FARC Frees Hostages in Colombia, Men Reunited With Families

In Colombia, 10 men were reunited on Tuesday with their families.

Each of the men had spent more than a decade as prisoners of the Marxist rebel group, the FARC, deep in the jungle.

The reunions were pretty emotional, says reporter and author John Otis, who has written extensively on Colombia’s hostage scene.

“When you have a loved one that’s lost in the jungle for that long, it’s almost worse than their being dead,” he said. “Some of them didn’t even recognize their loved ones.”

The ten soldiers and policemen were freed by the FARC on Monday, after the rebels said they were getting out of the kidnapping business.

The FARC says it has no more military captives, although it may still be holding hundreds of civilians.