[NYTr] Chavez upbeat on Colombia hostages' fate

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

BBC - Nov 20, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7103851.stm

Chavez upbeat on hostages' fate

Colombian rebels will produce proof before the end of the year that
their hostages are alive, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has insisted.

Mr Chavez, who is trying to mediate between the rebels and the
Colombian government, was speaking after talks with French President
Nicolas Sarkozy.

The hostages include Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian politician.

Colombia on Monday set Mr Chavez a 31 deadline to reach a deal on a
swap of hostages for rebel prisoners.

Ahead of his arrival in Paris, Mr Chavez had indicated that he hoped to
bring evidence that the hostages were alive.

Instead, Mr Chavez said he had received a written assurance from the
leader of the Farc rebels, Manuel Marulanda, that such evidence would
be forthcoming "before the end of the year".

Mr Chavez repeated his conviction despite the lack of proof that Ms
Betancourt, kidnapped in February 2002, was still alive.

"Ingrid is alive. I'm absolutely certain," Mr Chavez said.

"We will do everything humanly possible to achieve (her) release and
not only hers, but the release of all the candidates. "

Conditions

Mr Sarkozy, who did not make any comment, has made securing the release
of Ms Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate, a foreign
policy priority.

She has French citizenship by virtue of a marriage, now dissolved, to a
Frenchman.

The Farc guerrillas want some 500 rebels held in Colombian prisons to
be freed in exchange for the high-profile captives, who also include
members of the armed forces, other politicians, and three US defence
contractors.

The guerrillas also want two rebels extradited and tried in the US to
be included in any swap.

One of them, Simon Trinidad, whose real name is Ricardo Palmera, was
due to be sentenced in Washington on Tuesday for involvement in the
kidnapping of the three Americans.

Mr Chavez, who offered his services as mediators in August, met
high-level Farc representatives in Caracas after weeks of on-off talks
earlier this month.

In an interview with Colombian broadcaster RCN on his arrival in Paris,
Mr Chavez appeared to reveal details of a private conversation with Mr
Uribe at a recent regional summit.

He said he had been given permission to talk to the rebel leader and
said that Mr Uribe himself had indicated a willingness to take part.

Frustration

Reaction from Bogota was swift, drawing a strongly-worded statement
setting Mr Chavez a deadline of 31 December to achieve results.

The likelihood of being able to meet that deadline is remote at best,
says the BBC Americas editor Will Grant, who adds that it has taken
months to broker the first tentative talks.

Whether the Colombian government's decision to impose such a timetable
is borne out of frustration at the stuttering negotiations or at
President Chavez himself is not clear, he says.

Asked about Colombia's deadline, Mr Chavez said he would be asking Mr
Uribe to show patience.

Colombian's peace commissioner had spent five years trying to achieve a
humanitarian accord, Mr Chavez said, "while we in three months have
advanced further than he was able to secure the hostages' release".

© BBC MMVII