Colombian President Alvaro Uribe acknowledged on Wednesday that his army used the Red Cross emblem in its bloodless July 2 rescue of 15 hostages, a move the humanitarian agency swiftly denounced as "abusive."
Uribe allowed one army official to wear a vest with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) emblem, but said that it was because the official was nervous about the operation and there were many leftist rebels on the scene.
So “the official took a piece of cloth out of his pocket with the initials CICR [ICRC] on it and he put it on his vest. We are sorry that this has happened,” Uribe said.
CNN television reported that it had viewed unpublished photos and videos of the rescue in which a military official is seen using the emblem of the international humanitarian organization, in what some said could be deemed a “war crime.”
Uribe said he presented his apology to the ICRC on Wednesday morning.
In a statement from Bogota, the ICRC said the “emblem of the Red Cross needs to be respected in all circumstances and cannot be used in an abusive manner.”
In Geneva, ICRC spokeswoman Florian Westphal said: “The respect of the emblem is crucial so the ICRC can bring help to people affected by the conflicts in Colombia or elsewhere.”
Westphal said it was important that Uribe “had admitted the error that had been committed.”
The organization did not say whether it would take any action as a result of the misuse.
Hours after the dramatic rescue of the hostages from the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombian army commander General Mario Montoya publicly denied — in Uribe’s presence — that his men had used emblems from the humanitarian organization.
“Not one insignia, Mr President, not from the Red Cross or anything like it, nor from any humanitarian mission whatsoever,” Montoya had said, in describing the operation that tricked the Marxist rebels into handing over the 15 hostages, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three US defense contractors.
It was not immediately clear how Uribe’s revelation would affect the ICRC’s role in ongoing attempts to free an estimated 700 hostages still held by FARC.
The ICRC, which said it has 318 staff in Colombia, has been active in dialogue with the rebels for years, as various groups including the Colombian, French and Swiss governments have sought to negotiate hostage releases.
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