After months of negotiations with Colombian civil society, in February FARC liberated a group of hostages and “war prisoners”. The negotiations took place without the involvement of President Alvaro Uribe’s government. Currently about twenty Colombian regular soldiers and a few hundred guerrilla members are still imprisoned or held hostage. FARC’s unilateral decision comes at a low point for the leftist guerrilla group after some of its commanders were killed. Meanwhile, FARC’s proposal of a prisoners swap for humanitarian reasons is yet pending, and even some liberated hostages have criticised Uribe’s rejection of the plan and his intention to make “total war”. A new powerful actor has emerged from this complex situation: civil society. Read all about it at IPS News.