COLOMBIA: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrives in Colombia to meet President Alvaro Uribe and help facilitate the release of hostages held by left-wing rebels

Better known for his trademark anti-U.S. tirades, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took up a more delicate role on Friday (August 31) when he began efforts to broker a deal to free hostages held by Colombia's Marxist guerrillas. Chavez steps into a bitter deadlock between President Alvaro Uribe, a U.S. ally popular for his hard-line stance against rebels, and Latin America's oldest guerrilla group resisting attempts to end a 40-year conflict. At stake in the talks is a deal to free scores of hostages languishing in rebel jungle camps, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, snatched in 2002, and three U.S. contract workers captured a year later. "I ask God that I may be able to contribute to the matter of a humanitarian exchange and in the matter of peace, peace for everyone," said Chavez arriving at a military airport in Bogota wearing his customary revolutionary red shirt. The Venezuelan leader will meet with Uribe at a presidential farm on the outskirts of the capital. While Uribe has been a close White House ally whose country has received billions in U.S. military aid, Chavez has sought to counter Washington's influence in Latin America with a left-wing approach, offering neighbours energy deals as part of his self-styled revolution. The Venezuelan's leftist credentials, strong ties to Cuba and growing regional influence have stirred hope among families of victims that he can give the talks new energy. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is also pushing for Betancourt's release and has asked Uribe to free a top rebel leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to foster talks. But Uribe and the FARC are entrenched in their positions and Chavez will be hard-pressed to reach a deal that has eluded European governments, the Roman Catholic Church and families of politicians, police and soldiers held for as long as a decade. Attempts at talks are stalemated over two rebel demands: a safe haven the size of New York City in southern Colombia for the exchange and the release of two rebels held in the United States before the FARC considers freeing its U.S. hostages. Uribe, whose father was killed two decades ago in a botched FARC kidnapping, has spearheaded a U.S.-backed campaign to disarm paramilitaries and push the FARC back into the jungles. Cities and highways are now safer and violence has eased. But while he initially accepted a proposal by France, Switzerland and Spain for a safe haven, Uribe refuses to pull back troops under FARC conditions, saying it would allow rebels to regroup and rearm. Raul Reyes, a top FARC leader, told an Argentine newspaper recently he welcomed Chavez's involvement and said guerrillas would hold talks anywhere. But he insisted on a demilitarized zone and an exchange of hostages inside Colombia. Demilitarization is a sensitive issue in Colombia. Uribe's predecessor gave up a Switzerland-sized chunk of land for peace talks. After three years, negotiations collapsed with the government charging the FARC kept kidnapping and rearming.

ITN Source | September 1, 2007

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