Colombia’s government on Monday received a report concerning prison conditions of guerrillas being held across the country.
Members of Congress and multiple human rights organizations inspected prisons across the country and reportedly interviewed 274 guerrillas from September 24 to December 1 about their treatment in jail, according to a press release from President Juan Manuel Santos’ office.
The report contains an analysis of current conditions in which these persons are deprived of liberty, and provides a series of recommendations that will be reviewed by the government, the Minister of Justice and the High Commissioner for Peace who will meet regularly with the commission.
News of the report comes almost a month after a leading FARC guerrilla lamented the conditions of her “comrades who are rotting in prisons around the country.” The rebel, Sandra Ramirez, may or may not have made a slip of the tongue during her interview with a Cuban newspaper as she went on to admit that the country’s largest rebel group still has “prisoners of war” — a claim quickly refuted by senior FARC leaders. Ramirez claimed that the guerrillas were keeping hostages for a potential prisoner exchange with the Colombian government.
