The front, which recently withdrew from the Quebec government's recent Socio-Economic FARC Colombian guerillas fri With banners and a revolutionary anthem, FARC rebels freed 70 captive soldiers in front of reporters, international observers and thousands of townspeople on June 15th. Colombia's main guerrilla group staged the elaborate ceremony in the remote southern town of Cartagena del Chaira in a bid to win political respect and capitalise on their biggest military victory in decades.
Guerrillas took the opportunity to declare they want a lasting peace, but prospects that their gesture could presage an imminent end to one of Latin America's oldest conflicts seemed dim. "The armed struggle will always be relevant in a country like Colombia," said rebel commander Joaquin Gomez. Rebel demands include land reform and redistribution of Colombia's oil wealth to help the poor.
In the government's most embarrassing defeat in more than 30 years, FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] killed more than two dozen soldiers and captured 60 in an 30 August 1996 attack on a military base. Ten marines were seized in an attack in January this year.
in 2000 Summit in protest at the neo-liberal policies being implemented by the ruling Parti Quebecois, held its annual assembly on 24-25 May. "Representatives of groups of women in poverty, and trade union women, demanded that the FFQ define itself as a campaigning organisation rather than a representative one," Loiselle told La Gauche newspaper. Source: La Gauche website VET DEROS ee captive soldiers
As part of the release deal, President Ernesto Samper agreed to temporarily demilitarise a 13,000 km2 jungle zone, including Cartagena del Chaira on the Caguan River.
The clean-shaven and healthy captives arrived aboard Russian-made MI-17 helicopters provided by the government. They were accompanied by their rebel captors and Red Cross workers.
FARC rebels, wearing arm bands with the national colours of red, blue and yellow, handed out leaflets urging any young people in military service to join their fight. "Desert at the slightest opportunity, preferably with your armyissue weapon," the leaflets read.
The freed soldiers did not complain of mistreatment and said the guerrillas loaned them radios. They jogged, ate pasta and rice, slept in crude bunks and endured insect bites.
Several rebels also used the occasion to meet with family members, before hoisting their knapsacks and heading out of town back toward their remote forest camps. * [AP] Source: Associated Press, 16 June 1997 See also: FARC:http://members.tripod.com/~farc