Clara Rojas and Consuelo González de Perdomo, who had been hostages of the terrorist group FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) for 5 and 6 years respectively, were finally freed on January 10th.

The independent media source equinoXio [es] wrote:

El presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez y el ministro de Defensa colombiano Juan Manuel Santos han confirmado por separado que la ex candidata vicepresidencial Clara Rojas y la ex congresista Consuelo González de Perdomo fueron liberadas en algún lugar del departamento del Guaviare (vereda La Paz, inspección La Libertad del municipio de El Retorno, según la periodista Constanza Vieira, de la agencia IPS) la mañana de este jueves. Chávez había recibido las coordenadas proporcionadas por la comandancia de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), grupo terrorista que secuestró a ambas políticas y que había prometido su liberación hace tres semanas, y anunció la misión humanitaria la tarde del miércoles.

The Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and the Colombian Minister of Defense Juan Manuel Santos have separately confirmed that the former vice-presidential candidate Clara Rojas and the former congresswoman Consuelo González de Perdomo were freed somewhere in the department of Guaviare (La Paz hamlet, in the La Libertad area of the municipality of El Retorno, according to journalist Constanza Vieira from IPS agency) on Thursday morning. Chávez had received the coordinates that the commanders from the Colombian Armed Revolutionary Forces (FARC), terrorist group who kidnapped both politicians and who had promised their liberation three weeks ago, the humanitarian commission announced on Wednesday afternoon.

EquinoXio [es] has kept a very complete and updated report on the events, since before the failed liberation attempt in December to the most recent developments, and it can all be read on their blog.

The liberation of the two women was bittersweet for many bloggers. As an example of the conflicting reactions, Jenny Giraldo writes on her blog Intemperie [es]:

La reacción primaria, tras la liberación de dos mujeres, fue de alegría mezclada con desazón al pensar en las familias de los 700 secuestrados (otras cifras señalan que son casi mil, y en Las voces del secuestro se asegura que en la actualidad hay unas 4200 personas secuestradas) que se quedaron atrás, y que seguramente se olvidarán por un tiempo, pues ya está cumplido el objetivo de la liberación de dos personas que son símbolo y que representan algún peso político.

The first reaction, after both women's liberation, was happiness mixed with unease, thinking of the families of the 700 hostages (other data points to closer than 1000, and in “Las voces del secuestro” it is established that there are currently about 4200 people kidnapped) who are left behind, and who will surely be forgotten for awhile, since the objective to release two symbolical people who have some political weight has been accomplished.

Colombian blogger Víctor Solano from ¿Comunicación? [es] puts in his own 2 cents about the liberation:

Con menos parafernalia, con menos Oliver Stone y comisiones parásitas, y con menos helicópteros llenos de fotógrafos chavistas, Clara Rojas y Consuelo de Perdomo ya están en poder del Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja…Hoy Chávez se hará tomar muchas fotos con sus trofeos de guerra, pero so no debe importar. El círco mediático de esta noche será mucho menor que el del 30 y 31 de diciembre. Bienvenidas Clara y Consuelo. Ahora quedamos a la espera de los otros 700 secuestrados por las Farc y de que no tengamos más episodios bochornosos.

With less show, with less Oliver Stone and parasitic comissions, with less helicopters full of Chavist photographers, Clara Rojas and Consuelo of Perdomo are already in the hands of the International Red Cross Committee… Today Chávez will have many pictures taken with his war trophies, but that won't matter. The media circus tonight will be a lot smaller than the one on December 30th and 31st. Welcome back Clara and Consuelo. Now we are left to wait for the other 700 hostage by the FARC and [hoping] we don't have any more embarrassing episodes.

Other bloggers, such as Carlos Caicedo, noticed a suspicious conversation going on in the liberation videos and wrote about it [es]with transcribed bits:

Mientras todos nos alegrabamos al ver las imágenes de la liberación de Clara Rojas y Consuelo Gonzáles, algunos se percataban de la curiosa (y casi sospechosa) despedida del Ministro del interior de Venezuela, el señor Ramón Rodríguez Chacín al dirigirse al grupo de guerrilleros de las Farc:

“…Ehh…en nombre del Presidente Chavez…estamos muy pendientes de su lucha. Mantengan ese espiritu, mantengan esa fuerza y cuenten con nosotros…

…Cuidenese camaradas”

El video lo pueden encontrar en esta dirección.

While all of us where happy to see images of Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzales’ liberation, some noticed the curious (and almost suspicious) farewell between Venezuelan Home minister Mr. Ramón Rodríguez Chacín and the members of the FARC guerrilla:
“Uhm, in the name of President Chavez, we will be paying atention to your struggle. Keep that spirit, keep that strength and count on us…

… take care comrades”

You can find the video by following this link here.

The empathy between the Venezuelan government and the FARC has been palpable this last couple of months, and it seems to increase as the relationship between Venezuela and Colombia desintegrates. Chavez’ latest move was the request to the international governments to stop calling FARC terrorists and to consider them as an insurgent group. JammieWearingFool, on their post Better yet, call them activists writes:

You can't make this stuff up.

Here we have Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez calling on world governments to refer to terrorist groups as insurgents and by the fourth paragraph of the story, Reuters indeed refers to them as insurgents.

Why not just call them activists?

Colombian blogger Ricardo Buitrago writes on “Desde mi Caribe Colombiano” referring to Chávez’ request [es]:

Quienes ingenua o torpemente creían en la acción humanitaria del mandatario venezolano en la liberación de los secuestrados, e insistían en su intervención para un acuerdo humanitario, ahí tienen la verdadera respuesta sobre las acciones e intenciones del gobernante venezolano.

Those who naively or dimly believed in the humanitarian acts of the Venezuelan mandatary when freeing the hostages, and who insisted in his intervention to get the humanitarian agreement, there you have the real answer to the Venezuelan ruler's actions and intentions.

Nicolás París Alejandro Peláez writes in Machete [es] about his perspective on lifelong debate of what to call the FARC:

El hecho de que un grupo [FARC]tenga ideales o quiera gobernar, en nada cambia su calificación ética. Sí, son políticos, sí, tienen ideales. Pero siguen siendo una porquería. Importa un pepino si masacran a civiles y reclutan niños en nombre del paraíso en esta tierra o a cambio de unos billetes. Un grupo no deja de ser perverso por el simple hecho de hacerlo por un ideal.

The fact that a group [FARC] has ideals and wants to rule, doesn´t change in the least its ethical qualification. Yes, they are politicians, yes, they have ideals. But they are still garbage. It doesn´t matter one bit if they massacre civilians and recruit children in the name of paradise on earth or in exchange for some paper money. A group doesn´t stop being perverse for the simple fact of doing it for an ideal.

Mauricio Duque Arrubla [es] doesn´t see the future brightly, and points out the backward steps he believes the government has taken, which instead of creating greater rejection of las FARC internationally, their popularity seems to have increased:

Se nos avecina otra horrible noche, como la del himno nacional. Tengo frases enteras atragantadas pero solo logran salir diluidas en lágrimas. Estoy triste por mi país.

We are approaching another terrible night, like the one in our national anthem. I have complete phrases stuck in my throat but they only manage to come out diluted by tears. I´m sad for my country.

Through Gacetilla Colombiana, a Colombian popularity article index, I found about a peaceful event organized by ColombiaSoyYo next February 4th at 12 noon Colombian time (GMT-5), where Colombians and friends of Colombia will meet and show their desire to see las FARC dissappear. On their site, they have diverse meeting points all around the world for people to gather and show their dissapproval of the terrorist group. They are also asking people to join the march through their facebook group “A million voices against the FARC” which was only created this past January 4th and which 10 days later already had more than 70 000 members and they claim they have become the largest facebook group created in Colombia. The following excerpt is taken from their objectives page, which are translated into several languages:

We need our voices to be heard. Let’s not be silent anymore, let the world hear us; let every guerrilla man or woman hear us: We repel FARC – EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army). We DON’T want more armed fight.

Image of tv screen taken by novato.com and used according to Creative Commons License.