Colombia’s Catholic church expects the FARC to release two hostages before the end of the year, Monseigneur Juan Vicente Cordoba said Tuesday after meeting with Red Cross (ICRC), government representatives, and opposition senator Piedad Cordoba.
The church is leading hostage negotiations with the rebels and is supported by the ICRC and the opposition senator.
Earlier Tuesday, the government’s high commissioner of peace, Frank Pearl, also said he expected the release of the two soldiers to take place within two weeks.
The church agrees with Pearl and says it only is working on some final technical and logistical details.
The release of soldiers Pablo Emilio Moncayo and Josué Daniel Calvo has been expected for more than half a year, but has been stalled as both the government and rebels seemed reluctant to make compromises.
The FARC is holding more than twenty members of Colombia’s security forces captive and is suspected of holding a few hundred civilians hostage for extortion purposes.