[NYTr] Chavez in Colomvia for Mediation Meetings

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

excerpted from VIO Venezuela News Roundup - Aug 31, 2007

[A prisoner-for-hostage swap being mediated by President Chavez in
Colombia is a top news story today.  Reuters reports that the
involvement of Chavez has given new hope to families of victims there
because he is respected by leftists as well as the government, and is
generally an influential figure in the region.  Colombia's foreign
minister is quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the process will be
"difficult," but that "we have to see what alternatives or initiatives
he presents."  In a first step toward brokering peace yesterday, Chavez
pardoned 41 Colombians serving jail terms in Venezuela for an attempted
coup in 2004, according to the Associated Press (already distributed -
NYTr). 

El Universal reports that a six-hour meeting today between
President Chavez and Colombia's President Uribe will also be used to
address bilateral economic and development issues. -VIO

Prensa Latina also reports on Chavez's trip, the positive reaction to
his involvement by hostage families and the French government -NYTr]


Reuters - August 31, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN3020397720070831

Chavez steps into Colombia's hostage fray

By Patrick Markey

BOGOTA - Better known for his trademark anti-U.S. tirades, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez takes on a more delicate role on Friday when he
tries 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 in Bogota is the freedom of hundreds of kidnap
victims wasting away in rebel jungle camps, including French-Colombian
politician Ingrid Betancourt snatched in 2002 and three U.S. contract
workers captured a year later.

"Chavez's leftist credentials, strong ties to Cuba and growing regional
influence have stirred hope for families of victims he can give the
talks initiative a new jolt."

"The kidnappers say they admire Chavez. They might not obey him, but
they do take note," Betancourt's husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, said.
"It's the first time I see there could be a small light at the end of
the tunnel."

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.

He spoke with both Uribe and Chavez on Thursday, urging them to work
for the release of hostages.

But Uribe and the FARC are entrenched in their positions and Chavez
could struggle to find 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. 

ribe, 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 safer and violence has eased.

'TWO UNALTERABLE POSITIONS'

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.

"We have two unalterable positions. One is no demilitarized zone. This
country demands a state presence, the people demand that they do not
have to sleep in the countryside waiting for a guerrilla kidnapping,"
Uribe said recently.

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.

"The great challenge for Chavez is to get each side to cede without
appearing they have lost anything," Alfredo Rangel, a security analyst
at the Bogota think tank Security and Democracy, wrote in a recent
column.

                        ***

The Financial Times - August 30, 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/146334b2-5730-11dc-9a3a-0000779fd2ac.html


Chávez plans to broker hostage release

By Anastasia Moloney

Hugo Chávez, Venezuela?s president, will on Friday meet Álvaro Uribe,
his neighbouring counterpart, in a bid to kick-start talks to negotiate
the release of hostages held by the Farc.

According to Francisco Santos, Colombia?s vice-president, Mr Chávez?s
visit to Bogotá represents a ?fantastic opportunity? to discuss a
possible humanitarian prisoner swap between 47 hostages and imprisoned
guerrilla members.

The Farc?s high-profile hostages include numerous army and police
officers, three US citizens, and a former presidential candidate,
Ingrid Betancourt, who has dual Colombian and French nationality. Some
have been held in captivity for up to a decade.

Mr Uribe has faced increasing pressure to seek a diplomatic solution to
end the country?s hostage crisis, following the killing of 11 Colombian
deputies held captive by the rebels in June.

A campaign, led by the French, Spanish and Swedish governments, in
favour of a humanitarian exchange has been gaining momentum in Europe.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who recently declared the release of
Ingrid Betancourt a national priority, on Thursday publicly backed Mr
Chávez?s efforts.

However, Mr Santos is careful not to raise false expectations.

?The government is ready to make a deal, but unfortunately the Farc
hasn?t moved an inch in these last years and hasn?t put anything on the
table, so we don?t know whether this will achieve anything or not.
Let?s hope Farc will not let this chance go down the drain,? said Mr
Santos.

Breaking the long-standing deadlock between the government and Farc,
the country?s largest guerrilla group, is plagued with difficulties as
both sides appear unwilling to compromise on the issue of a
demilitarized zone.

To negotiate a humanitarian exchange, the rebels insist that the
government must first withdraw troops in order to establish a
demilitarized zone in two southwestern Colombian municipalities, where
talks could be held.

But this demand has been rejected by President Uribe and his supporters
who fear that a demilitarized zone would strengthen the rebels while
weakening the country?s armed forces and place vulnerable rural
communities at risk from insurgent attacks.

Andrés Arias, the Colombian minister of agriculture and rural
development, has recently toured parts of the country lobbying against
the setting up a demilitarized zone which he says farmers are ?begging?
the government not to introduce.

Richard Howitt, a British MEP who is in Bogotá this week urging the
government to push forward with a prisoner swap, said that a European
peace-keeping force could be offered to police such a zone.

However, the Farc?s stance remains entrenched: ?We continue seeking the
demilitarization of Pradera and Florida (municipalities), and we would
ask President Chávez to use his political weight to contribute to this,
which would allow us to sit at the negotiating table and arrive at an
accord to release the prisoners,? Raúl Reyes, a Farc leader, told the
told Argentinian daily, Clarin, last week. He also insisted that a
handover of hostages must take place in Colombia.

Mr Chávez, who has offered to act as an intermediary between the
government and the rebels, has warned that both sides would need
to ?give in? for an eventual deal to be brokered. He has also offered
to host talks between the two sides in Venezuela. 


                                    ***

Bloomberg - August 31, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aavxECS8Cjs0

Chavez Bid to Free Colombian Hostages `Difficult', Holguin Says

By Helen Murphy

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is unlikely to broker the freedom of
hostages held by Colombia's biggest guerrilla group, Colombia's
Interior Minister Carlos Holguin said.

Chavez, who has offered to talk face-to-face with rebel leaders, is
scheduled to meet Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe during a visit to
Bogota today to push efforts to exchange 45 hostages for about 500
jailed members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. He also
will meet with Holguin and Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo.

``We have to see what alternatives or initiatives he presents,''
Holguin said in an interview at his office in Bogota. ``Each meeting
between Chavez and President Uribe is constructive in general, so this
will be too, but on this issue, I see it as very difficult.''

Holguin, 66, said he believes the FARC, as the group is known, has no
intention of freeing the hostages since it has rejected Uribe's every
effort to show flexibility. Uribe in June freed 150 jailed guerrillas
in the failed hope the FARC would move ahead with a swap that would
have included three U.S. citizens and former Colombian presidential
candidate Ingrid Betancourt.

``I am very pessimistic about it,'' said Holguin, who took office in
August 2006. ``They have a concept that they have the key to political
power.''

Safe Haven

Chavez, 53, who recently called FARC founder Manuel Marulanda a ``great
Colombian,'' met in Caracas Aug. 20 with family members of the
hostages, some of whom have been held for more than a decade in jungle
camps. His offer to provide an area in Venezuela to make the swap was
rejected by the FARC, which holds as many as 3,222 prisoners, according
to Fundacion Pais Libre, a nongovernment organization that assists
kidnap victims and their families.

``If President Chavez is successful, he'll be like a hero for
Colombians,'' said Fernando Gerbasi, a former Venezuelan ambassador to
Colombia, on Globovision. ``If he's not successful, at least he's
tried.''

Millions of people throughout Colombia last month protested the murder
of 11 hostage lawmakers just weeks after Uribe freed the captured
guerrillas, including the highest-ranking jailed rebel leader, Rodrigo
Granda.

The deaths of the lawmakers derailed joint efforts by France and
Colombia to negotiate an exchange of prisoners.

`Immense Flexibility'

Uribe has refused the guerrillas' demand to remove troops from an area
the size of New York to facilitate a hostage swap. In a bid to prompt
peace talks, former President Andres Pastrana in 1998 granted the FARC
a safe haven, which it used to build up arms, run drug-trafficking
operations and plan kidnappings.

``We will continue to ask for the demilitarization of Pradera and
Florida and we ask President Chavez, given his political weight, to
help achieve this demilitarized zone,'' Raul Reyes, FARC spokesman,
said in an interview with Argentina's daily Clarin published Aug. 26.

Colombian guerrillas, who have praised Chavez' Bolivarian revolution,
have taken thousands of so-called economic hostages to raise funds for
weapons purchases and to continue their battle against the government.
The 45 prisoners under discussion are considered political captives,
used as bargaining tools with the government.

``The FARC is very complex; it's a way of living. It's also an
ideology, and they see Chavez as a hero,'' said Gerbasi.

Drug Funds

Holguin said Uribe is running out of tools to negotiate with the
guerrillas.

``The government is reaching the limits of its flexibility,'' said
Holguin, a former mayor of Cali. ``Uribe has shown immense flexibility;
and the FARC, where are they? The same as the first day.''

Since his election in 2002, Uribe has launched a military crackdown on
the FARC and on the smaller National Liberation Army, as well as their
rightist paramilitary foes. He was re- elected last year with 62
percent of the vote on pledges to end four decades of violence among
guerrillas, paramilitary fighters and the government.

Kidnappings have declined fallen by 83 percent since 2002 and homicides
are down 40 percent, according to government figures. About 40,000
paramilitary and guerrilla fighters have handed in their weapons in
return for reduced jails sentences and job training.

The FARC began in 1964, when Marulanda and 48 rebels were attacked in a
jungle hideout by thousands of troops. It has since battled 11
administrations. The group turned a poorly armed band of peasants
fighting for survival and land reform into a uniformed army of about
17,000 fighters armed with modern weapons, financed by drug funds and
ransom payments.

``Their struggle has no connection with political ideals,'' Holguin
said. ``But as long as we can't eradicate drugs, it will be very
difficult to see an eradication of the violence.'' 



                     ***

El Universal - August 30, 2007
http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/08/30/en_pol_art_chavez-uribe-meeting_30A971197.shtml


Chávez-Uribe meeting to last six hours

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo
Chávez will hold a brief meeting on Friday at a country house next to
Bogotá in order to discuss bilateral matters, particularly a potential
settlement between the Colombian government and the Colombian
Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) to swap hostages for imprisoned
rebels.

According to the press, Chávez would like to stay in Bogotá for two
days to talk also with other people about the humanitarian swap,
including relatives of hostages and imprisoned guerrillas.

As quoted by DPA, the agenda disclosed by Casa de Nariño, Colombian
President's head offices, the visit will last about six hours. During
that time, Chávez and Uribe will hold a private meeting, followed a
press conference and a luncheon.

The rulers wanted to cash in on the occasion to deal with trade,
agriculture, energy, development on the common border and a recent
controversy about the establishment of toll posts in a bordering
Colombian area.

                         ***
Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Venezuela: Chavez Arrives in Colombia

Bogota, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived
in Colombia to accomplish a six-hour official visit with his Colombian
counterpart Alvaro Uribe, to help achieve a humanitarian agreement
between the government and the guerrilla.

A few minutes after 10:00 local hour the Venezuelan presidential plane
landed in Catam military airport, north of this capital where the
Bolivarian leader was received by Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo.

Chavez did not answer questions from the press but said he was
optimistic on the exchange and in favor of peace for Colombia and all
over America.

Chavez came along with Foreign minister Nicolas Maduro and other
officials as well as a group of journalists

hr/abo/rc/mf

                   ***

earlier stories:

Chavez to Colombia Today

Bogota, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) Bilateral economic issues and Venezuelan
mediation in a humanitarian accord between the Colombian government and
the guerrilla are the center of talks Friday between Presidents Alvaro
Uribe and Hugo Chavez.

The agenda also includes trade, tolls along the border zone, the
construction of a bi-national gas pipeline and the possibility of a
prisoner exchange.

If there is no last minute change in the agenda, the Venezuelan leader
is due to arrive at about 10:00 local time at the Catam military
airport, where he will be welcomed by Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo,
to later go to the Hato Grande presidential estate.

President Alvaro Uribe will be there and after a ceremony with military
honors, both statesmen will hold a two-hour bilateral meeting in the
retreat's main dinning room.

Also on the list are a news conference and a private lunch, then Chavez
will return to Venezuela at 15:00 local time.

Many here consider the meeting a new stage for the long internal
Colombian conflict.

Chavez' mediation at the request of Colombian liberal senator Piedad
Cordova offers another perspective to find a humanitarian accord in a
struggle that for most Colombians has been deadlocked due to positions
between the government and insurgency. 

hr/iff/rc/mf

                       ***

Hostage Families Trust Chavez 

Bogota, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' visit
to this city on Friday aroused the hopes of the relatives of people
detained by the Colombian guerrillas, and they are confident that it
might open new spaces for a humanitarian agreement.

Cautiously waiting for the results of the meeting with Presidents Hugo
Chavez and Alvaro Uribe, they coincide in their confidence of what the
neighboring country's president could bring about.

In statements to El Colombiano, a daily of Medellin, Yolanda Pulecio,
mother of ex presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt said she is still
holding out hope, but was prudent about the presidential meeting.

Patricia Perdomo, daughter of ex Congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez de
Perdomo, also said she was confident, and that although relatives were
not called to participate, they are willing to attend it if the
presidents consider it necessary.

hr/iom/rc/mf

                       ***

France Praises Chavez Mediation

Paris, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) France highlighted Friday talks between
President Nicolas Sarkozy and Venezuelan statesman Hugo Chavez, in
favor of the release of a group of people detained by the Colombian
guerrilla.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner referred to the phone call
Tuesday between Sarkozy and Chavez for the prioritized freedom of
former Colombian presidential candidate and citizen Ingrid Betancourt.

Also on the list are contacts by the French head of State with his
Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe.

"We hope that President Chavez' efforts are useful," Kouchner told the
France Info radio station.

The Venezuelan leader is due to visit today Bogota, where he is
expected to analyze with Uribe the possible exchange of 45 prisoners
from the Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for 500
imprisoned guerrillas..

Ingrid Betancourt has been in the hands of the FARC since February 23,
2002.

hr/iff/ft/mf