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Colombia's ELN Releases Hostage


FILE - Defected members of Colombian guerrilla group ELN walk to a military base to surrender and handover their weapons, July 16, 2013.
FILE - Defected members of Colombian guerrilla group ELN walk to a military base to surrender and handover their weapons, July 16, 2013.
The second largest rebel group in Colombia has released a hostage it has held since 2012.

The National Liberation Army, or ELN, handed over Leon Andres Montes to the International Committee of the Red Cross Sunday in a rural area 250 kilometers northeast of Bogota, the capital.

The rebel group said it released Montes for "humanitarian" reasons.

The Red Cross said Montes, an engineer, was in good physical condition.

ELN has recently signaled its openness to the peace process.

Colombia's largest rebel group, the revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has been negotiating a peace deal with the government for the past year.
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