Colombia Rebel Group Releases More PrisonersColombia's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Saturday released 32 more captured soldiers and policemen, the Colombian state news agency Ancol reported.The FARC handed over the prisoners to the government peace negotiator Camilo Gomez, in the presence of foreign diplomats and Red Cross representatives, in the rural area of Encarnacion, some 400 kilometers northwest of Bogota, Ancol said. According to Red Cross sources, preliminary physical examinations found the prisoners are in good health. The 32 freed prisoners were captured in military conflicts in the towns of Vigia del Fuerte, Nutibara, Dadeiba, and Urrao, in the state of Antioquia, and Tamborales, on the border with Panama. Freed soldiers and police agents will reunite with family members waiting for them at the Pedro Nel Ospina battalion in the town of Bello, on the outskirts of Medellin's metropolitan area. The Colombian government and the FARC have been exchanging prisoners after they reached an accord on June 2, widely seen as a major breakthrough in arduous peace talks that started more than two years ago. Under the humanitarian prisoner swap deal, the FARC freed 55 ailing military personnel and police they held in exchange for 15 FARC rebels with health problems in the government's custody. As a unilateral gesture of peace, the FARC announced later they would set free another 300 detained government soldiers and policemen, of whom 242 were released Thursday. According to government estimates, the FARC rebels hold hostage some 450 soldiers and police officers in years of conflicts. Colombia is locked in a 37-year-long civil war between leftist rebels, far-right paramilitaries and the government armed forces, in which about 200,000 people have been killed and an average of 3, 000 kidnappings took place every year. |
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