Liberation of Moncayo

Bogotá, DPA

The Colombian Army sergeant Pablo Emilio Moncayo, the hostage's longest held by the FARC, was freed today at some point in the jungle, said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Moncayo, who had been kidnapped on December 21, 1997 in the department of Nariño, which borders Ecuador, was given to a humanitarian mission composed of Senator Piedad Cordoba, Bishop Leonardo Gomez, two members of the International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC), a doctor and six Brazilian military.

The mission left this morning in the jungle city of Florencia, capital of Caqueta department, with a delay of more than two hours by heavy rain that was about to postpone indefinitely the operation.

An ICRC spokesman, Adolfo Beteta, initially said committee members had already met with Moncayo and the guerrillas who held him captive, but the Brazilian army helicopter designed for the mission was unable to return to Florence from the wrong time.

Beteta reconvened the press this afternoon to indicate that it had completed the protocol and release the aircraft to arrive in Florence by an indefinite period.

He also said initial reports indicate that Moncayo is in good health. The mission members were starting Monday in Florence, after participating in Sunday's release of the soldier Joshua Calvo, who was released by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the center of the country.