Rebels Admit They Don't Have Hostage Boy

Rebels in Colombia have acknowledged that the 3-year-old boy in foster care in Bogota is Emmanuel, the son of one of the hostages they are holding and the focus of a much-publicized release that fell through last week. Farc rebels had announced the release of Emmanuel, his mother Clara Rojas, and another Colombian politician to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The boy, now 3, was left at a hospital in a malnourished condition in July 2005; last week he was DNA-tested and found to be a match with Clara Rojas' mother.  "We now know that the whole time it was clear that the Farc would never have delivered the boy because they never had him," a government minister said.  The leftist rebels still hold some 45 high-profile hostages and as many as 750 others, BBC reports. (More FARC stories.)