Rebel-held hostage flown to freedom in Colombia

COLOMBIA: The last known politician held hostage by Colombia’s main leftist insurgency was airlifted to freedom Thursday after six years in captivity.

Provincial lawmaker Sigifredo Lopez was the sixth and latest hostage released this week by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in what the rebels said was a unilateral act aimed at starting talks on an exchange of hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.

But at a news conference, Lopez firmly blamed the FARC for the deaths of all 11 colleagues who were abducted with him in April 2002, although his comments shed little light on the confusing killings in 2007.

“My companions never deserved to die the way they did,” the 45-year-old lawmaker told reporters in the provincial capital of Valle del Cauca. “The FARC massacred them on June 18, at 11:30 in the morning, of 2007.”

The FARC said at the time only that the lawmakers died under confusing circumstances involving an unidentified military group, and that Lopez survived because he was being held in a different location. The Colombian government blamed the FARC for the deaths.

BOGOTA, Friday, AP