Professor Gustavo Moncayo, the father of former FARC hostage Pablo Emilio Moncayo, revealed Monday that his son has fled Colombia after receiving multiple death threats.
“I wouldn’t have brought these threats to light if he weren’t outside [Colombia]. They say that he is a representative of the guerrilla, which is unjust after having been in the power of the FARC for twelve years,” Gustavo Moncayo said.
Colombian press reported Monday that Pablo Emilio planned to leave Colombia “in the next few days” due to security concerns.
“I don’t feel safe, tensions are increasing, I don’t know what the authorities are doing,” Pablo Emilio said in an interview with Noticias Uno.
“I have realized that some people are following me and when I try to get close to a policeman, they disappear,” Pablo Emilio added.
In the interview Pablo Emilio confirmed that he wants to continue working as a member of the Colombian armed forces, saying that after spending twelve years in the jungle waiting to return to his profession, it would be “absurd” to simply abandon it now.
Gustavo Moncayo said that many of the threats – received via email, text message, telephone and the Internet – label him and his son as friends of the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador. He revealed that he is trying to get the rest of the family out of Colombia as well.
“We have been to the French and Italian Embassies and we are looking at who can give us a hand, because we don’t have any security,” Gustavo Moncayo said. The entire Moncayo family claim to have received death threats.
The professor’s latest comments follow his statement earlier Monday, when he said that Pablo Emilio was seeking asylum, but did not mention that he had already left Colombia.
The FARC released Pablo Emilio at the end of March, after twelve years in captivity.