Red Cross: Four hostages freed by FARC

A spokeswoman for the International Red Cross (IRC) has confirmed that Colombia’s FARC guerillas freed four former lawmakers after they had been held hostage for over six years. The four ex-legislators were safely handed over to a commission headed by the IRC and Venezuela’s interior minister at around noon according to an IRC coordinator:

"It's a very important day for the Colombian people and for these four freed people," Barbara Hintermann, the Red Cross' director for Colombia, told reporters in Bogota.

She said the helicopters would fly to the Venezuelan border town of Santo Domingo and then fly on to Caracas, the capital, to be reunited with their families.

"It appears that they are in good enough health to travel to Caracas," Hintermann said.

The freed former hostages have been in delicate health and include Jorge Gechem who “is reportedly suffering from heart, back and ulcer problems”. Much like January’s liberation of Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was key in serving as broker between the FARC and Colombian officials.

In a communiqué the FARC thanked Chavez for his intervention, yet warned that they would not free any more hostages unless the Colombian government creates a demilitarized zone. In the past, the Uribe administration has constantly rejected creating a DMZ for a possible humanitarian exchange.

Image- BBC News

Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, CNN, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, swissinfo, Associated Press

Sources (Spanish)- El Tiempo