Former governor latest Colombian hostage released

VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia – Leftist Colombian rebels freed their fifth hostage in three days on Tuesday, an ex-governor who says that President Alvaro Uribe and the guerrillas are equally to blame for the country’s still-festering conflict.

Alan Jara, 51, looked fit but thin, wearing a gray canvas hat and carrying a rucksack across which a battered and blackened pot was strapped.

The rebels handed Jara over to the International Red Cross in eastern jungles around midday. The Red Cross then flew him in a helicopter to the regional capital of Villavicencio, his hometown in the eastern lowlands.

“I’ve rested for 7 1/2 years,” Jara told reporters at the airport. “Now it’s time to get to work.”

Jara stepped off the chopper into the embrace of his wife and son, 15-year-old Alan Felipe, who had lived half his life without his father. Jara spent 20 minutes with the family before speaking with the news media.

“He looks a little worn out to me,” Alan Felipe said. Jara noted that he had thyroid trouble and an eye problem.

Like most newly freed hostages, Jara was quick to offer his opinion on why Colombia’s 45-year-old, class-based conflict persists.

“It would seem this country’s conflict suits President Uribe and it would seem the FARC – and this is the perversity – likes that Uribe is in power,” Jara said during a rambling two-hour news conference.

He said Uribe’s all-out war on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia hasn’t weakened the insurgents.

Jara was the fifth hostage released this week by the FARC, which also has promised to free former provincial lawmaker Sigifredo Lopez, 45, on Thursday.

He said only a negotiated solution can end the conflict.

“I feel with all my heart that Uribe didn’t do anything for our freedom,” he said.

Uribe met with Jara and his family for nearly two hours later Tuesday in Villavicencio. Afterward, the president told about 100 people who had gathered outside Jara’s home that he respected what the ex-governor had to say.

“What we want is that he is happy with his countrymen,” he said.

Uribe insists this week’s hostage releases are no more than attention-grabbing antics staged by the rebels to deceive Colombians about their true intent. He and foreign governments have called on the FARC to renounce kidnapping and free all its hostages.