The FARC will release two hostages on Thursday or Friday, former Senator Piedad Cordoba said following a press conference on Tuesday.
The two hostages, Salin Sanmiguel and Guillermo Solorzano, were supposed to have been released the previous Sunday, but were not at the designated spot when Brazilian helicopters carrying Cordoba and members of the Red Cross arrived.
“Everything is in the hands of the government at this moment. The releases may take place Thursday or Friday,” the former senator was quoted as saying by newspaper El Tiempo.
On Tuesday morning, the government gave the green light to move forward with the stalled release, but demanded more control over the operation.
President Juan Manuel Santos’ representative on the release mission, Eduardo Pizarro, will meet with Cordoba in the city of Cali on Wednesday to discuss the resumption of the operation.
In an interview with CNN en Español, Santos said he didn’t rule out the possibility that the FARC had used the temporary suspension of military activity in the area where the hostage releases were to take place to allow important leaders, maybe even supreme leader “Alfonso Cano” to move around without risking a run-in with the military. According to Santos, this may have caused the guerrillas to fail to deliver the hostages.
The south of the Tolima department, the region that was demilitarized to allow the hostage releases, is a traditional FARC stronghold and the alleged hide-out of Cano.
Santos and his Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera will remain in close contact with Pizarro in the coming days to make sure the hostage releases are successful this time.
The FARC has not said anything about the controversial failure to deliver their hostages.