HAVANA: Colombia’s Farc guerrillas confirmed yesterday that they are holding a missing general whose kidnapping caused the government to suspend peace talks aimed at ending the country’s 50-year-old conflict.
In a statement datelined from the Colombian mountains and published on the Farc website, the leftist rebels’ Ivan Rios unit said it had captured General Ruben Alzate, Corporal Jorge Rodriguez and army adviser Gloria Urrego, who disappeared Sunday in the remote department of Choco. “Once they were clearly identified, despite wearing civilian clothes, the three were captured by our units on the grounds that they are enemy military personnel, travelling in their official capacity, in an area of war operations,” said the statement.
The guerrillas pledged to “respect (the hostages’) lives and physical and mental well-being.”
Alzate, who heads an army task force charged with fighting rebels and drug traffickers in the jungle-covered Choco region, is the highest-ranking officer to be captured by the Farc in five decades of conflict.
Officials say the general was travelling by boat to visit a civilian energy project when he was ambushed.
His captors said they would respect Farc leaders’ orders on what to do with their hostages.
“We are subordinate to whatever decisions our commanders adopt,” they said.
The kidnapping has thrown the peace process into crisis as it prepares to mark its two-year anniversary today.
President Juan Manuel Santos, who has made the peace talks the centerpiece of his government over fierce opposition from critics, warned Monday that the future of the negotiations hung in the balance. AFP
