A humanitarian mission consisting only of opposition senator Piedad Córdoba and
members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is on its way to
pick up former Meta governor Alan Jara Tuesday. The pick up was
planned Monday, but was delayed.
The operation had been planned to take place Monday, but was delayed after Sunday’s release of four members of the security forces led to friction between members of the commission in charge of the liberation, the government and the press.
After being accused of having disturbed the release by conducting military operations in the area and discovering that a renowned Colombian journalist had independently found his way to the pick up spot, the government banned everyone except the ICRC from taking part in the mission and detained RF1 correspondent Hollman Morris who was accused of helping the FARC.
Pressure by the ICRC and relatives of Jara and Sigifredo Lopez, the Valle deputy whose release is expected Wednesday forced Bogotá to allow Piedad Córdoba back in the mission.
If all goes well, Alan Jara will be free this afternoon, Córdoba told the press near Villavicencio airport where the mission takes off.
Some members of the press accused the Government of censorship after they were barred from coming anywhere near the airport. According to the Government’s High Commissioner of Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo, press was kept at a distance as “not to hinder the liberation process.”
Piedad Córdoba meanwhile does not have the FARCs confirmation that the mission, now lacking journalists and members of ‘Colombians for Peace’, the group that brokered the release, still has the green light.