Colombia’s second largest rebel group, the ELN, will on Thursday afternoon release the two German tourists captured by the rebels in November last year, Red Cross representatives said.
According to local media, the Colombian Armed Forces have halted all military operations in a part of northern Colombia to facilitate the hostage release, expected sometime during “the afternoon.”
The two retired German tourists, Uwe and Gunther Otto Breur, were captured by ELN rebels in the northern Catatumbo region in November last year. The rebels said the foreigners were to be considered “foreign intelligence agents until proven otherwise.”
MORE: ELN demands proof kidnapped Germans are not spies
The International Comittee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been working together with Colombian ex-politicians Horacio Serpa and Jaime Bernal Cuellar since February to negotiate a release of the foreigners.
The ELN has, unlike the larger rebel group FARC, not vowed to end the kidnapping of civilians for financial reasons.
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