BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – As negotiations to end Colombia’s half-century conflict close in on a final deal, attention is turning to the fate of an aging bank manager-turned leftist rebel who is being held at a U.S. maximum security prison alongside notorious terrorists.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia consider Ricardo Palmera to be a prisoner of war and have long insisted he be released for a peace accord to be signed. But the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has long rejected freeing Palmera, who is serving a 60-year sentence in connection to the FARC’s holding captive of three American defense contractors for more than five years a decade ago.
With peace talks expected to wrap up as early as March and President Juan Manuel Santos heading to Washington on Tuesday to cement U.S. support for an accord with the FARC, there is a renewed push to win the 65-year-old’s release.
Last week, Colombian Sen. Ivan Cepeda, a trusted conduit of both the FARC and Santos, quietly met with Palmera at the United States’ highest security prison to discuss how he can contribute to peace, according to officials in Colombia and the U.S. familiar with the meeting. Cepeda was accompanied by Colombian diplomats and the conversation monitored by U.S. law enforcement, said four officials, who insisted on not being named because they weren’t authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
The officials wouldn’t reveal specifics about was said in the meeting, but the visit was unusual. Dubbed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” the 400-plus inmates at the “Supermax” penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, including Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and some al-Qaida operatives, are kept in their cells as much as 23 hours a day and are normally allowed to meet only with their lawyers and family.