Colombian rebels last night freed a government soldier who was held hostage in the jungle for more than 12 years and symbolised those left behind in a war against Latin America's oldest insurgency.
A Brazilian military helicopter ferried Sergeant Pablo Emilio Moncayo to a civilian airport in Florencia, 370km south of the capital Bogota, after rebels handed him over to a Red Cross team in Colombia's remote southern jungle.
His release was the second handover this week and raised hopes for a broader hostage deal with the Farc, once a powerful rebel force that has been battered by President Alvaro Uribe's US-backed war against guerrillas and cocaine traffickers.
Mr Moncayo smiled and looked well as he stepped off a helicopter in uniform to greet family on the airport tarmac. "I thank God and my father," Mr Moncayo told reporters. "You have no idea how staggering it is to return to civilisation."
Now 32, Mr Moncayo was a teenager when he was captured by guerrillas who overran his army communications base in 1997 and marched him into the jungle. He was seen only occasionally in rebel videos during his captivity.
Guerrillas on Sunday freed Josue Daniel Calvo, kidnapped a year ago after he was wounded in combat. But they still hold 22 police and soldiers in secret camps, where they are often chained, starving and forced to run from army patrols.
Mr Moncayo's father lobbied for his release with from Venezuela to France, often wearing chains to symbolise his son's captivity.
The handovers came before Colombians go to the polls in May to pick a successor for the conservative Mr Uribe. He steps down after two terms dominated by his hard-line against the Farc, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
But any candidate to replace him will likely maintain his popular tough security and pro-business policies.
The releases have reopened discussions about a possible broader agreement to negotiate an exchange of jailed rebels for kidnapped troops. But past unilateral hostage releases have not led to any such agreement or opened up peace talks.
Mr Uribe, whose father was killed in a botched rebel kidnap bid two decades ago, says he is open to an exchange if freed rebels do not return to crime and if the handover does not mean demilitarising an area that would allow rebels to regroup.
Farc has demanded Mr Uribe pull troops back from a zone the size of New York City to guarantee any handover, but appear to have dropped that condition. They also want to include several extradited Farc leaders held in US jails in a swap.
"With this unilateral gesture, the Farc believes the road is open for an exchange of prisoners as the only way ... to return prisoners in the jungles as well as guerrillas in jails in Colombia and the United States," it said in a statement.
Reuters