Opposition senator and hostage mediator Piedad Cordoba insists
Colombian President Uribe takes initiative in seeking a prisoner swap
with the FARC.
In a press release, the lawmaker Sunday said she is waiting for the government to come with proposals to move forward with talks about an exchange of members of the Armed Forces held by the FARC with guerrillas held in Colombian and U.S. prisons.
The Uribe administration has always rejected the ‘humanitarian exchange’ and demands the rebels unilaterally release the members of the Armed Forces held in the jungle.
The FARC agreed to unilatirally release two soldiers, but say other releases will have to be part of a prisoner swap.
The government allows Cordoba, part of social activist group Colombians for Peace and accused by Bogota of having ties to the FARC, only to be present at the liberation of the hostages the rebels already agreed to release. The government does not accept any mediation with the FARC.
The guerrillas have been fighting the Colombian State since 1964, but have been weakened severely by the US-backed offensive by the Colombian military in the past seven years.