Headlines, Human Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

COLOMBIA: Four Hostages Reunited with Families in Venezuela

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Feb 27 2008 (IPS) - “I am alive again; I was the living dead,” said former congresswoman Gloria Polanco when she was reunited with her children in the Venezuelan capital late Wednesday, her first day of freedom since she was taken hostage by Colombia’s FARC guerrillas in July 2001.

Also released with her were three other former legislators who spent six years in the hands of the rebel group: Luis Eladio Pérez, Orlando Beltrán and Jorge Eduardo Gechem.

The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) handed them over as a gesture of backing for the efforts by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Colombian Liberal Party Senator Piedad Córdoba in 2007 to mediate a humanitarian exchange of hostages for hundreds of insurgents in jail in Colombia.

In November, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe suddenly cut off Chávez and Córdoba’s role as mediators.

In January, the rebels handed over two other former lawmakers, Clara Rojas – aide to former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, the highest-profile hostage – and Consuelo González, also as a gesture to Chávez and Córdoba.

Wednesday’s operation followed a pattern similar to that used in the release of Rojas and González: the Venezuelan government, working with the Red Cross, sent two helicopters into the jungles of southeastern Colombia and brought the four hostages back to Caracas, where their families have been waiting for them for the past two weeks.

The exact coordinates for the pick-up spot were only provided by the FARC to Venezuelan Interior Minister Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, a retired navy captain and expert in intelligence, who led the operation, accompanied by Córdoba.

Televised images taken by the government showed the hostages, the rescue team, and male and female guerrillas shaking hands, hugging, and exchanging friendly words in a remote but inhabited jungle area.

“In the name of the FARC, the People’s Army, we are handing over the four hostages, as the FARC secretariat had promised, to President Hugo Chávez and Senator Piedad Córdoba. They are now in their hands, without any of the serious illnesses the media have reported,” the head of the rebel unit in charge of the operation told Rodríguez Chacín.

He added that they had been harassed by the Colombian military, and praised Chávez, “who has looked out for the people of Colombia, since the president (Uribe) isn’t doing so.”

“Thank you, thank you so much,” Polanco repeated, amid tears. She took flowers and bouquets given to her by several women insurgents and said “this is the only thing I can take with me from the jungle; I will put them on my husband’s grave.”

“I want to express my most sincere gratitude to President Chávez and Senator Córdoba. They got the FARC to understand and make these unilateral gestures to free these people who have suffered this torture for seven years,” said Luis Eladio Pérez.

He added that “they have done so to save us from dying. This is an inhumane conflict from every point of view, and they can make an effort from neighbouring countries to help us leave this hellish war behind.”

Gechem invited Chávez and Córdoba “to keep working to help the rest of our companions still in captivity recover their freedom.”

“Thanks so much to all of you, and to you, commander, for what you have done to get us here safely,” Polanco told the guerrilla chief, as he said goodbye. And he thanked the youngest insurgents “for helping us cope with these long hikes.”

At sunset a plane brought the freed hostages to Caracas airport, where their families were waiting for them and watching television coverage of their liberation.

Then it was time for tears, hugs, phone calls, a confusion of faces, laughter, kisses, more hugs and, constantly, remembering those who are still in the hands of the FARC.

Chávez then arranged to receive them all with honours at the government palace.

Presidential spokesman Jesse Chacón asked for “today’s event to be understood as an act of peace. We are grateful for the FARC’s gesture, and we expect a similar gesture from the government of Colombia.”

Earlier, Colombia’s Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos refused the guerrillas’ main demand before they will negotiate an agreement for a hostage-for-prisoners exchange: namely that the municipalities of Pradera and Florida in southern Colombia be completely cleared of army troops.

“The FARC are trying to gain ground. An agreement can be negotiated anywhere, inside Colombia or abroad, and today has shown that a demilitarised zone is not necessary for freeing the hostages,” Santos said.

“We are disappointed by the statements we have heard from the Colombian government,” said Chacón. “We want a negotiated settlement to this conflict. There is no military solution to the Colombian conflict, and we are urging all parties to create a pathway for a negotiated solution.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the release of the hostages on Wednesday was “a positive gesture” on the part of the FARC, and called for “all the hostages to be freed as soon as possible, especially the most vulnerable,” among them Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen.

The FARC issued a communiqué stating that the unilateral hostage release this Wednesday “should be followed by the demilitarisation of Florida and Pradera for 45 days.”

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro commented that “we must wait for the right time and see about these matters later on. Today, let us celebrate the liberation of these hostages.”

The freed hostages and their relatives will be put up for the night at a luxury hotel in the capital, and will probably spend several days in Caracas.