The first of two promised hostage releases by the FARC will take place
Sunday, mediator and opposition Senator Piedad Córdoba announced
Wednesday.
The FARC in December promised to release two politicians and four members of the security forces. The guerrillas have always said the release would be done in two parts. Sunday, the guerrillas will hand over politicians Alan Jara and Sigifredo Lopez to the commission authorized by both the FARC and the Colombian Government to do the pick up.
It is still uncertain what the names of the security officials that will be released in the second leg of the operation are. Córdoba said she still didn’t know the names of these officials and also didn’t say when the second release is planned.
“I already have the coordinates, the liberation is under way and the
first release will take place on Sunday, and there will be three
successive handovers,” she told reporters following talks with the Government, Red Cross and the Brazilian Embassy to fine-tune
the operation.
The International Red Cross confirmed they now have the coordinates of the place where they can pick up the hostages, but both the ICRC and Córdoba refused to give further information as not to endanger the operation.