Bogota suspend talks with FARC after general’s abduction

~“Negotiations with #FARC are suspended until the facts of the kidnapping of general (Ruben) Alzate are clarified,” the Ministry of Defense said in a tweet, citing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Sunday.

Alzate and two civilians were taken hostage on Sunday while traveling along a remote river in western Colombia. A fourth soldier who succeeded in escaping said that the captors were members of the 34th front of FARC.

President Santos ordered Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon to travel to the Choco department town of Quibdo to oversee a probe into the abduction of Alzate.

“We demand that his captors (all signs point to the FARC) set him free as soon as possible, and safe and sound,” Santos said in a message posted on Twitter.

Pinzon also said late Sunday that when a kidnapping takes place, “the only ones responsible are the kidnappers, in this case the FARC terrorists.” He added that the International Red Cross has been contacted in an attempt to help the release of the captives.

The peace talks between the Colombian government and the rebels had started in November 2012. There had not been a bilateral truce during the negotiations.

The rebels vowed to stop abducting civilians for ransom in 2012. However, they reserved the right to take police and soldiers captive as prisoners of war.

The FARC is Latin America’s oldest insurgent group and has been fighting the government since 1964. The rebel organization is thought to have around 8,000 fighters operating across a large swathe of the eastern jungles of the Andean country.

Source: PressTV