Colombian President Álvaro Uribe won’t allow opposition senator and
mediator Piedad Córdoba and members of the group ‘Colombians for Peace’
to be involved in the promised hostage release Monday and Wednesday of
two politicians held by the FARC.
The Government now “exclusively authorizes the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Brazil for its logistical support to continue this operation, which is sufficient for a humanitarian gesture,” the President announced Sunday after the bumpy release of four members of the security forces.
The government did not say why it withdrew the authorization for Córdoba and her group to take part in the operation that is to release politician Alan Jara Monday and politician Sigifredo Lopez on Wednesday.
The Government and members of the ‘Colombians for Peace’ group did clash Sunday after the mediators had accused the Colombian military of having risked a successful operation by conducting military operations in the area. Jorge Enrique Botero, a Colombian journalist traveling with the mission, says he has given sound recordings to Venezuelan television station Telesur that prove military activity in the area where the release was taking place.
The accusations were immediately denied by the Government’s High Commissioner of Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo who said that at no time the ICRC had said anything about military operations. The ICRC itself mentioned no irregularities afterward.
Uribe did admit there was military aircraft in the area at the time of the release, but they had been above the permitted altitude.
Now that ‘Colombians for Peace’ are no longer allowed to take part in the release, it is uncertain if the FARC will proceed with the liberations of Jara and Lopez.
