News Update: Colombia Share This /

• Two FARC hostages were released Wednesday, after being held by the rebel group for more than two years. Major Guillermo Solorzano, 35, was kidnapped by the FARC in Cauca in June 2007 and Corporal Salin Sanmiguel, 28, was kidnapped in Tolima in May 2008 during an attack on the Army in which five soldiers where killed. The two were scheduled to be released to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Sunday, but the release was delayed for reasons that remain in dispute. Government officials accused the FARC of deceiving the humanitarian delegation on purpose, but delegation leader and former senator Piedad Cordoba said the rescue failed due to “adverse weather, and geographical and logistical problems” according to the BBC.
• Another FARC hostage, Carlos Ocampo, a 30 year old police officer who had been held by the guerrillas since December, was successfully rescued on Sunday.
• Salvador Antonio Negrete, one of three members of “Los Urabeños” captured this week, is suspected by authorities of planning the murders of Mateo Matamala, 23, and Margarita Gómez, 26, two students at the Universidad de los Andes.

  The other members captured include Cristian David Bravo and Rafael Antonio Grandett, who is considered to be the regional head of “Los Urabeños”.

• In Antioquia, six presumed members of the FARC were killed in a confrontation with Colombian soldiers.
• New statistics on Cúcuta were released last week that show a 54.8% reduction in homicides in the metropolitan area. In 2010, 31 murders occurred in January, as opposed to 14 in January 2011. Both years registered a very significant decrease in murders compared to January 2002, when 140 murders were committed.
• Rebels bombed an oil pipeline in Putumayo that transports an average of 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil per day, causing it to go offline for several days last week. It is unknown whether the FARC or ELN are responsible for the attack or why that particular pipeline was targeted.
• Last Wednesday, the FARC freed Councilman Marcos Baquero, who had been held hostage by the group for 19 months. The International Committee for the Red Cross rescued the councilman, who was the first FARC hostage released this year.
• As the FARC prepared to release hostages, the group kidnapped two contractors who work for a paper company in Tambo, along with a third man, who managed to escape. It is unknown why the FARC kidnapped the men, but president Juan Manuel Santos condemned the move and, according to MercoPress, Santos responded to the news saying, “I was tempted to suspend the release of the hostages, because it is totally unacceptable that the FARC are on the one hand freeing hostages in a gesture of generosity, and on the other kidnapping compatriots.”
• According to MercoPress, the Santos government has demanded the cessation of hostilities and the release of all FARC hostages before beginning talks to end the conflict in Colombia.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea