Bogota - Some 20,000 people marched Friday throughout
Colombia 'for the life and the freedom' of hostages held by rebel
groups in the troubled South American country.
The demonstrations had been organized by the non-governmental
organization Red Paz, in a country where some 3,000 people are
thought to be currently deprived of their freedom at the hands of
leftist guerrillas, extreme-right paramilitaries and common criminal
organizations.
Demonstrators especially called for the release of hostages who
are sick, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid
Betancourt.
Betancourt, 46, the most high-profile hostage held by the leftist
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was kidnapped in
February 2002 and is currently believed to very ill.
The main demonstration took place in the central Plaza de Bolivar
in Bogota, where citizens whistled and held banners with slogans
like, 'They took them alive, we expect them back alive.'
The march - supported by private companies and by private and
state schools - was attended by several former hostages of FARC.
On February 4, a protest against FARC gathered a much more
numerous crowd, while a march was also held March 6 in support of the
victims of Colombia's extreme-right paramilitaries.
The release in January and February of six former politicians who
had been held by FARC since 2001-2002 encouraged some hope that more
could be freed. But the rebel group has warned that there will be no
more unilateral releases and that only an exchange of prisoners with
the government will allow more hostages to be free again.
FARC is believed to have 740 hostages. The group has been in talks
to exchange 40 of them - soldiers, police officers and politicians -
for 500 of their members currently in prison.
Last week, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe reiterated that his
government was ready to exchange FARC rebels for Betancourt and other
hostages.
A medical team sponsored by France arrived in Colombia Thursday
in an effort to administer medical aid to Betancourt. The team was
hoping to receive jungle coordinates from FARC for the doctors, but
the rebels have given no signal that they will cooperate.
Betancourt suffers from hepatitis B, leishmaniasis, malaria and
severe malnutrition, and last week was described by an eyewitness as
suffering from depression.
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