Colombia is ripe for a humanitarian exchange, Javier Hernández,
representative of the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) said Monday.
The FARC, Colombia’s largest rebel group says it is willing to release 22 members of the security forces in exchange for 500 guerrillas that are held in Colombian and U.S. prisons. The Colombian government has no interest in such an exchange and says the guerrillas first have to release all hostages before it wants to talk peace.
Hernández disagrees and told Colombian press “this country is ripe to enter a period of progress in the exchanges, the liberations.”
According to the diplomat, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe “has never been immune to this.”
“He responded to an explicit request of the then recently inaugurated President of France, mister Sarkozy and released a prominent leader of the guerrillas [Rodrigo Granda], who later became spokesperson of the guerrillas abroad,” Hernández said.
The representative said that opportunities “present themselves, are taken and some allow progress.”
“I think the President will know to take these opportunities that allow progress in teh future,” Hernández added.
