COLOMBIA: Freed Hostage Calls for Peace Negotiations
By Constanza Vieira*
BOGOTÁ (IPS) - "At one point I thought we weren't going to
find him," said Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba about Alan Jara,
the latest hostage to be freed as a goodwill gesture by insurgents
after more than seven-and-a-half years as their captive in the
jungle.
When the members of the humanitarian mission arrived at the
rendezvous site, "all we could see were guerrillas," as well as
"large numbers of campesinos (small farmers)" who had come along to
witness the handover, somewhere in the jungles of southern Colombia.
For 394 weeks made up of 2,760 days, or rather "nights", as Jara
himself described them on Tuesday at a press conference in
Villavicencio, the capital of the central province of Meta, he was a
hostage of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The former governor of Meta province was captured in July 2001, when
travelling in a United Nations vehicle with a U.N. mission, and was
held since then in the jungle, pending a deal to swap him and other
hostages for FARC rebels imprisoned by the government.
Shortly before 13:00 hours (18:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced that Jara was free, and
was on the way to Villavicencio in a helicopter loaned by the
Brazilian government for the operation.
Less than half an hour later, a congratulatory message arrived from
the European Union's Commissioner for External Relations and
European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, showing that
the unilateral release of six hostages by the FARC, which began on
Sunday and is due to finalise on Thursday, is being closely watched
by the international community.
Today "all the conditions were met," and the handover was
accomplished rapidly as planned, said the ICRC spokesman in
Colombia, Yves Heller, who travelled with the mission led by Córdoba
and coordinated by the humanitarian agency.
Heller's report indicated that the obstacles and risks to Sunday's
operation, in which three police officers and one soldier were
released, had not been repeated. Heavy rains, and the violation by
the government of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe of the protocols
guaranteeing the mission's safety, nearly upset the earlier
liberations.
"We spent three hours," at the place arranged by the FARC for Jara's
handover, Senator Córdoba said.
The government ceasefire in that region was due to expire two hours
after the Brazilian helicopter left the area.
"May you all travel safely, may no one be killed or injured" on any
side in the rescue operation, 998 feminist organisations told
Córdoba at a meeting in Bogotá last week.
Since September, Córdoba has led a "Diálogo Público Epistolar"
(exchange of open letters) with the FARC, initiated by the group
Colombians for Peace and supported by 130,000 signatures.
In fact, Córdoba took the opportunity of Jara's release operation to
send another message from the group to the FARC.
"The message was verbal, not written," said Alpher Rojas, one of the
intellectuals who signed the Colombians for Peace open letters.
Córdoba was to convey "that it is very important to maintain the
policy of releasing hostages and to end the scourge (of kidnappings)
once and for all," he said.
The FARC and the second largest guerrilla group in Colombia, the
National Liberation Army (ELN), kidnap people for ransom in order to
raise funds for themselves.
Colombians for Peace wants a commitment from both insurgent groups
to end the practice of kidnapping, which the International Criminal
Court describes as equivalent to enforced disappearance, and a war
crime.
The civilian group hopes for "more releases and the opening of not
just a window but a gateway to peace in this country," feminist
leader Olga Amparo Sánchez, also a member of Colombians for Peace,
who accompanied the eventful mission on Sunday, told IPS.
The FARC guerrillas are not defeated, Jara told the press. "I see no
possible solution to the conflict other than negotiation. Therefore
I would like to join Colombians for Peace, and I hope they will
accept me," he said.
The FARC "have an enviable supply network" and remarkable logistics.
Young people continue to join their ranks, he said.
"As long as the social causes persist," the politician said,
referring to the poverty in which half the Colombian population are
mired, the guerrilla warfare "will not end".
In regard to the conditions of his captivity, he said "there is no
mistreatment, no humiliation or anything of that kind. They simply
give us what there is" to eat, a meagre diet, which Jara described
humorously.
Sometimes he was given jaguar meat, called "tiger" in the Amazon
region, but he ate all manner of strange foods, anything and
everything that was available.
About the chains that other freed FARC hostages have talked about,
Jara said they were a "security" measure used by the guerrillas, not
without regret, only when their captives are not penned behind wire
fences in jungle jails, although he cannot forget "the cold feeling"
around his ankles.
The former governor also said that for the past two years, two
government soldiers have been shackled together with one chain
because the guerrillas thought they might attempt to escape. Jara
called on FARC commanders "to eliminate" the use of chains, "because
it is degrading."
The guerrillas are still holding 22 officers and non-commissioned
officers, whom they wish to exchange for imprisoned rebels
imprisoned by the government in reciprocal liberations. It is known,
from other released hostages, that members of the military and
police are treated more harshly than civilian hostages.
"The priority is to get them out of there," Jara said about the
captured members of the security forces. As for hostages held for
ransom, "We demand freedom for them all, and what must be done is to
achieve an agreement," the politician said.
Last week, on the march toward his liberation, "my life was in grave
danger," said Jara, confirming the warning given by Córdoba on Jan.
29.
In the jungle, "the world is upside down: the guerrillas protect us
and the army shoots at us." During his seven-and-a-half years in
captivity, what he was most afraid of was military rescue attempts
and bombardments, he said.
Appearances would suggest that it suits President Uribe for the war
in this country to be prolonged. And it would seem that "it would
suit the FARC for him to remain in power," Jara said, looking back
on the intense combat between the government and the rebels for the
past six-and-a-half years.
According to Jara, a rebel commander told him he personally hoped
the president would be reelected, because a greater level of
violence would lead to "a revolutionary situation," an argument put
forward by the leader of the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Ilyich
Lenin.
Over recent weeks, Jara had to trek 150 kilometres on foot through
the jungle.
"That was really tough," he told Gustavo Moncayo, the teacher and
"peace walker" who in 2006 founded the present national campaign
against kidnapping and who was at the press conference.
Moncayo walked from the southwestern border of Colombia to the
Venezuelan capital, a distance of some 2,000 kilometres, seeking the
release of his son, an army corporal, who has been in the hands of
the FARC for over 11 years, waiting for a humanitarian agreement.
The third and last phase of the present hostage release operation is
planned for Thursday, when Sigifredo López, a former regional
legislator for the western province of Valle del Cauca, is due to
return home. He was kidnapped in April 2002 along with 11 of his
colleagues.
López is the only survivor left of this group of lawmakers, and his
account of how the others were shot to death on Jun. 18, 2007 is
keenly anticipated.
"Apparently it was 'friendly fire' (from other guerrillas)," Jara
said, an explanation that agrees with the government's version of
the massacre.
Two huge protest marches against the FARC and kidnappings last year,
the first mass demonstrations in Colombia since the start of the
civil war in the late 1940s, were "an injection of life and hope for
us," because until then the country had appeared to be indifferent
to the fate of the hostages, Jara said.
The former governor saluted Colombian media for promoting a campaign
against kidnapping, which has "raised awareness in the country," he
said.
"I do not rule out the possibility that this influence and this
political about-face may have come about because of the massive
repudiation of kidnapping shown by ordinary Colombians," he said.
"We have made progress. In fact, I am here because we have made
progress," said this man, who watched the collapse of the twin
towers of the World Trade Centre in New York on live television in
the jungle, following the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001.
During his captivity "there was no conversation" with the rebels. "I
don't understand them," he said about the FARC.
*Constanza Vieira is a member of Colombians for Peace. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
