Talk:Humanitarian exchange

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[edit] Details and suggestions

I'll see if I can add (with proper references) a few things to this article later in the week/month, if possible, but for now I might as well mention a couple of details.

  • It should be made clear that FARC has also kidnapped many more people than those currently subject to this particular "exchange". For example, those kidnapped due to their "law 002", as a form of extortion, are not part of any possible deal, at least not at this stage. I believe FARC itself has talked about this subject, using its own unique vocabulary and reasoning of course.
  • The exchange issue per se began to be publicly debated during President AndrĂ©s Pastrana's administration. During the talks FARC wanted, and explicitly called for, an "exchange law" (ley de canje) to make such exchanges permanent. In other words, the "canje" itself preceded its "humanitarian" nature.
  • In fact, and this is a big precedent that needs to be included, Pastrana actually negotiated with FARC the release of the soldiers mentioned in this article, and a number of allegedly sick guerrillas were also freed in exchange, firmly introducing the "humanitarian" concept.
  • But FARC did not release the "higher profile" hostages, and they kept kidnapping people as a way to pressure the government, including several of those now subject to any future new accord. Pastrana's book "La Palabra Bajo Fuego" has a lot of details about all this, as well as photos of the official accords signed between the parties.

That's it for now. Juancarlos2004 05:38, 6 November 2007 (UTC)