BOGOTA (AFP) — Colombia released a top guerrilla leader from jail Monday, the first of at least 150 rebels the government plans to free in the hope of gaining the release of 56 hostages held by the leftist rebels.
President Alvaro Uribe said he hoped Rodrigo Granda, who was the highest-ranking jailed member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), would now serve as a peace broker and be given guarantees to do so.
Uribe said in a televised address that French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country has sought the release of Franco-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt for five years, personally requested that Granda be freed.
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"The government is giving him guarantees so that he may promote peace," Uribe said. "The government trusts that he will not be involved in kidnappings, in assassinations."
Sarkozy's office said the French president had "explicitly requested" that Uribe release Granda -- known ...
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