Colombia’s FARC to release six more hostages

By Judi McLeod —— Bio and Archives December 22, 2008

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A message of Christmas hope is sweeping across Colombia tonight. Colombia’s rebel group of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are offering to free an ex-governor, a former lawmaker and four other hostages to help launch talks on a prisoner swap, local news media report. The families of some 700 hostages, mainly Colombian police and soldiers are holding out against hope that their loved ones will be one of the three police officers and a soldier FARC promises to release first. Some of the hostages still in captivity in the jungle have been held as long as 11 years. “These are the same families left heartbroken last Christmas, when the President Hugo Chavez negotiations with FARC failed to set the hostages free,” Bogota Free Planet publisher Ernesto Pardo told CFP tonight.

FARC said in a statement that the release of the hostages would happen soon but did not give a date, Radio Caracol reported. “As an irrefutable demonstration of our good will and as a gesture aimed at creating conditions favorable to a humanitarian exchange, we announce the upcoming release of six prisoners, in two stages,” read the statement, dated Dec. 17. Caracol, which plays a leading role in advocating for the freedom of all hostages, was able to provide of copy of the message to The Associated Press. “The manner, time and place (of the release) will be announced at the proper time,” the FARC said, adding that the hostages would be handed over to a commission headed by opposition Sen. Piedad Cordoba, who has worked in the past to win the freedom for the hostages. “Everyone is hoping the hostages will be home for Christmas,” Pardo said. Following the release of the police and soldier, FARC said former Gov. Alan Jaira of southern Meta state, who was kidnapped in July 2001, and Valle del Cauca, regional lawmaker Sigifredo Lopez, held since April 2002, would be set free. The FARC released six politicians in January and February. On July 2, a military operation freed 15 high-profile hostages, including three U.S. contractors and French-Colombian dual national and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. The families of the 700 hostages still in FARC captivity worried after the military operation that FARC might take revenge on the captives who remain and news of their fate has been scant. The news of the hostage release is joyful to the thousands of Colombians who took to the streets on Nov. 28 demanding the release of all the hostages held by FARC. Marches and rallies were held in Bogota and dozens of town and cities in the country, said Maria Teresa Bernal, one of the protest organizers. In Bogota, protesters carried banners reading, “Freedom for All” and “Christmas is a time of peace, all united for life and freedom.” Dressed in white shirts, the protesters marched across the main streets of many cities.