Former governor of the Meta department Alan Jara was re-united with his
family after having been released by the FARC Tuesday morning. A humanitarian
commission had taken the former hostage from the Guaviare jungle to the
airport of his home town Villavicencio.
The released hostage was picked up in the Guaviare department, where the politician had been a hostage of Colombia’s largest leftist rebel group for over seven years.
The mission had left to pick up Jara earlier Tuesday and was able to successfully complete the operation.
A visibly weakened, but reportedly healthy Jara was re-united with his wife and son after having left the helicopter that had rescued him.
Colombia’s High Commissioner of Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo, who had been in charge of the arrival of hostages both Sunday and Tuesday was called back to Bogotá after he had prohibited press to come near the vicinity of the airport where the former hostage would arrive.
After protests from the press and accusations of censorship, the presidential representative reportedly was dismissed by President Alvaro Uribe and replaced by National Police Chief Oscar Naranjo.