South America · updated 2h ago · 2 min read
EMC Guerrillas Escape French Foreign Legion Corporal José Olger Melo Charry From Nariño
José Olger Melo Charry, French Foreign Legion corporal, kidnapped August 6 in Nariño. He escaped after a four-day trek and reached a police station.
13 outlets, one story, no spin found.
12 of 13 outlets skipped it: EMC threatened President Abelardo de la Espriella over any rescue operation.
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Escape After EMC Capture
José Olger Melo Charry, a Colombian corporal in the French Foreign Legion, was held hostage by a dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) called the Central General Staff (EMC) after being “intercepted and taken prisoner” on August 6 while traveling on a rural road in Nariño.
“intercepted and taken prisoner”
The EMC claimed responsibility for his capture and said: “We inform the French authorities, his family, and his friends that Corporal Melo Charry is alive, in perfect health, and that he has received medical care and adequate nutrition.”
After ditching his captors, Charry spent four days alone in the wilderness before being airlifted by the Colombian army on Sunday morning from Ejido to Pasto, where he was taken to a medical center and remains under observation.
A military source told AFP that Charry escaped after a four-day trek on foot and that he remains under protection for possible “retaliation,” as the Colombian Army still does not know the details of how he got away.
Protection, Ransom, and Reprisals
Colombian authorities said the kidnappers never asked for money in exchange for his release, while the EMC had threatened right-wing President Abelardo De la Espriella with responding to “any rescue operation” of the soldier.
A military source told AFP that Charry “is doing well” and remains under protection against potential “reprisals,” as he was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Pasto.
El Tiempo reported that Charry walked to a police station in Policarpa in the Andes in the Nariño province and spent four days in the wilderness before reaching it on Saturday evening.
The French Ministry of the Armed Forces said Charry “does not hold French nationality” and had a permit allowing him to reside in metropolitan France, but not to travel to Colombia, according to Le Parisien.
Investigations and Wider Violence
The French Foreign Legion escape is now tied to an investigation process, with authorities waiting to question Charry and inquire about “the four days he spent in the wilderness as well as the month he spent captured.”
“the four days he spent in the wilderness as well as the month he spent captured”
The EMC described Charry as a “prisoner of war” and rejected the “term ‘kidnapping’ used by the Colombian authorities and the media,” while also claiming that his “physical integrity” remained “fully guaranteed” as long as no hostile military operation was carried out in the area.
The kidnapping unfolded as Colombia faced its worst wave of violence in the last decade since the 2016 peace agreement that demobilized most of the FARC, and the new president Abelardo De la Espriella launched a frontal war against armed groups with U.S. support.
In the background of the case, Le Parisien said the EMC rejected the 2016 peace agreement and that in 2025 the FARC had been found guilty of more than 21,000 kidnappings in half a century of conflict, while the EMC is described as active mainly in Valle del Cauca and Cauca in the southwest of Colombia.