LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "We wish to announce that in addition to our already announced plans to free six prisoners of war, we will free the four others who remain under our power," the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia group said in a statement published on its Web site this past weekend.

Al Jazeera correspondent Toby Muse reported from Bogota that the kidnappings have been "nothing but a disaster for the FARC." The kidnappings have cost the group a lot of support from the population.

"You do see that the FARC seems to be clamoring for talks at this moment," Muse said.

"[The FARC] has taken a number of blows, including the killing of a number of irreplaceable leaders," he said, noting that the group still counts at least 8,000 members spread across the South American nation.

The promised releases could help advance negotiations to end the long civil conflict as the government says the group must free all the hostages it holds before talks can start. FARC did not say that it was abandoning hostilities.

The rebels announced on December 27 that they would free six of the captives. A month later, FARC said that they were delaying the release because of a government "militarization" of the area where it said release was planned.

Neither statement specified the location or set a date.

That announcement, also on the rebel Web site, prompted President Juan Manuel Santos to issue a tweet: "My God, no more tricks and deception. We don't even know where the hostages are. They haven't provided the co-ordinates. Free them now!"

Latin America's last major rebel movement, the FARC was founded in 1964. It has been releasing captives piecemeal since early 2008.

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