http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02643438.htm
Colombia to free rebels in hostage gesture 02 Dec 2004 17:43:25 GMT Source: Reuters BOGOTA, Colombia, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Colombia on Thursday said it would pardon 23 jailed rebels to encourage Marxist guerrillas to free 72 hostages, including three Americans. "We hope that this act of peace by the government will mean that very soon the people who have been unjustly kidnapped will be returned to us," the government's chief peace negotiator, Luis Carlos Restrepo, told a news conference to announce the pardons. There was no immediate response from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to the offer. But the government gesture fell short of demands by the 17,000-strong Marxist guerrilla army known by the Spanish initials FARC for the release of thousands of rebels from prison in return for the hostages. The hostages held in secret malaria-racked jungle prison camps include soldiers, politicians, and three civilian U.S. Defense Department contractors caught when spying on drug crops in February 2003. The FARC is also holding former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian national, and French diplomats have actively pressured Colombia to obtain her release. The rebels to be freed are all of low-rank and have promised not to rejoin the armed struggle, officials said. The rebels have been waging war against the state for 40 years in a conflict claiming thousands of lives a year. They call for socialist reform in a country where most people live in poverty, but the rebels fund themselves by "taxing" cocaine and kidnapping for ransom. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
