The government delegate for the FARC hostage release mission, Eduardo Pizarro, has announced that the operation will go ahead after Sunday’s failure, local media report.
However, details on the date and location remain unclear with the government stating that they will release more information in the coming days.
Pizarro stated that only when “everything is ready in the city of Cali (the Brazilian helicopters, the weather and the coordinates) will the government determine a zero hour for the start of the release.”
The government said, moreover, that it will not accept a new failure and continued its demands for the release of all FARC hostages.
Pizarro also reiterated President Juan Manuel Santos’ complaint that the FARC are turning the events into a media show and added, “these releases must comply with humanitarian law and not be made to obtain political advantages.”
The release of Salin Sanmiguel and Guillermo Solorzano, the final two hostages scheduled to be freed last week, failed on Sunday as the FARC allegedly provided the wrong coordinates for the release site.
The failure sparked a furious response from the government delegate to the operations, Eduardo Pizarro.
The government then announced on Monday morning that it would cease all release efforts and would not make a decision on restarting them until it had met with the Red Cross.
By Monday evening, after six hours of negotiations between President Santos, heads of state security agencies and the Red Cross, the government had still not come to a conclusion.
Tuesday’s development will be welcomed by the families of the two hostages who pleaded that the FARC keep their word and liberate the two men.
