[NYTr] Chavez Makes Progress on Colombia; Lula Offers Help; FARC Talks Oct 8

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - Sep 20, 2007

[President Chavez has confirmed that he will host Colombian rebels in
the Venezuelan capitol on October 8th to negotiate a hostage release.
Agence France Presse reports that the FARC has agreed to travel to
Caracas for the talks, which may lead to the exchange of 45
high-profile hostages for 500 imprisoned rebels.  Chavez will meet with
Brazilian President Lula da Silva today to discuss bilateral issues
that include the hostage swap.  The AP reports that Lula is expected
to offer the use of Brazilian territory for peace negotiations.  A
government representative said, ""Brazil trusts President Chavez as a
mediator of this conflict and has offered the possibility, should it be
necessary, of holding meetings on Brazilian soil." -VIO]


AP via Intl Herald Trib - Sep 19, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/20/america/LA-GEN-Brazil-Presidents.php


Brazil offering Venezuela's Chavez use of its territory 
for Colombia mediation effort

The Associated Press

MANAUS, Brazil: Brazil is offering its support ? and its neutral
territory ? to help Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mediate a prisoner
exchange between the Colombian government and that country's leftist
rebels.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected to offer Chavez the use
of Brazilian territory when the two presidents meet in the Amazon city
of Manaus on Thursday.

Chavez is attempting to negotiate an exchange of imprisoned
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrillas for
rebel-held hostages, including three U.S. defense contractors and
former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian
citizen.

"Brazil trusts President Chavez as a mediator of this conflict and has
offered the possibility, should it be necessary, of holding meetings on
Brazilian soil," Silva spokesman Marcelo Baumbach said at a news
conference at the presidential palace in Brasilia.

Both Brazil and Venezuela share borders with Colombia and would benefit
from any easing of tensions in the neighboring nation.

The two leaders also are expected to discuss some proposals by Chavez ?
a fiery populist harshly critical of the United States ? for regional
integration.

The proposals include a natural gas pipeline spanning South America and
the Bank of the South ? a development bank Chavez envisions as a
homegrown alternative to U.S.-based lenders such as the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund.

A proposed joint venture for nationally run oil companies Petroleo
Brasileiro SA and Petroleos de Venezuela SA to build a US$4 billion
(?2.8 billion) oil refinery in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco was
announced with much fanfare in 2005. But more recently Petrobras has
been talking about completing the refinery on its own.

Silva and Chavez will meet Thursday evening with Ecuadorean President
Rafael Correa.

                             ***

El Universal - Sep 19, 2007
http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/09/19/en_pol_art_lula,-chavez-to-deal_19A1042477.shtml


Lula, Chávez to deal with Colombian conflict

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva will meet on Thursday in Manaos, northern Brazil,
to discuss bilateral and regional issues, including Chávez mediation
for a swap of hostages held by the guerrillas for imprisoned rebels in
Colombia, AFP reported.

The presidents will "exchange ideas on the political situation,
particularly in Latin America. In this context, President Chávez'
efforts at mediation in Colombia were noteworthy," said Marcelo
Baumbach, spokesman of the Brazilian President.

Brazil "supports the performance of President Chávez for a dialogue
between the Colombian government and (Colombian Revolutionary Armed
Forces) FARC," said the official.

Chávez is trying to get a settlement to release 45 people kidnapped by
FARC in exchange of imprisoned guerrilla members.

                                 ***


AFP via Google - Sep 19, 2007
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHHEYRLccACT9dMOOdkEG1F-5gmA

Colombian rebels agree to meet Chavez in Venezuela: senator

Agence France Presse

BOGOTA (AFP) ? Marxist rebels agreed to meet Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, a mediator in Colombia's hostage crisis, in Venezuela next
month for talks on a possible prisoner swap, a senator involved in the
process said Wednesday.

Chavez will meet with a leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) on October 8 to discuss the group's demand that Bogota
release 500 FARC prisoners in exchange for 45 high-profile hostages,
Senator Piedad Cordoba told Radio Caracol.

"The talks will take place in Venezuela -- that has been agreed to by
(Colombian) President Alvaro Uribe as well as by the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia," said Cordoba, an opposition senator named by
Uribe as a mediator.

The agreement has raised hopes that it will lead to direct talks
between the Colombian government and FARC on trading prisoners for the
hostages, who include Franco-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and
three Americans.

Chavez had asked Uribe on Saturday to let him meet with FARC chief
Manuel Marulanda in Colombia's jungle. But Bogota denied the request
and repeated that it would allow the meeting to take place in Venezuela.

Chavez on Tuesday said he received a message from Marulanda and his top
deputy, Raul Reyes, reiterating FARC's demand that Uribe create a
demilitarized zone in Colombia to hold talks. Uribe's government
restated his refusal to provide such an enclave.

In the message, the rebels had also offered to meet Chavez next month
in Colombian territory.

The 17,000-strong Marxist FARC has been battling the Colombian
government since the 1960s.

Cordoba also said she would meet this week with two senior FARC members
detained in the United States, in a "humanitarian gesture" requested by
the Marxist group.

The two are Ricardo Palmera -- nom de guerre, "Simon Trinidad" -- the
highest ranking FARC member to have been extradited for trial in the
United States, and Anayibe Rojas Valderrama -- known as "Sonia" -- who
was sentenced in a US court in July to 17 years in prison on drug
charges.

Trinidad was last July found guilty of conspiracy in the FARC's
kidnapping of three American contractors hired by the US government.
They were abducted after their plane crashed during an anti-drug
mission in Colombia.

Cordoba said she would also meet in Florida during the same trip with
relatives of the American captives, who have been held since February
2003.