Cordoba announces changes to protocol for Langlois release

Former Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba announced that minor changes will be made to the security protocol for the FARC’s release of kidnapped French journalist Romeo Langlois, scheduled for Wednesday, local media reported.

The leader of the International Red Cross, Jordi Raich, assured the changes to the release would be minor, saying they were logistical modifications to how the rescue convoy would be organized.

On Sunday the FARC announced Langlois would be freed on Wednesday to an international committee of French delegates, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Colombians for Peace, a peace organization headed by Cordoba.

Cordoba said the exact location of Langlois’ release would not be revealed until Wednesday morning, but that all members of the international committee were in the southern part of the country, where the journalist was captured.

“Tuesday at midday we should know the nearby city where we have to travel towards and Wednesday in the morning we’ll receive the exact coordinates,” said the former senator.

Jean Baptiste Chauvin, the French delegate is already in the country.

A statement from the Colombian Ministry of Defense, the French ambassador and the ICRC states that the FARC will notify the committee by 7AM Wednesday morning of the exact location where Langlois will be released. All military activity will be suspended in the surrounding area until 6AM on May 31.

Langlois was reporting on counter-narcotics operations in the southern part of the country when the military unit he was embedded with came under attack. He has been in FARC hands since April 28.

According to reports, he is in good health and expected to return to France following his release.

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