The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced July 24 that it had received eight of ten persons detained by the FARC guerillas July 17 when their boat was stopped on the Río Atrato in Chocó departament. The captives, all civilians, were students, teachers, local functionaries and merchants from Quibdó, capital of Chocó. Their capture sparked a large mobilization of government troops to Chocó. (ANSA, July 24)
In the second such mobilization this year, ten of thousands of Colombians marched through Bogotá July 20 to demand the release of captives held by the FARC and other armed groups. Hundreds of thousands more marched in other Colombian cities, making it what is believed to be the biggest mass protest in the nation’s history. There were also protests in cities around Latin America, the US and Europe. Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt led the march in Paris. (Irish Times, July 21)
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