Venezuelan broadcaster Telesur Thursday showed footage of the release
of six FARC hostages that took place the first week of February. The
documentary also showed an interview with FARC commander Iván Márquez.
The sixty-minute documentary was made by Colombian journalist Jorge Enrique Botero, who took part in the humanitarian mission as guarantor.
Iván Márquez, one of the most prominent members of the FARC’s secretariat, was interviewed by Botero, but the documentary kept it unclear when and where the interview was held.
The documentary did show the consternation that followed the presence of army aircrafts near the area where the first release of hostages — four members of the security forces — took place.
The overflights, initially denied by High Commissioner of Peace Carlos Restrepo but later admitted by Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos as an “error made in good faith”, nearly made the FARC guerrillas present at the hostage release cancel the operation.
According to a FARC guerrilla speaking to the commission, the army had been overflying all points that were part of the mission and showed sound recordings of the army saying a land offensive would follow, using the coordinates and photos made.
In the documentary, members of the Red Cross are seen trying to reach Restrepo, who at that moment was the government’s coordinator of the releases, but without success. A call to the Defense Ministry proved more successful and the planes withdrew.
The ordeal caused the first liberation to be delayed for hours and forced the humanitarian mission to delay the release of former Meta Governor Alan Jara and former Valle deputy Sigifredo Lopez with one day.
Botero, who during the operation called Telesur to denounce the presence of military aircrafts, was fiercely criticized by the Colombian government for “breaking all humanitarian protocols” and was not allowed to take part in the other liberation operations.