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Colombia Welcomes Chavez
Shift On Guerrilla
Support
Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe on Saturday
welcomed a call by
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez for FARC
rebels to free their
hostages as a step
towards peace
negotiations to end
Latin America's oldest
insurgency.
Ties between Venezuela
and Colombia have been
tense since March when
Colombian troops killed
a top FARC commander in
a camp inside Ecuador.
Colombia said laptops
found at the camp show
Chavez's backing of the
rebels, a charge he
rejects.
The Venezuelan leader,
who had previously
called for more
recognition for the
Marxist guerrillas, last
week urged the FARC to
unconditionally release
their hostages in an
apparent reversal of his
political support for
the rebels.
"I want to reiterate our
thanks to President Hugo
Chavez for his recent
comments that help
Colombia win a definite
peace. I believe they
were positive comments,"
Uribe said at a
community town hall
meeting.
Uribe said he would meet
soon with Chavez as the
two governments work to
repair ties. Washington
ally Uribe and
left-winger Chavez are
on opposites of the
political spectrum but
their countries share
about $6 billion in
trade each year.
A Colombian government
source said the meeting
would likely take place
in Venezuela before July
15 though details were
still being hammered
out.
Violence from Colombia's
conflict has ebbed as
Uribe's U.S.-backed
military drove back the
FARC -- Revolutionary
Armed Forces of
Colombia. The rebels
have lost three top
commanders this year and
government rewards are
triggering desertions.
The loss of political
support from Chavez
could pressure the
guerrillas to start
talks over freeing their
hostages held for years
in jungle camps,
including
French-Colombian Ingrid
Betancourt and three
American contractors.
A self-styled socialist,
Chavez is one of
region's fiercest
critics of U.S. policies
in Latin America while
Uribe is the White
House's most loyal
partner who receives
billions of dollars in
U.S. aid to fight
leftist guerrillas. |
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