La Macarena - Left-wing insurgents yesterday Thursday released 242 government troops and police at an unusual ceremony on the edge of Colombia's jungle, marked by Marxist speeches, a military parade and music.
Thousands of villagers, hundreds of rebels and a dozen diplomats witnessed the unilateral handover of soldiers and police held for over three years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
While keen to demonstrate what it called "its magnanimity", the insurgent movement also put on an impressive show of force and organisation at the event staged just outside La Macarena, in the heart of a 42,000 sq km swathe of jungle under FARC control.
