Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos asked his defense minister Tuesday to represent the government in negotiations regarding the planned release of six FARC hostages.
At the same time, Santos disqualified any other government official to make statements regarding the release.
Before any other government official could respond to the FARC’s announcement, Vice-President Angelino Garzon posted on his Twitter that “we hope that everything will be possible before December 31,” adding that “what we need of the FARC more than anything is that they commit to releasing all hostages without any kind of conditions and, like President Juan Manuel Santos has said, be willing to create the space for peace and dialogue.”
In a letter to former Senator and hostage mediator Piedad Cordoba that was made public Tuesday, the FARC announced their intention to release six hostages, including police officials Jorge Trujillo Solarte, Jorge Humberto Romero and Jose Libardo Forero.
Since January 2008, the FARC have unilaterally released 14 hostages, including politicians, police officers and soldiers through Colombians for Peace, headed by Cordoba.
Last month month, the guerrillas murdered four hostages in an apparently botched military attempt to rescue them.
There are currently 11 uniformed men still detained at the hands of the FARC. Santos has said that their release is a condition for peace negotiations between rebels and government.