The U.S. State Department called for Colombian rebels to immediately free all hostages it holds, five years after three U.S. citizens were captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). “The United States calls on the FARC to immediately release all hostages so they may be returned safely to their families,” the department said in a statement, adding that the United States “firmly supports the government of Colombia in its efforts to achieve the safe recovery of all the hostages, some of whom have now been held for ten years.” The statement was released to mark the fifth anniversary of the capture of the three U.S. contractors by the FARC, which it called “a foreign terrorist organization designated by U.S. law.” The contractors were “conducting a joint U.S.-Colombian aerial counter-narcotics reconnaissance mission on February 13, 2003 when their aircraft made an emergency landing due to mechanical failure,” the statement aid. Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in several Colombian cities and in 125 world capitals on February 4, demanding an end to violence and kidnapping and calling on the FARC to release its hostages. The FARC, accused of drug trafficking and holding about 750 people hostage in its jungle camps, is considered a terrorist organization by the Colombian government, the United States, and the European Union. The Marxist rebel group has been fighting the Colombian government since the 1960s.
