Former Senator Piedad Cordoba has sent a letter to the Marxist guerrilla group FARC requesting that they release their hostages unconditionally.
In a long anticipated announcement in which the ex-senator was expected to provide details about a FARC hostage release, Cordoba explained that her organization, Colombians for Peace, has opened channels of communication with the guerrilla organization.
“We sent a letter to the FARC recently. It is a preliminary step towards a peace process, it means the application of International Humanitarian Law, humanization of the war, led by the unilateral release of hostages, police, and military,” Cordoba explained. She added that, “we hope that [the letter] opens the possibility not only of the releases, which are very important, but the political and negotiated solution of the conflict in Colombia.”
While President Juan Manuel Santos does not condone any organization opening dialogue with recognized terrorist groups, Cordoba made it clear “that we are not the government.”
The release of the FARC’s hostages is one of the conditions of the Colombian government to start peace talks with the group that has been fighting the Colombian state since 1964.