Colombian senator announces release soon of hostages held by rebels

[Judi Lynn]

Colombian senator announces release soon of hostages held by rebels
www.chinaview.cn 2009-01-27 11:53:50


BOGOTA, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Six hostages held by Colombia's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), will be released in about 12 days time, Senator Piedad Cordoba said on Monday.

After a meeting with Foreign Minister Fabio Valencia, Cordoba said a Brazilian representative will arrive in Colombia to review details of the operation. The Brazilian government and the International Red Cross have agreed to provide the logistics for the release.

"I met yesterday with the (Colombian) high commissioner for the peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo, and today I met with the foreign minister, for sure all preparations have been undertaken," Cordoba said.

In December 2008, the FARC announced it would release two politicians and four military personnel.

Cordoba said that Brazilian Air Force planes will take a humanitarian team from Colombia to Brazil, where details of the release will be worked out.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/27/content_10724916.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Brazil offers choppers for hostages

Brazil offers choppers for hostages
Web posted at: 1/24/2009 8:25:0
Source ::: AP

BOGOTA: Brazil will provide helicopters to facilitate the liberation of six hostages that leftist Colombian rebels have offered to free without conditions, the country’s ambassador said yesterday. The International Committee of the Red Cross is brokering the release, which the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, announced on December 21. Neither a date nor place has been set. The Red Cross said yesterday that it had asked several countries in the region about providing logistical support for the mission. Brazil’s ambassador, Valdemar Carneiro Leao, told reporters that Colombia’s government had accepted his country’s role.

He stressed that no Brazilian government delegate would participate. “Our participation is limited exclusively to giving the Red Cross the logistical means to enable the operation,” the ambassador said.

President Alvaro Uribe, whose US-backed government has dealt the FARC crippling blows in the past two years, has rejected a FARC request that an international guarantor accompany the release.

Uribe has instead suggested that a representative of the Roman Catholic church be present. The FARC said in December that it would free two politicians — former Meta state Gov. Alan Jara and former regional lawmaker Sigifredo Lopez — as well as three police officers and a soldier, whom it has not identified. Jara was kidnapped in July 2001, Lopez in April 2002. Early last year, the FARC unilaterally released six hostages. Then, in July, Colombian military agents rescued 15 rebel-held hostages including three U.S. military contractors and French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt in a bloodless ruse disguised as an international relief mission.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Americas&month=January2009&file=World_News200901248250.xml

[Vogon_Glory]

2. A liberated hostage in freedom and safety is worth 100's of promises from FARC n/t

[Judi Lynn]

3. Colombia rebels to free hostages Sunday

Colombia rebels to free hostages Sunday
Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:17pm GMT
By Luis Jaime Acosta

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Leftist Colombian rebels plan to free some hostages on Sunday in what would be their first high-profile release of captives from jungle camps in a year, a lawmaker coordinating the operation said.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, offered last month to free two local politicians and four members of the security forces, but negotiations dragged.

Left-wing Sen. Piedad Cordoba said on Wednesday she had been told where the rebels would hand over some of the six hostages who have been held by Latin America's oldest insurgency for years.

"I already have the coordinates, the liberation is under way and the first release will take place on Sunday, and there will be three successive handovers," she told reporters following talks to fine-tune the operation.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is involved in coordinating the release and Brazil will provide helicopters to pick up the captives. Last year's releases were negotiated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with the senator's help.

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE50R6CW20090128?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401