Red Cross confirms Colombian rebels have freed soldier held hostage for 12 years

Colombian rebels free hostage after 12 years

FLORENCIA, Colombia — A soldier held hostage for more than 12 years was freed by Colombian rebels Tuesday, the International Red Cross said.

Sgt. Pablo Emilio Moncayo was one of the longest-held hostages of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. He was 19 when taken captive during a rebel attack on an army outpost in the mountains Dec. 21, 1997.

A Brazilian helicopter flew to an unannounced hand-over spot in southern Colombia and the rebels turned him over to a humanitarian team led by Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba, Red Cross spokesman Adolfo Beteta said hours later.

Moncayo was being flown back to the city of Florencia, where his family was waiting, Beteta said, adding that the soldier was generally in good health.

The soldier’s father, high school teacher Gustavo Moncayo, gained fame for walking halfway across Colombia in 2007 to press for his son’s release wearing a chain around his neck and wrists like those used at times by the rebels to bind their hostages.

“My heart is going a thousand an hour,” Gustavo Moncayo said on an airport tarmac where he, his wife and four daughters waved to the helicopter as it began the mission. The family had been anxiously awaiting Moncayo’s release since the FARC first announced last April that he planned to set him free.

The Super Cougar helicopter loaned by Brazil carried a team led by Cordoba and including International Red Cross officials and a priest.

The flight’s departure was delayed due to rain, and Beteta told reporters once the helicopter reached the agreed hand-over site that “there’s only a little problem with bad weather, but everything is normal.”

The Colombian government’s peace commissioner, Frank Pearl, criticized the Caracas-based TV channel Telesur, which is funded in part by Venezuela’s government, for releasing photos and videos of Moncayo together with Cordoba. Telesur did not reveal when the images of Moncayo — both in a military uniform and separately with Cordoba — were made.

Pearl said there had been an agreement the handover would be discreet, and “the government rejects that a media outlet like Telesur lends itself to do propaganda for a terrorist group.” There was no immediate response from Telesur.