Ex-senator and peace activist Piedad Cordoba has announced the FARC will now release a total of ten hostages, reported local media Monday.
The additional four planned releases were reported by Cordoba Sunday shortly after Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that he would allow the use of Brazilian helicopters in the hostage release operation. She announced, “I am speaking for the FARC, who want to give Colombia the good news that they are working towards the unilateral goal of the liberation of ten hostages.”
She said preparations for the release and reception of the hostages by the Red Cross had begun.
Although she could not commit to a release date, Cordoba estimated that the process could take up to six weeks.
The six hostages who the FARC has been promising to release since December are Army Officer Alfonso Beltran Carlos Franco, and policemen Jose Duarte, Cesar Augusto Lasso Monsalve, Jorge Trujillo Solarte, Jorge Humberto Romero, and Jose Libardo Forero. The names of the four new hostages are unknown.
The rebels suspended their release “indefinitely” after Colombia said it would not use Brazilian helicopters, but President Juan Manuel Santos retracted that position Sunday.