The start of the operation of release of five hostages from the FARC was postponed until next Monday for reasons of logistics, said the delegate in Colombia for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Christopher Beney.
It was determined that “it is better to start on Monday,” Beney said to reporters, saying that “if all goes well, the first release will be picked up in nine days, next February 9. The postponement was decided for logistical reasons, because they want to use the same helicopters that Brazil has paid for other similar missions.
The decision to postpone the start of operations was made at a meeting this morning in Bogota, Beney, the coach of Brazil and the delegate appointed by the Government for the release, Eduardo Pizarro. So, everything will start next Monday, February 7, with the journey of former Senator Piedad Cordoba, head of the mission, the Brazilian border town of Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira to pick up the helicopters that will go to find the kidnapped .
Explaining the details of the operation, Cordoba had said this morning that it expected to travel to Brazil on Thursday to begin releases this weekend. On December 8, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced the unconditional release of five hostages, kidnapped between 2007 and 2010, as “humanitarian gesture” to Cordoba, dismissed from his position as senator for alleged connections with the guerrillas.
