The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced Thursday that negotiations for the release of FARC hostages Pablo Emilio Moncayo and Josue Daniel Calvo are in full swing, although security details still need to be ironed out.
“There are a lof of [security] details that need to be polished,” said ICRC delegate Christophe Beney, after a three hour meeting with High Commissioner for Peace Frank Pearl, Brazilian Ambassador to Colombia Valdemar Carneiro Leao, and “Colombians for Peace” representative Amparo Sanchez.
Beney recalled that in past hostage releases, flights over the liberation zone had been an issue which “generated a certain mistrust between parties” and he called for greater trust.
The ICRC delegate added that Brazil is ready to facilitate the operational logistics but that a date still has not been set for the liberation.
U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield Thursday night sent a personal message of sympathy to the hostages and said he hoped they would be released soon.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said Thursday that the FARC are postponing the hostage liberation until close to the national elections in order to discredit the government.
Negotiations over the hostages’ release have been ongoing for nearly a year.
Moncayo has been in FARC captivity since 1997, and Calvo since April last year. Both are Colombian soldiers.
In addition to the hostages, the FARC will also release the remains of policeman Julian Guevara, who died in 2006 after eight years in captivity.