Held 12 years by FARC, Colombian soldier gets home

Colombian army Sergeant Luis Alberto Erazo returned to Bogota Sunday from 12 years of captivity by FARC rebels, a day after managing to escape during a battle as four other hostages were executed. Erazo, 40, who had been held by the Marxist rebels since December 9, 1999, arrived in the capital by helicopter and was taken in an ambulance to a hospital for treatment, according to an AFP journalist at the scene. The soldier, who suffered shrapnel wounds to the face as rebels in hot pursuit tossed a grenade at him, made no comment to the media. He was reunited with his girlfriend, his 16-year-old daughter and other family members. Erazo escaped from a rebel encampment in southern Colombia on Saturday where army forces were hunting for possible hostages. During the clash, FARC rebels executed four hostages but Erazo was later found alive. President Juan Manual Santos visited Erazo on Sunday, saying it was "really moving to see this national hero" but also hailing the "heroism" of the four hostages killed "in cold blood." Santos also said he had "mixed feelings, seeing the happiness of this sergeant and his family, while at the same time understanding the pain of the other four families." The hostages had been held at a FARC encampment in the remote Solano region of southern Colombia. Those who died were identified as Colonel Edgar Yesid Duarte, Lieutenants Elkin Hernandez and Alvaro Moreno, and Sergeant Jose Libio Martinez, the FARC's longest-held hostage who was abducted nearly 14 years ago in a rebel ambush. After the latest executions, 14 police and soldiers remain in FARC hands. Some have spent more than a decade in captivity. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), believed to have 8,000 members, has been at war with the government since 1964. It began a campaign of kidnappings in the mid-1980s, seizing army hostages to serve as bargaining chips for FARC prisoners. By the late 1990s, civilians and political leaders were also being snatched, winning the group greater notoriety. New FARC chief Timoleon Jimenez has taken a hard line since taking over from Alfonso Cano, gunned down in a November 4 firefight with Colombian government forces. Several citizen groups meanwhile called for a march December 6 to protest the violence and call for the release of all FARC hostages. Separately, a representative for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia denounced the killings of the hostages and said that the FARC could face charges of crimes against humanity for such offenses. "These assassinations reflect a terrible lack of humanity and complete disregard for human life," the agency's representative Christian Salazar said. "These irrational acts are not isolated or sporadic. They are war crimes which could be classified as crimes against humanity."