Venezuelan radio reports quoted General Salazar as saying Colombian rebels had hijacked the twin-engine plane of the Avior local airline.

The plane went missing on Saturday during a short domestic flight from the provincial capital of Barinas to Guasdualito in southwest Venezuela near the border with Colombia. General Salazar has accepted as authentic a communique from the Colombian Leftist rebel group called the National Liberation Army or ELN, the reports said. Leftist guerrillas from Colombia often cross the border to attack Venezuelan military patrols or kidnap rich cattle ranchers.