Following the release of the FARC’s last ten political hostages Monday, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos called on the guerrilla group to also release civilian hostages in order to create the conditions for peace talks.
Santos called Monday’s release “a very important step going in the right direction to achieve peace,” but stressed that “there are hundreds of families who don’t know the whereabouts of their loved ones. It is not enough to abandon kidnapping, all civilian hostages must be released.”
According to the Colombian president, “at the moment that there are guarantees to begin a [peace] process that will lead to the end of the conflict in the country it willl be known.”
Santos thanked foreign governments and individuals who have promoted peace in Colombia, but stressed that “peace is a Colombian matter and we Colombians will solve this ourselves.”
The Colombian state has been fighting guerrilla groups like the FARC and the smaller ELN since 1964. The release of hostages was one of the explicit conditions set by Santos to start peace talks.