Uribe authorizes guerrilla men swap for hostages
Bogot? March 28 ABN.- The decision is contained in a decree signed by the Colombian government Thursday night, according to the Colombia’s Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, means it’s ‘an immediate mechanism for the humanitarian agreement.’
Basically, the only requirement to carry out the humanitarian agreement is to release the hostages, Restrepo said.
According to the Peace Commissioner, the decree enforced a law of 2005. The decree declares that the government ‘opens the way for an humanitarian agreement with the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).’
He reiterated that the only requirement imposed by the Colombian government is that the FARC releases all the hostages, which will then position the government to demand the Colombian justice to suspend the sentences of the rebels, no matter what their crimes were or the time of their sentences.
It is enough from the government to seek release for all the hostages when there is an humanitarian agreement, Restrepo said after insisting several times on the urgent release of Betancourt.
Meanwhile, Ombudsman Vé«„mar Pé–žez, said Thursday that Betancourt, who suffers from leishmaniasis and hepatitis B, has been getting medical attention in a health center located in the southern jungle of the country, a zone controlled by the guerrilla.
‘The information that we have is that her health is very, very delicate,’ he said.
Among the guerrilla members in jail are two to be extradited to the United States, ‘Sim髇 Trinidad’ and a guerrilla woman known as ‘Sonia’, both of them want to be exchanged for the three American citizens who are in the hands of FARC.
The biggest obstacle is the guerrilla’s request for demilitarize Florida and Pradera, two localities with more that 800 square kilometers. Uribe does not accept the demilitarization request.
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