Colombia offers leniency for hostages return
Colombia offered to suspend the sentences of jailed guerrillas if the rebels first free hostages including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said if some captives are liberated, it could begin the process of exchanging rebels for dozens of high-profile hostages, including three US defence contractors.
“It is enough that Ingrid Betancourt be immediately freed for us to consider this humanitarian exchange is moving forward and to begin delivering the benefits of suspended sentences to (jailed) members of the guerrilla group,” Mr Restrepo told a news conference.
In return for their release, rebels would have to promise not to return to the ranks of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been fighting for decades to topple the government.
Family members of Ms Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen who has spent more than six years hostage in the jungle, are increasingly raising concerns over reports of her failing health. Ms Betancourt’s husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, has warned that she has “just months” left to live.
Colombia’s top public ombudsman said Thursday he had received reports that Ms Betancourt is dangerously ill, suffering from Hepatitis B and the skin-eating disease lesmaniasis.
“We hope from this moment on that the loud national and international clamour for Ingrid Betancourt’s liberation can lead us in the fastest way possible to her freedom,” Ms Restrepo said following a meeting with President Alvaro Uribe.
