Leftist Colombian rebels freed their fifth hostage in three days on Tuesday, a former governor who said that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the guerrillas are equally to blame for the country’s still-festering conflict.
Alan Jara, 51, looked fit but thin, wearing a gray canvas hat and carrying a rucksack across which a battered and blackened pot was strapped.
The rebels handed Jara over to the International Red Cross in eastern jungles around noon. The Red Cross then flew him in a helicopter to the regional capital of Villavicencio, his hometown in the eastern lowlands.
PHOTO: AFP
“I’ve rested for seven years,” Jara told reporters at the airport. “Now it’s time to get to work.”
Jara stepped off the chopper into the embrace of his wife and son, 15-year-old Alan Felipe, who had lived half his life without his father. Jara spent a private 20 minutes with the family before speaking with the news media.
“He looks a little worn out to me,” Alan Felipe said.
Jara said he had thyroid trouble and an unspecified eye problem.
Like most newly freed hostages, Jara was quick to offer his opinion on why Colombia’s 45-year-old, class-based conflict persists.
“It would seem this country’s conflict suits President Uribe and it would seem the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] — and this is the perversity — likes that Uribe is in power,” Jara said during a rambling two-hour news conference.
He said Uribe’s all-out war on FARC has failed to weaken the insurgents.
Jara was the fifth hostage released this week by FARC, which also has promised to free former provincial lawmaker Sigifredo Lopez, 45, by today.
He said only a negotiated solution can end the conflict.
“I feel with all my heart that Uribe didn’t do anything for our freedom,” he said.
Uribe met Jara and his family for more than an hour and 45 minutes later on Tuesday in Villavicencio.
Afterward, the president told about 100 people who had gathered outside Jara’s home that he respected what the former governor had to say.
“What we want is that he is happy with his countrymen,” he said.
Uribe insists this week’s hostage releases are no more than attention-grabbing antics staged by the rebels to deceive Colombians about their true intent. He and foreign governments have called on FARC to renounce kidnapping and free all its hostages.
Jara said he would tell Uribe that a prisoner swap should be negotiated urgently with the rebels. Leftist intellectuals, meanwhile, are hoping the rebel goodwill gesture will prod Uribe to open a dialogue that might end FARC’s decades-long fight.
But Uribe has resisted. His U.S.-backed military has dealt the peasant-based army a series of hobbling blows in recent months. And last year, he put a halt to international mediation efforts.
The rebels kidnapped Jara in July 2001 from a UN vehicle when he was visiting construction sites in Meta, the state he governed.
The former governor was widely liked by fellow hostages, they have said, keeping his mind agile by playing chess and giving English lessons.
FARC still holds at least 22 soldiers and police, some for more than a decade.
Lopez, seized in April 2002 in a daring rebel raid on a provincial assembly, is the last politician believed held by the rebels. Six others were freed early last year and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was rescued in a bloodless ruse in July along with three US military contractors.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said yesterday. The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late on Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror. “At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X. Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled