Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe showed off a deserting rebel commander on television today, pressing him for details of his family life and urging other Marxist guerrillas to surrender.
The televised propaganda coup was a slap at the country's largest rebel army, which had just named spokesmen for negotiations with the government to swap about 80 hostages, including three Americans, for jailed guerrillas.
The deserter identified himself as Fidel Romero, alias "Rafael," and said he had commanded the 46th front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a 17,000-strong insurgent army known by the Spanish initials FARC.
While not well-known, Rafael was still the most senior FARC rebel in government hands since Mr Uribe, who rose to prominence as a fierce critic of failed peace talks with the guerrillas, was sworn into office last August.
The wiry, mustached former fighter was flanked by Mr Uribe, Defense Minister Mr Marta Lucia Ramirez and the commanders of the armed forces as he called for his comrades to desert.
"I was a member of the organization for 20 years. I decided to quit because it was a sterile war, which had a beginning but no end in sight," said Rafael, who added that he was 40 and hoped to see his two children for the first time in years.
Mr Uribe pressed the guerrilla for his feelings about having abandoned a life on the run.
"Rafael, you told us you have two little kids, an 8-year-old and a 12-year-old. How often did you see them and what do you hope for now? Tell your countrymen about the relief your family feels," said the president, a firm US ally whose father was killed resisting kidnap by the FARC in the early 1980s.