Colombia to reward 500,000 USD to former rebel
28/10/2008 16:20
Colombian government announced yesterday that it will reward about
US$500,000 to a guerilla who helped a former congressman escape from the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Colombian Defense Minister
Juan Manuel Santos said that the young guerilla "Isaza", who is not charged with
crimes against humanity, could receive an amnesty and use his money to go to
France as refugee.
Isaza and the former congressman Oscar Tulio Lizcano, who
has been kept hostage for more than eight years, fled a FARC's camp in western
jungles and trudged for three days before reaching a military base on
Sunday.
Santos said the Colombian government was estimating the amount of the
reward, and it would be "around 1 billion Colombian pesos (about
US$500,000)."
Santos said that the prosecutor was studying the possibility of
giving Isaza a conditional freedom, and Isaza had accepted the offer of asylum
in France with his partner.
"So we think he will leave the country in a few
days," Santos said.
After the escape of Lizcano, FARC still holds two other
politicians and some 26 military chiefs as "exchangeable" hostages. According to
official statistics, there are thousands of hostages held by the rebels and
criminal groups of Colombia.
Xinhua
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