaper.

The diplomats held include US Ambassador Diego Asencio.