Colombian Government
Says No To Negotiating
With "Cheating, Lying"
Rebels
Colombia's Interior and
Justice Minister Carlos
Holguin Monday accused
the nation's largest
guerilla group of
"cheating and lying"
after it failed to honor
a public commitment to
hand over three
hostages.
"I call on everyone to
demand that the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC)
hand over all its
hostages because there
is no longer the trust
needed to negotiate with
this group," he said.
A key FARC hostage, a
child born in captivity
to kidnapped
vice-presidential
candidate Clara Rojas,
turned out to be at an
orphanage in the
Colombian capital Bogota
run by the Colombian
Family Welfare
Institute, a state body.
The guerillas admitted
Friday that they could
not hand over the boy
and blamed the
government for
"kidnapping" the child.
FARC had previously said
in a statement dated
Dec. 18 that it would
hand over former
legislator Consuelo
Gonzalez, Rojas and her
son Emmanuel to
Venezuela's president
Chavez, who had been
mediating between FARC
and the government.
Although Chavez sent a
team of international
observers to a planned
handover zone, the
guerrillas did not make
the transfer because of
what they called
"intense military
operations" in the area.
In a separate radio
interview Monday,
Colombian Foreign
Minister Fernando Araujo
said he would allow no
more international
commissions to free
captives.
"They always doubted the
government and believed
FARC's lies," he said,
because they did not
understand Colombia or
its guerrillas. He also
restated the
government's call for
the guerrillas to hand
over captives to the
nation's army.
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