Chinese hostages freed in Colombia
Four Chinese oil workers held hostage for more than a year and was released in November after a ransom is now free on pay, said the former president Alvaro Uribe on Thursday.
"Important: there is acceptance, evidence that the FARC demanded two million dollars (about Rp19, 2 billion) for the release of hostages from China," he wrote in a message on his Twitter Uribe.
Uribe, the president who served in 2002-2010, did not provide further information to support these claims.
Uribe opposed the policies of President Juan Manuel Santos, who succeeded him, to negotiate a peace agreement with the guerrillas Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The identity of the kidnappers were never disclosed, but officials blamed the FARC pemeberontak be the mastermind behind the kidnapping.
In an effort to deal with the kidnapping, Santos had earlier warned that many foreign companies who pay bribes or ransom to rescue the kidnapped workers "will leave the country."
The workers are from China, was abducted in June 2011, was handed over to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross with an unidentified man dressed in civilian clothes on 22 November.
Ex-kidnap victim was working for the oil company Emerald Energy, a subsidiary of Sinochem China based in the UK. They quickly leave Colombia without speaking to reporters.
The Colombian government and FARC rebels resume peace talks in Cuba on December 5, amid tensions government offensive against the rebels, and the deadline for the deal.
Bargaining is the fourth attempt to end a conflict that lasted nearly half a century, killing 600,000 people, 15,000 missing and four million people displaced due to insurgency that lasted longest in Latin America.
