BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia's president says he refuses to let the country's main rebel group make a media event of the release of a 26-year-old former U.S. Marine.
President Juan Manuel Santos said Tuesday that he will not allow former Sen. Piedad Cordoba, a longtime go-between favored by the insurgents, or any other public figure participate in the release.
Santos says he will only allow the International Red Cross to broker the release - and only in a discreet manner.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia announced Friday that it seized Kevin Scott Sutay on June 20 in the country's restive southeast. It offered to free him as a good-faith gesture.
Authorities have said that Sutay ignored the advice of local police not to travel in a combat zone.