By: Helen Murphy
Source: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/22/colombia-farc-hostages_n_6204124.html?utm_hp_ref=world
Colombian President Juan Manuel
Santos hopes to secure the release of five captives held by Marxist FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolcionarias de Colombia)
rebels. President Santos stated through a message on his Twitter account that
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has issued the coordinates to
the pick up zone to free the hostages and he would accelerate the procedure in
the next few days. The captives were not named and no information was presented
on whether they would be freed all at once or one at a time. The day after
Santos’s statement on Twitter, General Rubio Dario Alzate and two others were
snatched by the FARC. After an anxious couple of days, the FARC assured they
would return all five hostages in an offer to resume peace talks that were
unexpectedly suspended by Santos succeeding the seizures. Santos’s Tweet read,
“The coordinates have been received. I am giving instructions to facilitate the
liberation for next week” (Murphy, 1). Although there have been substantial
enhancements in security, the conversation on the continued conflict
as attacks on civilian and military targets continue. Santos instantaneously
halted negotiations after the sequester of General Alzate and the lawyer and
solder that were travelling with him. He is said to resume the negations once
the rebels have freed them. General Alzate is the highest-ranking military
captive ever taken by the FARC. The rebels have claimed that they have stopped
kidnapping for ransom, but they believe military personnel are fair targets
when there is no cease-fire.
The FARC are a terrorist
organization involved in the continuation of the Colombian armed conflict since
1964. The procedures of the FARC-EP are funded by kidnap to ransom, illegal
mining, and the production and distribution of illegal drugs. Occurrences by
rebel groups like this one often go unrecognized by many because nothing is
said of them on the news, therefore, articles like this provide one with
otherwise unknown information.
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