By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Piedad Cordoba will travel to Brazil Monday to pick up the Brazilian helicopters and personnel involved in the planned release of five FARC hostages.

On her twitter account, the former Senator said “Friends, we are working out the latest details of the releases. Monday at noon the operation begins and I will leave for Brazil.”  According to the Red Cross, the first actual release is planned to take place on Wednesday.

Red Cross delegate to Colombia Christophe Beney told members of the press that Red Cross members and Cordoba will first pick up council member Marcos Vaquero in the southern Colombia and return him to the city of Villavicencio. On Friday, the helicopters will pick up council member Armando Acuña and marine Henry Lopez and bring them to Florencia.

Police major Guillermo Solorzano and soldier Salin Antonio Sanmiguel, the last two hostages, will “hopefully” be picked up the following weekend and be brought to the city of Ibague before Monday. “If there’s no surprises, this will be the order of the operation,” Beney said.

The release is a victory for freedom, not for the FARC. According to some media outlets, some people think that if the FARC kidnapped these people then they should not gain any publicity by setting them free.  However, this view “demonstrates a lack of understanding of both kidnapping and the significance of political kidnapping.”

To publicize the release with continuous reporting  only strengthens democratic institutions and denigrates the FARC, according to other media outlets.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports – FARC Hostage Release Operation to Begin Monday – 4 February 2011

Colombia Reports – The FARC Hostage Release: Who Benefits? – 3 February 2011

NDT Television – Colombia Readies Airports for Release of Hostages – 1 February 2011