Colombian rebels release another prisoner

Colombian rebels released a fourth captive but a planned handover of two others did not occur.

The government said the men were not at the location designated for the helicopter retrieval by the International Red Cross.

Former Senator Piedad Cordoba, the go-between in all 18 releases by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, since early 2008, did not offer an explanation except to say via Twitter that she was “certain we will soon see them freed”.

She wrote from Ibague, a provincial capital in Colombia’s central cordillera, the staging area for the missions. The Red Cross also did not elaborate.

The government’s delegate, Eduardo Pizarro, told reporters that after picking up police patrolman Carlos Ocampo, a 30-year-old held since December, the loaned Brazilian military helicopter emblazoned with Red Cross logos went to a different jungle location whose coordinates had been provided to Ms Cordoba by the Farc.

Mr Pizarro said “the Farc has committed a scandalous act”.

He said the government would evaluate the situation with the Red Cross and other involved parties today.

He said it “is committed to the liberation” of police Major Guillermo Solorzano, 35, who was captured in June 2007, and of army Corporal first Class Salin Antonio San Miguel Valderrana, 27, captive since May 2008.

Farc now holds fewer than 20 police and soldiers, whose freedom it has proposed exchanging for that of jailed rebels.

Badly battered by government air raids and record desertions during President Juan Manuel Santos’ 2006-2009 tenure as defence minister, the Western Hemisphere’s last remaining rebel army is also seeking a dialogue that might open a path to peace talks.