In April 1998, the government of President
Andres Pastrana demilitarized, under pressure from the FARC, an area of
40,000 km ² to facilitate the delivery of 70 military kidnapped by the FARC.
The FARC used helicopters the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
to transport soldiers instead of hijacking to the town of Cartagena del Chairá,
demilitarized zone, but according to information from the army, were also used
to transport many fighters a front to another, in order to prevent subsequent
recognition of the hostages. The release was widely publicized by the media and
with the
