A former U.S. military soldier was captured in Colombia June 20 by rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The U.S. Embassy in Bogota demanded the release of the citizen Saturday.
New York native Kevin Scott Sutay was an explosives expert who fought in Afghanistan from 2010-2011. The U.S. Embassy says that he is not currently connected with the U.S. military, but he has been in Colombia since June.
Bloomberg reports that police and hotel staff warned Sutay not to travel through a remote jungle in the Guaviare province in southern Colombia that is controlled by Marxist rebels, but despite these warnings he went anyway.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC, has been fighting a guerrilla war for almost 50 years and has been trying to overthrow the Colombian government. They have nearly 8,000 armed fighters.
According to Wall Street Journal FARC says they plan to release Sutay solely to maintain good relations with the Colombian government after having a peace talk with them almost one year ago.