Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Wednesday authorized ‘Colombians for
Peace’ leader Piedad Cordoba to participate in negotiations to free
24 FARC hostages.
The President’s announcement breaks the stalemate, including negotiations for Pablo Emilio Moncayo’s release. Cordoba will work with the International Red Cross.
The FARC promised to release Moncayo in April,
but the operation became deadlocked over Cordoba’s participation in this
release.
Uribe insisted that only the Red Cross could take part in the release
operation, while the FARC demanded that Cordoba take part as a guarantee that the
operation would not be abused by the government.
Uribe said that all 24 political hostages should be released at the same time. He also encouraged the FARC to hand over the bodies of dead hostages.