Humanitarian exchange
The President of Colombia Álvaro Uribe and the FARC conditioned the agreement, which was primarily pushed by the families of the victims, certain Colombian politicians and numerous governments that include France and Venezuela.
[1] The FARC guerrillas originally demanded that in order to proceed with the humanitarian exchange, the government must demilitarize a zone, which are the municipalities of Pradera and Florida in the southern Department of Valle del Cauca.
However, after Ingrid Betancourt and three American contractors were rescued in July 2008, the FARC dropped that demand because they no longer had their most famous bargaining chips.
Members of the government were also kidnapped ranging from senators like Jorge Gechem Turbay [es], presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, 12 Valle del Cauca Deputies, 3 U.S. contractors who were working with Plan Colombia, among other cases.
During the presidency of Andrés Pastrana, the government and the FARC maintained a demilitarized zone in El Caguan in an attempt to negotiate the possibility of a peace process.
[6] On June 17, 2007, Professor Gustavo Moncayo, father of a soldier held by the FARC guerrillas since 1997, began to walk as protest from his hometown Sandoná, in the department of Nariño, southern Colombia, to Bogotá, seeking to promote an agreement for the release of his son Pablo Emilio.
[7][8] He was accompanied by his daughter along the Pan-American Highway, stopping in every town he found on his path to have a rest and to collect signatures for a petition to President Álvaro Uribe to conduct a prisoner exchange.
[9] While president of France, Jacques Chirac exerted political pressure on the Uribe administration to persuade him to accept the FARC demands and achieve the humanitarian exchange.
President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez was contacted by Colombian liberal senator Piedad Córdoba to bargain a negotiation for the "humanitarian exchange".
Uribe, in a private conversation, had warned Chávez during the 17th Ibero-American Summit not to talk directly with members of the Colombian military without going through the chain of command and the proper diplomatic channels.
[14] Chávez talked directly with the General of the Colombian National Army, Gen. Mario Montoya Uribe and asked him detailed information about the number of hostages in Colombia.
President of Chile Michelle Bachelet said "what most worries her is the "deteriorated and dramatic" image of Ingrid Betancourt" and moved to support the call for the FARC to free the hostages.
[25] On December 18, 2007, the FARC released a communique in which they reaffirmed their will to the municipalities of Florida and Pradera demilitarized for 45 days in order to exchange the hostages for prisoners.
They also said that they would free three hostages Clara Rojas and her born in captivity son Emmanuel and former congresswoman Consuelo González de Perdomo unilaterally.
[26] President Chávez proposed a humanitarian mission to rescue Clara Rojas, her son Emmanuel and Consuelo González in Colombia with the permission of the Colombian government.
[30] On February 27, 2008, the three hostages and Jorge Gechem Turbay [es] (who was added to the list due to his poor health) were released by FARC.
With the authorization of the Colombian government and the participation of the International Red Cross, a Venezuelan helicopter transported them to Caracas from San Jose del Guaviare.
