Colombia: Rebels free soldier held captive for over 12 years

Today is the first full day that Pablo Moncayo enjoys his newfound freedom after spending over 4000 days in captivity.

The Colombian soldier whom the local press dubbed as the world’s longest held kidnapped victim” was finally freed on Tuesday by his rebel captors. Much like the liberation on Sunday of Pvt. Josue Calvo, Moncayo was handed over by the FARC in a nearby jungle location to a “humanitarian commission” led by Sen. Piedad Cordoba and the International Red Cross. "You have no idea how staggering it is to return to civilization," said Moncayo after being reunited with his family members and then unlocking the heavy steel chains his father wore around his body in solidarity with his son’s plight.

Unfortunately the joyous occasion was somewhat marred by controversy after the Colombian government complained that Venezuelan-owned TV network Telesur broke official protocol by divulging images of Moncayo’s handover. The channel’s president replied by denouncing the Colombian government’s “history of…stigmatizing Telesur” and reminded them of their misuse of the Red Cross symbol during a 2008 rescue operation.

Moncayo’s liberation was said to be the last by the FARC unless a prisoner exchange is agreed to along with the government. Despite the suffering of dozens of families the odds of an agreement are pretty slim:

"Our hopes remain and we have to keep fighting," said Fanny Martinez, a cousin of the 33-year-old soldier.

The rebels sent a statement with the humanitarian team that picked up Moncayo in which FARC commander Alfonso Cano said: "With this unilateral gesture, the FARC considers the path cleared for the immediate exchange of prisoners of war."

But President Alvaro Uribe has opposed a swap of imprisoned rebels for hostages unless any guerrillas who are freed agree to abandon the FARC. Uribe has always insisted any rebels freed from Colombia's prisons as part of a prisoner swap be taken in by another country, such as France.

Image- Times Online
Online Sources- LAHT, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Telesur, AP, NPR

Today's Video: Breaking the chains

We'll have more tomorrow on the freeing of Colombian soldier Pablo Emilio Moncayo, who was let go by his rebel captors after being kidnapped over twelve years ago. For now, here is the moment when he was reunited Wednesday afternoon with his family including a niece and sister who were born while he was held hostage:

Online Source - CNN

Colombian soldier freed by guerillas

Reunited and it felt so good:

Colombian Army Private Josue Daniel Calvo was freed yesterday after spending roughly eleven months held against his will be the FARC guerillas. Calvo hugged several family members shortly after stepping off a Brazilian army helicopter and appeared to be in satisfactory health after previous reports claimed that he was seriously injured in the April 2009 battle that led to his capture. Nevertheless Calvo is currently at a Bogota military clinic where he allegedly told doctors that the rebels carried him in hammock during his first seven months in the jungle.

Calvo was handed over in a publicly unknown part of southeastern Colombia by the FARC to a commission that included the International Red Cross and Senator Piedad Cordoba. Cordoba- who has served as a liaison in previous liberations- called on the guerillas and the government to make a more serious effort at seeking a peaceful solution:

The senator referred to a new call by the citizen movement Colombianos y Colombianas por la Paz (Colombians for Peace) for a humanitarian exchange between the government and the guerrillas, to secure the release of 21 hostages still held by the FARC.



"We are in the process of writing letters to President Uribe, all of the presidential candidates and the FARC," Córdoba said…

The rebel group also announced that it would deliver the remains of Julián Ernesto Guevara, a police officer who died in captivity in 2006, nearly eight years after he was captured by the FARC. 



The insurgents "told us they have his remains, but that they have not been able to bring them out of the jungle because of the continuous attacks by the army. They asked us to be on the alert," Córdoba added.

Tomorrow the FARC are expected to free Pablo Emilio Moncayo, who has spent 12 years in the jungle. Moncayo’s father, Gustavo, has campaigned relentlessly for his son’s liberation including going on nationwide treks with chains surrounding his body. Unfortunately, Moncayo will likely be the last hostage freed at least until current Colombian president Alvaro Uribe leaves office later this year.

Nearly two dozen police and soldiers have been identified by the FARC as part of a possible prisoner swap that has been downplayed by Uribe.

Online Sources- Xinhua, BBC News, Reuters, IPS, The Latin Americanist, YouTube, CNN

Colombia: Uribe OKs Cordoba as hostage mediator

In what could be a promising sign for dozens of Colombians held captive by rebels, President Alvaro Uribe okayed Sen. Piedad Cordoba to serve as a mediator.

Cordoba- who had previously helped arrange the unilateral liberation of several hostages- had been barred from helping arrange the freeing of Colombian soldier Pablo Moncayo. Uribe's initial move- which had been denounced by Moncayo’s relatives- was reversed at a news conference on Wednesday. Cordoba will thus share her mediating duties with the International Red Cross and the Colombian catholic diocese.

Uribe conceded to the FARC guerillas’ demands that Cordoba serve as a liaison but on the condition that they also free 24 kidnapped policemen and soldiers. In addition, he called on the rebels to hand over the bodies of three hostages who died while in captivity.

Uribe had accused Cordoba of using the hostages for her own political gain though she has not expressed running for a political office higher than senator. The disdain for Cordoba’s role in the previous freeing of hostages even led to an investigation against her for supposed illegal ties with the rebels. She has vehemently denied these charges which she has deemed as a “political farce” against her.

The rift between Uribe and Cordoba symbolizes the dangerously divisive nature of Colombian politics. This has not only caught the attention of casual observers but even officials at the U.N.:

The director of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (UNHCR) in Colombia told BBC Mundo that he is "concerned" about increasingly polarized views on human rights and peace in the country.

Christian Salazar, who has just started as director of the UNHCHR in Colombia, said extra judicial execution committed by the army, illegal wire-tappings, forced displacements and paramilitary violence are of primary concern to his office.

He said that Colombia was "divided and polarized" over key issues such as peace and human rights.

Image- El Mundo
Online Sources- LAHT, The Latin Americanist, Colombia Reports, AP

Still seeking freedom one year after “Operation Check”

Yesterday Colombian officials including President Alvaro Uribe and several former hostages commemorated the one-year anniversary of a rescue mission that freed fifteen people. Uribe claimed that “Operation Check” was made possible via the controversial military operation on FARC guerilla commander Raul Reyes’s camp in Ecuador which set off a regional diplomatic crisis. In addition he praised the operation which freed Ingrid Betancourt, three U.S. contractors, among others and said “I hope we have an ‘Operation Check’ numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6”.

Prognostications that the FARC would be decimated in part due to the rescue may’ve been premature. "Don't underestimate their military importance," said a study released by independent Colombian think-tank Foundation of Ideas for Peace which added that the guerillas are gaining strength in some regions. “With the exception of the July 2008 hostage rescue and a battlefield victory south of Bogotá in March 2008, the military hasn't dealt any further blows to the guerrillas' leadership” observed noted Colombia analyst Adam Isacson in this insightful Foreign Policy article.

For all the joy surrounding the fifteen people freed 366 days ago, hundreds of other hostages remain captive in the Colombian jungle. “For me it is very painful to think that our liberation may serve as a justification to forget them, or to have nothing happen, to turn the page,” said Betancourt days ago. The hard-line by the Uribe administration and the FARC has made it almost impossible for any hostages to be freed and returned to the open arms of their loved ones. Take the case of Colombian soldier Pablo Moncayo who has been held hostage since in 1997:

(The FARC) announced in mid-April it intended to free Moncayo. On Monday, it said it would release a second soldier with him.

But Uribe refused the FARC's demand that Sen. Piedad Cordoba, a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, be present for any hostage handover. She has attended five previous unilateral releases of a total of 12 hostages since early 2008…

Uribe says he will only accept the International Red Cross and the Roman Catholic Church as intermediaries.

"We don't understand why exactly President Uribe doesn't respect the life of Pablo Emilio," 22-year-old Yuri Tatiana Moncayo, one of the captive corporal's four sisters, told The Associated Press…

“The president isn't going to facilitate any unilateral liberation because he thinks that will boost the FARC's political agenda and hurt the government," said political analyst Claudia Lopez. "It's cruel, but that's the way it is."

Thus, hundreds of hostages continue to be deprived of liberty as they continue to be used as pawns in a sick game between intransigent sides.

Image- Cambio (Gustavo Moncayo- the father of hostage Emilio Moncayo has campaigned vigorously for the freeing of Colombian hostages including walking thousand of miles wearing symbolic steel chains).
Online Sources- AP, Foreign Policy, Monsters & Critics, The Latin Americanist, Semana, El Tiempo

Colombia: Soldier kidnapped since ’97 to be freed

Colombia’s FARC guerillas announced that they would free a soldier held captive since December 1997.

The communiqué to the “Colombians for Peace” group said that the rebels would “unilaterally free (Corporal Pablo Emilio Moncayo) and personally turn him over" to his father, Gustavo, and leftist Senator Piedad Cordoba. (Cordoba has brokered several hostage handovers in the past.)

The letter also claimed that the rebels would be willing to have talks with the government though both the FARC and President Alvaro Uribe disagree strongly on the conditions for negotiations.

The elder Moncayo- a schoolteacher- has been nicknamed as the “peace walker” due to his freedom marches throughout Colombia. As to be expected, he was enthused over the news of the planned liberation of his son:

"I give thanks to God for a moment so infinite, so big," Moncayo said. "There came a moment when the emotion is so big that it clouds my mind, it clouds my feelings. I won't be at peace until I hold my son in my arms".

Image- daylife.com (“In this television frame released by Venezuela's Interior Ministry in Caracas, Friday, March 7, 2008 , Colombian soldier Pablo Moncayo, who has been held for a decade as a hostage of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is seen during a proof of life recorded message, that was sent to Venezuela's government.”)
Online Sources- Reuters, Colombia Reports, earthtimes.org, Semana, The Latin Americanist,