Peace Commissioner Frank Pearl said he cannot guarantee when the FARC handover of hostages to the Colombian government would take place.
The liberation of Sergeant Pablo Emilio Moncayo, soldier José Daniel Calvo, and the body of Julian Ernesto Guevara will again be delayed by a number of days.
Although Senator Piedad Cordoba said that the delivery of the trio could be made in less than 20 days as far as the FARC is concerned, the government could not guarantee that it was prepared, reported newspaper El Espectador.
“I think we are closer than before but here we must be very careful and very discreet because we can not guarantee when it will be,” said Peace Commissioner Pearl.
He went on to say that “we assure everyone that we are working every day [to secure the] releases. It’s too early to say that they will be handed over in 20 days … because we need to overcome a few hurdles … but for now I can only say that it is too early to [make predictions regarding the release date].
“[The delivery could be made next month], we don’t know … I insist that we be very careful and keep working quietly. When there is something concrete to announce that will be done by the National Government,” said Pearl.
He also added that as far as the government was concerned, the logistics of the hostage transfer were still being defined and that details could not yet be given, because “sharing information [before details are confirmed] would bind all parties to take positions that could hinder the process.”
Regarding the possible involvement of a faciliatator country, Pearl said that there were a number of options being discussed through the media that “have not yet been discussed by those of us involved in and who define the process.”