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FARC To Release Military Hostage Held For 11
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Bogota - Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), Colombia's largest rebel
group, announced on Thursday it would
release Pablo Moncayo, a soldier kidnapped
by the group 11 years ago.
Caption Gustavo Moncayo, father of Colombian
soldier Pablo Emilio Moncayo who has been
held hostage for about 11 years by
guerrillas, displays a chain around his hand
in Jamundi, Colombia June 29, 2007.
(Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
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In a statement posted on the website of
Senator Piedad Cordoba, FARC said that the
release will be a unilateral gesture of
peace and they will seek mechanisms to make
it possible.
Moncayo, one of the longest-held hostages by
FARC, was captured during a rebel incursion
in Colombia's Narino department on the
border with Ecuador.
FARC requested Cordoba to lead a delegation
to receive Moncayo. They did not give more
details.
"Due to the continued requests of Senator
Piedad Cordoba, the organization Colombians
for Peace, Moncayo's father, (Ecuador's)
President Rafael Correa and (Venezuela's
President) Hugo Chavez, we announce our
decision to unilaterally release soldier
Pablo Emilio Moncayo," FARC said in the
statement.
It said a ceasefire would have been agreed
by both sides, and that "bilateralism is the
indispensable rule" in order to build
confidence and create a solid base for
advancement.
Meanwhile, Moncayo's father, known as
"walker for the peace", said that "the news
surprised me. The illusion is so big that it
blinds my senses and mind, we continue
fighting, insisting on a negotiated
political solution. It has been my interest
to fight for all the hostages," he said.
In 2007, Moncayo's father walked for more
than 1,000 km across the country to demand
for the release of hostages under FARC,
which was the beginning of his international
tours and visits to call for public
attention on the kidnaps.
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