Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC announced they will release another
member of the armed forces who is currently held by the rebels. Pablo
Emilio Moncayo has been in FARC captivity for more than eleven years.
The FARC announced the release in a letter written to ‘Colombians for Peace’, a group of prominent Colombians that seek a political solution to their country’s violent conflict and started a correspondence with the guerrillas.
The rebels say they will release the army corporal after repeatedly being insisted to do so by opposition senator Piedad Córdoba, chairman of ‘Colombians for Peace’.
Moncayo was captured by the rebels on December 21, 1997, when the FARC attacked the military base where the then 18-year-old corporal was stationed. In the attack, 22 members of the military were killed and 18 were taken hostage. 16 of the hostages were released shortly after.