FARC releases another hostage

Feb 14, 2011, 0:11 GMT

Bogota - Left-wing Colombian rebels released another hostage Sunday in a 'gesture of goodwill' that has seen four kidnapping victims set free this week.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) handed over police officer Carlos Ocampo to a humanitarian commission at an undisclosed location in the South American jungle.

The planned release of two other hostages, police officer Guillermo Solorzano and soldier Salin Sanmiguel, was delayed for unknown reasons.

The Red Cross said it had not been provided information about when the pair would be released or why they were not freed as scheduled. But local media reports indicated weather conditions could be behind the delay.

The rebels only announced Saturday that Ocampo would be released along with the five others it had planned to release over the course of the week.

The move is aimed at paving the way for talks to end more than four decades of conflict between the rebels and the Colombian government. The government of President Manuel Santos insists that FARC meet preconditions before talks, including an end to all attacks and and release of all hostages.

FARC is still holding 15 uniformed security officials and an unknown number of civilians.

The decades-long civil conflict between FARC and the government began in 1964 and has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives. Millions of people have been displaced from rural areas by the conflict and fled to the suburban slums of large cities. The war is inextricably tied up with the illegal drug trade, which finances the rebels and paramilitaries.

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