By John Vizcaino
Villavicencio, Colombia - Colombian rebels released a kidnapped government soldier to a Red Cross mission in a remote southern jungle on Sunday, almost a year after he was wounded and captured in combat.
In the first of two planned handovers, Josue Daniel Calvo was freed by the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and flown by helicopter from the jungle to Villavicencio, where he was reunited with family.
Calvo was limping badly but looked to be in generally better condition than other recently released hostages, some of whom had spent years in secret camps where they were chained and suffered from tropical diseases.
The FARC plans on Tuesday to release the second of the 23 police and soldiers it still holds captive to the Red Cross team and leftist Senator Piedad Cordoba, who has helped broker the hand-overs.
"We ask the FARC to keep up with the operation," Cordoba told reporters at Villavicencio's airport after accompanying Calvo on the flight from the jungle.
Calvo's release is the latest unilateral gesture by the FARC. But broader peace talks appear unlikely with President Alvaro Uribe, whose US-backed campaign has battered Latin America's longest-running insurgency.
The army halted operations during the handover while a loaned Brazilian army helicopter with Red Cross insignia flew to a secret jungle location.
Rebels on Tuesday will release Pablo Emilio Moncayo, who was captured more than 12 years ago when rebels overran his army base. One of the longest-held FARC hostages, Moncayo has become a symbol of those left behind in the jungles.
He has only been seen occasionally in rebel videos.
Once a powerful army fighting for a socialist state, the FARC relies on ambushes and bombs to harass troops. With very little popular support, rebels finance their operations with cocaine trafficking, kidnapping and extortion.
The FARC remain a force in some rural areas, mainly in southern jungles, where state presence is still weak and impoverished residents are often forced to join armed groups or grow coca leaf used to make cocaine.
In December, the FARC kidnapped and killed Caqueta state Governor Luis Cuellar in a high-profile operation, and this month rebels also kidnapped five local oil contractors who were later rescued by the army. - Reuters