Times Online
Hostage freed after 12 years in Colombian jungle
March 31--Colombian rebels have freed a soldier who has been held hostage in the jungle for more than 12 years, one of the longest held prisoners of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
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Sergeant Pablo Emilio Moncayo, 32, was turned over to the Red Cross by his captors at a remote jungle clearing and flown by helicopter to his waiting family in Florencia, 230 miles (370 km) south of the capital Bogota.
His release was the second handover this week and raised hopes for a broader hostage deal with the Farc, a once powerful force that has recently been battered by President Alvaro Uribe's US-backed war against guerrillas and cocaine traffickers.
"You don't know how wonderful it is to see civilization once again," Sergeant Moncayo said as he hugged his parents and four sisters on the airport tarmac. He met his youngest sister, six-year-old Laura, for the first time.
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