Havana , Cuba ( CNN ) -- The Colombian president has dismissed as `` media spectacle '' a decision by Colombian rebels to release an American captive to civil rights leader the Rev . Jesse Jackson . Jackson said Sunday that FARC rebel leaders have agreed to release U.S. Army veteran Kevin Scott Sutay . `` They have released him already , '' he said . `` But we must go to get him . He 's in Colombia in the jungle . That involves the permission of the government of Colombia and the Red Cross and the facilitating our going into the jungle . Because it 's a war zone and there needs to be a cease-fire . '' FARC guerrillas captured Sutay on June 20 while he was backpacking through Colombia . Saturday , Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted , `` Only the Red Cross will be authorized to facilitate the delivery of the North American kidnapped by FARC . We will not allow a media spectacle . '' A statement on the presidential website went further : `` They need now all kinds of media shows to free a detained person after they promised they would never kidnap anyone . '' Colombian officials previously said they feared FARC would use Sutay 's release to garner media coverage . ' A humanitarian gesture ' 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 Saturday . `` I consider it as a gesture to reinforce the peace negotiation . '' FARC guerrillas said in a statement they had previously offered to free Sutay but that `` the Colombian government did not provide the minimum necessary conditions we need for this procedure . '' The presidential website statement said that if the rebels are indeed acting in good faith , `` they should release him quickly without any strings attached . '' The U.S. State Department said it was aware that Jackson had `` expressed a willingness to assist '' and that it was in close contact with the Colombian government . 'He is a tourist ' 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 Patrick Oppmann reported from Havana and Nelson Quinones from Atlanta . CNN 's Jessica King , Laura Koran and Melissa Gray also contributed .
Jackson says the release would be a 'humanitarian gesture of their own volition '' U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson says he 's helping to facilitate the release . Kevin Scott Sutay was captured by FARC rebels in June . He is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan .