Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC says to hold no more than nine “economic” hostages captive for extortion purposes.
The number of hostages the FARC admit to hold hostage is significantly lower than figures revealed in 2008 by País Libre, an organization that defends the interests of (ex)hostages and was founded by current vice-President Francisco Santos.
The same Francisco Santos said half a year ago most of the FARC hostages are probably dead and they would probably hold no more than 150 captive.
Police figures say last year the FARC took thirteen civilians hostage to extort their families, increasing the inclarity about the real number of people being held captive by the leftist rebels.
Government officials admitted to Caracol Radio that there are no official figures about the number of people being held hostage, despite the fact that police, army, prosecutor general and NGOs agreed years ago to clean up databases and provide more clear figures about the exact number of hostages.
The officials say it is certain that the number of abductees is not as high as generally thought or as national authorities indicate and the real number probably is closer to that of what the FARC says than reported by Bogotá.
According to País Libre, the majority of hostages is not held by the FARC, but by common criminals.