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 BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - The highest-ranking jailed member of Colombia's main guerrilla group was freed by the government Monday as part of a wider prisoner release intended to help secure the freedom of 60 hostages — including three Americans — held by the guerrillas.
Dressed in street clothes and carrying a backpack, Rodrigo Granda was escorted from La Dorada prison northeast of Bogota onto a helicopter, footage broadcast by Colombia's two main TV networks showed.
Granda, known as the 110"foreign minister" for the leftist rebels, was released even though he has refused to mediate in a prisoner swap. He was expected to travel to the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Episcopate in Bogota, said Sandra Acosta, of the church's press office.
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