Colombia: Rebels free eight hostages

Colombia's FARC guerillas released eight hostages and handed them over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), according to ICRC officials yesterday. A statement from the ICRC said that the FARC approached the aid agency to do the handover, the Colombian military paid no role in the action, and that the ICRC will “continue to support efforts” to try to free other hostages.

Unfortunately, several hundred remain held unfairly against their will by the FARC in heinous conditions including at least two who were kidnapped with the eight freed on Wednesday.

The handover was the first hostage release by the FARC since a military mission freed fifteen people including Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. contractors earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos revealed the covers used by the rescuers on the July 2^nd military mission. The mission already hit controversy when it was revealed that the ICRC symbol was misappropriated and apparently another entity was misrepresented:

Two people who helped rescue 15 hostages from Colombian rebels posed as journalists from a real Venezuela-based television news organization, Colombia's defense minister said Wednesday.

Two of the nine rescuers assumed the roles of journalist and cameraman from the news organization TeleSUR during the daring rescue, Juan Manuel Santos said…

TeleSUR's general director of information, Armando Jimenez, said the company was preparing a response.

Jean-Francois Julliard, deputy director of the press advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders, said authorities can endanger journalists when they pose as members of the news media.

Image- CNN (“Carlos Cuesta, left, greets family members after being released by FARC rebels on Thursday.”)

Sources- CNN, AFP, Canada.com, BBC News, The Latin Americanist