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Over 4,000 hostages are believed to be in the hands of various guerrilla groups in the jungles of Colombia. FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is thought to hold around 750 of them: politicians, policemen, regular soldiers and wealthy people. Most of the hostages have been in captivity for many years, some for over a decade. While the country keeps hoping to start a peace process, the hopes of the hostages are kept alive thanks to a radio show called the "Voices of the Kidnapped". Every Sunday morning from 2am to 6am the families of the hostages send messages through the programme.

Mothers, fathers, wives, husband and children all stand in line for their turn to send a message of remembrance and hope to their loved ones somewhere in the jungle. The messages are their only link with their loved ones. Most of the families have not received any news of their relative for years. The radio show keeps alive their hope of a reunion.

On rare occasions, the FARC respond to the families by delivering letters, pictures and sometimes videos of the hostages. These are the so called "proof of life" signals that come from the jungle hide-outs of the guerrillas. Every hostage uses his proof of life to ask his family to send him messages through the radio show.

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About Al Jazeera - Witness

Rageh Omaar presents Witness, a half-hour daily documentary series which features short, specially commissioned or acquired films gathered from independent filmmakers.
 
Each documentary reveals the unknown lives of ordinary people, following their lives, telling their stories and portraying the challenges that confront them. Our witnesses are people in a situation or those who have observed them first hand.
 
The films cover conflict, belief, the past and the future and as well as bringing new stories to light they showcase the talents of a new breed of multi-skilled, frontline journalist. In the studio, Rageh will further explore the issues raised in the films, with expert guests on the subject matter and the filmmakers themselves.