President: FARC to Free Captive Colombia General Saturday
Colombia's FARC guerrillas will on Saturday release an army general whose capture has derailed peace negotiations, President Juan Manuel Santos announced, saying the necessary security protocols were in place.
"In accordance with the protocols, this can be done on Saturday. So it will happen Saturday," Santos said Wednesday.
In addition to General Ruben Alzate, the leftist rebels will also release two army captives taken alongside him, Corporal Jorge Rodriguez and adviser Gloria Urrego, he said.
The three were captured on November 16 as they traveled by boat to visit a civilian energy project in Choco, the jungle-covered western department where Alzate heads a task force charged with fighting rebels and drug traffickers.
The general is the highest-ranking captive taken by the FARC in 50 years of conflict.
After his capture, Santos suspended the peace talks that have been taking place for the past two years in the Cuban capital Havana.
Under a deal mediated by Cuba and Norway, the FARC agreed to release the three captives, as well as two soldiers captured in combat on November 9, in order to resume negotiations.
The two soldiers were freed Tuesday.
The Havana talks are the most promising effort yet to end the conflict, which has killed 220,000 people and caused more than five million to flee their homes since the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was founded in 1964.
Source: Agence France Presse
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