The release of FARC hostages Pablo Emilio Moncayo and Joshua Daniel Calvo, which was scheduled to occur in the last 72 hours, is on Monday still pending, as authorities await receipt of a signed security protocol from the guerrilla group, reported Caracol radio.
According to the operation’s mediator with the FARC, Senator Piedad Cordoba, the guerrilla group received the document, which had been signed by the Colombian government and the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC), on March 12.
According to Cordoba, until the protocol is signed procedures will not be able to advance.
“It could arrive at any moment, but it’s a complex procedure that takes time,” said the government official.
The hostage release operation was declared to be in its final stages last week, when commander of the armed forces, General Freddy Padilla, announced that the Brazilian air force were in place to co-operate in the procedure and that all that remained was for “the FARC to come forward.”
Both hostages are Colombian soldiers. Moncayo has been held by the FARC since 1997, while Calvo has been held since April 2009.