Eladio Perez Bonilla, Gloria Polanco, and Orlando Beltran Cuellar to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez as a humanitarian gesture. On 27 February 2008, the three hostages and Jorge Eduardo Gechem Turbay (who was added to the list due to his poor health) were released by FARC–EP. With the authorization of the Colombian government and the participation of the International Red Cross, a Venezuelan helicopter transported them to Caracas from San José del Guaviare. The FARC–EP had called its planned release of the hostages a gesture of recognition for the mediation efforts of Chávez, who had called on the international community to recognize the rebels as belligerents a month prior. Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, who had tense relations with Chávez, thanked the socialist leader and called for the release of all hostages. He said Colombia was still in a fight "against terrorist actions" but was open to reconciliation. Anti-FARC rallies On 4 February 2008, anti-FARC protests were held in 45 Colombian cities and towns, with an estimated 1.5 million people coming out in Bogotá alone. Solidarity rallies were held in some 200 cities worldwide including Berlin, Barcelona, London, Madrid, Toronto, Dubai, Miami, New York, Brisbane, and La Paz. The protests were originally organised through Facebook and were also supported by local Colombian media outlets as well as the Colombian government. Participation estimates vary from the hundreds of thousands to several millions of people in Colombia and thousands worldwide. Kiraz Janicke of the leftist and chavista website Venezuelanalysis criticised the rallies, claiming that "right-wing paramilitary leaders featured prominently" in their organisation and arguing that workers were also pressured to attend the gatherings. According to her, the purpose of the protests was to promote "Uribe's policy of perpetuating Colombia's decades-long civil war." Shortly before the rallies took place thirteen demobilised AUC paramilitary leaders, including Salvatore Mancuso, had expressed their support of the protest through a communique. However, this move was rejected by organiser Carlos Andrés Santiago, who stated that such an endorsement was harmful and criticised the AUC's actions. On 20 July 2008, a subsequent set of rallies against FARC included thousands of Colombians in Bogotá and hundreds of thousands throughout the rest of the country. Deaths of Raúl Reyes and Manuel Marulanda Vélez On 1 March 2008, Raul Reyes, a member of FARC's ruling Secretariat, in the small village of Santa Rosa, Ecuador, was killed just across the border from Colombia, after Colombian