Rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) are actually holding hostages in Venezuela, even though the Venezuelan government denies it, General Freddy Padilla de León, the commander of the Colombian Military Forces said in an interview published on Monday.

"Yes, of course those kidnappings exist, and it is regrettable," Padilla de León told Bogota-based daily newspaper El Tiempo. He explained that such cases are recorded in the registers kept by anti-kidnapping military and police units in Colombia.

According to Padilla de León, the FARC and the ELN "have kidnapped Colombians and taken them to Venezuela, and have also kidnapped Venezuelans and are keeping them in Venezuela. This is an issue that even Venezuelan cattle-raisers have reported," he added.