Colombia’s Marxist FARC rebels will release a kidnapped army general and four other hostages under an agreement announced in Havana.  Peace talks to end Colombia’s five-decade-old insurgency were chugging along, until the abductions brought all progress crashing to a halt.

Cuban and Norwegian officials who acted as mediators did not reveal details of the agreement, but said the hostages would be released as soon as possible.  That third and fourth parties were involved at all was a tremendous setback.  Prior to the weekend abduction of Brigadier General Ruben Dario Alzate, the FARC and the Colombian government had conducted their own negotiations in Havana.

Rebels claimed they abducted the men because they were frustrated over the pace of the talks, although the reactions of the FARC delegation in Havana over the weekend suggested they weren’t even aware of what happened, and that lower levels of the group were acting on their own.  President Juan Manuel Santos had demanded the hostages’ release before peace talks could resume.  But with this massive breach of trust, it’s not clear how or when the negotiations could resume.

More than 220,000 people have died in five decades of armed conflict in Colombia.