Two hostages were released by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed in a statement.
The hostages, police major Guillermo Solorzano and soldier Salin Sanmiguel, “were delivered to former Senator Piedad Cordoba, ICRC members and one members of the non-governmental organization Colombians for the Peace,” said the statement.
The humanitarian mission, dubbed “Freedom,” began Wednesday morning from Cali, capital of Valle de Cacua department, to an unspecified place in southwest in the department, where the release was made.
The two released hostages were transferred by the Cougar helicopter of the Brazilian army, which landed in “Alfonso Bonilla Aragon” airport of Cali.
After his release, Sanmiguel told reporters at the airport that since he was taken hostage in 2008 all the time he was chained because “they did not remove the chain for anything.”
Solorzano, was taken hostage in 2007, said that since a week ago they began walking to get close to the area where they were released.
Solorzano and Sanmiguel were meant to be released on Sunday, but due to a coordination mistake, the rescuers were not able to find the place where the FARC would release them.
The mission was an initiative of former Senator Cordoba. It began on Feb. 7 and was supported by Brazil as in previous occasions.
The FARC currently still holds 16 hostages of the public forces, some of them captured 10 years ago.
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