Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis

The Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis (Spanish: Secuestro de los diputados del Valle del Cauca) refers to the kidnapping of 12 Deputies of the Assembly of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, on April 12, 2002 by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to pressure a prisoner exchange between them and the government and to negotiate the demilitarization of the municipalities of Florida and Pradera to initiate peace dialogues.^[1]

After a series of "proof of life" videos, on June 28, 2007 the FARC suddenly reported the death of 11 of the 12 kidnapped provincial deputies from Valle del Cauca Department. The Colombian government accused the FARC of executing the hostages and stated that government forces had not made any rescue attempts. FARC claimed that the deaths occurred during a crossfire, after an attack to one of its camps by an "unidentified military group". FARC did not report any other casualties on either side.^[2]

When Sigifredo Lopez, the only surviving deputy, was released on February 5, 2009, he confirmed that his colleagues were killed when the FARC mistook approaching colleagues for Colombian Army troops. He managed to survive because he was separated from his colleagues at the time as punishment for arguing with a guard.^[3][4]

FARC stated that their organization was willing to return the bodies to their families. The International Committee of the Red Cross was allowed to intervene by the guerrillas and the Colombian government. The efforts of the Red Cross recovery team were delayed due to difficult weather and terrain conditions upon arriving to the pick up area on September 5, 2007. The Colombian newspaper El Espectador speculated that the FARC also intended to give up the body of an alleged mercenary of the "unidentified military group" to prove their claims about an attack by such forces.^[5] On September 9, the ICRC announced that it had recovered 11 bodies and flew them to the city of Cali.^[6]