FARC release Colombian soldier
By Manuel Rueda, Editorial Director
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Monday, March 29, 2010
Soldier Josue Calvo is recovering from bullet wounds at a military hospital in Bogota after the FARC guerrillas turned him over to the Red Cross in a remote jungle village Sunday.
Calvo was captured by the FARC last April in the State of Meta and spent more than 11 months in captivity in remote jungle camps.
He was shot five times in the leg by the guerrillas when he was seized and throughout his captivity he was carried by guerrilla rebels or hobbled along using a wooden cane.
The guerrillas announced Calvo’s liberation a couple of months after kidnapping him but the release operation was delayed several times due to disagreements between the government and the FARC on security conditions for turning over the hostage.
Calvo’s release was mediated by Senator Piedad Cordoba and a group of politicians and intellectuals who call themselves Colombians for Peace.
This is the first release of a FARC hostage since former Valle del Cauca State Legislator Sigifredo Lopez was liberated in February of 2009.
Twenty five soldiers and politicians held captive by the FARC have been returned to freedom since early 2008 through agreements with the guerrillas by escaping their captors and through a military operation that returned fifteen hostages to freedom.
On Tuesday the FARC are set to release Pablo Emilio Moncayo, a Corporal who has been in captivity for over 10 years.
More than twenty members of Colombia’s military and police are still held captive in remote FARC jungle camps with no set dates for their release.
Colombians for Peace is proposing a humanitarian accord through which the guerrillas liberate these hostages in exchange for the release of FARC prisoners in Colombian jails.
Following Calvo’s liberation, President Uribe said he would accept such an agreement if the guerrillas who are freed from Colombian prisons do not return to illegal activities.
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