The internal war happening in Colombia has had my attention for many years – even before my call to Colombia was clear. The strongest of several guerrilla rebel groups, the Marxist-based FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) is on the United State’s list of foreign terrorist organizations and has held power in Colombia for years.
With the well-being of Colombia close to my heart, I have been praying for the guerrillas daily for the past four months. I’ve never been very good about keeping up with news, but I recently heard about an event that is very significant, at least from my perspective.
Although we don’t have television at home, a clip at a restaurant where we were eating Sunday afternoon caught my attention and I looked into the subject more closely via colombiareports.com, a good source for Colombia’s news (in English).
To summarize, there were 10 “political” hostages released by the FARC yesterday. Six policemen and four soldiers who have been in captivity for over 12 years and have been promised release for months were finally set free.
The FARC has stated that they are “banning” the captivity hostages for the purpose of funding their cause. Of course, this is no guarantee, but it is an important step.
President Santos has explicitly stated several times that his prime condition for beginning peace talks is the release of hostages. (The Colombian military continues to make advances against the FARC, and it appears they are finally interested in negotiating.)
There are still 405 civilians in captivity, according to “El Tiempo,” the major Colombian newspaper.
Rejoice with me in this victory!
Please join me in prayer for…
- The 10 men who were released yesterday – and their families
- Continued advancement of peace and dissolution of the rebel movement
- The 405 civilians who are in captivity
- Revival to be spread within the entire guerrilla movement (which is bigger than just the FARC)