[NYTr] Chavez “The Only Person” Who Can Deal with the FARC: Colombian Senator

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Venezuelanalysis - Sep 14, 2007
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/2597

Colombian Senator: 

Chavez is “The Only Person” Who Can Deal with the FARC

by Kiraz Janicke

Caracas, September 14, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez, “is the only person who can achieve a
humanitarian accord” with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC), Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba, from the opposition Liberal
Party told the Spanish language BBC El Mundo yesterday. "Not because
president Chávez has a relation with the FARC,” she continued, “but
because there are coincidences in terms of the political conception of
how the countries of Latin America, should be.”

President Chavez’s proposal to mediate hostage negotiations at the
express request of Cordoba, was accepted by Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe in August. After a meeting with Chavez in Bogota on August 31st,
Uribe agreed for Venezuela to host separate meetings in Caracas between
Colombian officials, the FARC, and Colombia's other main leftist
guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN).

However, during his weekly program Alo Presidente on Sunday, Chavez
revealed he had received a letter from the FARC leader Manuel Maralunda
saying he was unable to visit Caracas and instead invited the
Venezuelan president to meet him in FARC controlled territory in
Colombia. Chavez indicated that if the Colombian government approved he
was "willing to go into the deepest part of the largest jungle to talk
Maralunda.”

The Colombian High Commissioner for Peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo,
responded Monday by ruling out as “inappropriate” and “unviable” any
meeting between Chavez and the FARC on Colombian soil. However,
Restrepo said the Colombian government supported “an encounter between
President Chavez and a delegation of the FARC in Venezuelan territory.”

Córdoba argued yesterday that Chavez’s proposal, to hold the talks in
Colombia, should be “evaluated,” rather than simply being rejected out
of hand. Córdoba also affirmed that Chavez's mediating role in the
negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC is supported
by the majority of the Colombian people. However, she warned, there are
"people interested in causing this process to fail.”

Colombia 's Foreign Minister, Fernando Araújo expressed his doubts over
the potential success of Chavez's mediations. “I don't believe this
mediation will have any result because the FARC are not interested in
an accord with anyone... They are narco-traffickers dedicated to
terrorism,” he said in a statement earlier this week.

However, Araújo seems to have changed his tune recently, as the
Colombian daily Diario Hoy reported today that Araújo, now “has faith”
that the mediations will succeed while at the same time he imposing
limitations on Chavez's role, saying “he can mediate, but not
negotiate.” Araújo, again rejected any possibility of a meeting taking
place on Colombian soil, saying, “In no part of Colombian territory
should there be liberty for guerrillas.”

Venezuela has received international support for Chavez's role, with
French President Nicholas Sarkozy affirming his support for Chavez's
mediation and for a meeting between Chavez and the FARC.

Also, in an unexpected statement on Wednesday, the US Ambassador to
Colombia and former Ambassador to Venezuela, William Brownfield, said
the US government supports the participation of “any leader, government
official, politician or personality of any country in the world” who
could secure the liberation of three US hostages, as well as others
held by the FARC and the ELN

To date the mediations have resulted in talks between Colombian
officials, including the High Commissioner for Peace and the ELN
facilitated by the Venezuelan government in Caracas on September 7.
Additionally, last Saturday the FARC handed over to the Red Cross the
bodies of 11 Colombian deputies, who they claimed were killed in
crossfire between its fighters and government forces in June. The
Colombian government has denied any involvement and has accused FARC of
executing the deputies.

The FARC is also hoping to exchange 45 hostages, including former
presidential candidate and French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt,
held captive since 2002 as well as three U.S. citizens held captive
since their spy plane crashed in the Colombian jungle over 4 years ago,
for 500 guerrilla insurgents held in Colombian prisons. The FARC is
also calling for the demilitarization of the South Western region of
Colombia, a demand that the Colombian government has rejected.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicholas Maduro told a press conference
yesterday that Venezuela would continue working towards a future
meeting with the FARC and said he believed that Chavez's “enormous
efforts, for life, for peace, for an humanitarian exchange,” would
“contribute to peace in Colombia. This is what the Colombian people
want,” he concluded.