Kevin Scott Sutay, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, had been
trekking through several Central and South American countries before he
was seized June 20 by the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia.Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson announced earlier this week that he has brokered a deal with Colombia’s largest guerrilla group to release a former U.S. Marine that they have held hostage since June.
Kevin Scott Sutay, received a "good health check-up" report and will soon rejoin his family.
In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry almost immediately thanked Colombia's government for its "tireless efforts" in securing the Afghanistan war veteran's release. Kerry also thanked the Rev. Jesse Jackson for advocating it.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had said it was abandoning kidnapping as a condition for the launching of peace talks that began 11 months ago to end a half-century internal conflict.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos resisted FARC efforts to make what he deemed a "media show" of Sutay's release and no images were released of the early morning jungle handover or of reported his late-morning arrival in Bogota, the capital.
The rebels had announced in July their intention to free Sutay as a good-faith gesture but the liberation was delayed.
Santos' firmness on prohibiting a ceremonial release of Sutay included objecting to the FARC-endorsed intercession of Jackson, who met with rebel leaders in Cuba in late September and said then that he would go to Colombia to lobby for on behalf of Sutay's release.
