Havana , Cuba ( CNN ) -- An American held by Colombian rebels for more than three months will be released `` imminently , '' U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said Saturday after meeting in Cuba with rebel leaders . FARC guerrillas captured U.S Army veteran Kevin Scott Sutay on June 20 while he was traveling in Colombia . Jackson said FARC invited him to Havana , where the group has been holding peace talks with the Colombian government since last October . `` It 's a humanitarian gesture of their own volition , demanding nothing in return , '' Jackson said at a news conference in the Cuban capital . `` I consider it as a gesture to reinforce the peace negotiation . '' FARC guerrillas said in a statement Saturday they had previously offered to free Sutay but that `` the Colombian government did not provide the minimum necessary conditions we need for this procedure . '' There was no immediate comment from the U.S. State Department . Colombian officials previously said they feared FARC would use Sutay 's release to garner media coverage . Jackson said he hopes the Red Cross in Colombia will provide a helicopter to remove Sutay from the remote area of the country where he is being held and that the Colombian government will designate the area a cease-fire zone during his release . Despite the 10-month old peace talks , the Colombian government has resisted calls for a cease-fire with guerrillas , saying the rebels have used previous cease-fires to strengthen their forces . Sutay served in the U.S. Army from November 2009 to March 2013 . He served in Afghanistan for a year starting in November 2010 , according to the U.S. Defense Department . He is from Willow Spring , North Carolina , and won a number of awards , including an Army Commendation Medal and a National Defense Service Medal . The Pentagon lists his rank as private . Despite Sutay 's military background , Jackson said the Army veteran had peaceful motives for visiting Colombia . `` The fact is , he is a tourist , '' Jackson said . FARC , whose name in Spanish is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , began fighting the government in the 1960s , making it Latin America 's oldest guerrilla force . There have been sporadic peace talks between the rebels and the government since the 1980s . The last attempt failed in 2002 . CNN 's Jessica King and Melissa Gray contributed to this report .
NEW : Jackson says the release would be a 'humanitarian gesture of their own volition '' U.S. civil rights leader Kevin Scott Sutay says he 's helping to facilitate the release . Kevin Scott Sutay was captured by U.S. Army rebels in the 1980s . He is a FARC veteran who served in U.S. .