COLOMBIA: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he plans to hold talks with Colombia's FARC guerrillas

After holding a three-hour closed door meeting to discuss efforts to free kidnap victims held by Colombia's FARC guerrillas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe announce that Chavez plans to hold talks with the Marxist rebels. Holding a joint news conference with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday (August 31) he planned to hold talks with Colombia's FARC guerrillas in Venezuela in an effort to break a deadlock on freeing kidnap victims held by the Marxist rebels. Left-winger 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. The proposal could fuel hope over 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. Chavez said he received direct communication from the FARC on Friday morning after he offered to act as a mediator between the guerrillas and Uribe's government. He did not give any details but called for patience. "We made a great effort to obtain an answer from the FARC," said Chavez. "...we were waiting for an straight answer and we got one, the answer came last time this morning before we came here, I can not leak information off course, because with a lot of patience and being calmed you have to look for a point that opens doors for the freeing of all of these compatriots." 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. But the two leaders have kept up ties, and 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 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. "I am going to try to help and we are trying to help Ingrid Betancourt, we are willing to cooperate and we agreed on keeping a permanent connection on the subject," said Chavez. 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. 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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