COLOMBIA:
Hostage Release
"Blasted"
Analysis by Constanza
Vieira
CARACAS (IPS) - - "Uribe,
reflect, my brother,
let’s work for peace,"
said Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez
when the release of
three hostages by
Colombia’s FARC
guerrillas was postponed
over the New Year’s
holidays.
In a chaotic New Year’s
Eve press conference at
the presidential palace
in Caracas, under a
starry sky filled with
fireworks, the
Venezuelan leader
appealed to what speaks
loudest to his Colombian
counterpart, Álvaro
Uribe: business.
Chávez listed a number
of major economic and
integration projects
that cannot fully go
ahead as long as
Colombia remains in the
grip of an armed
conflict: the Bank of
the South, Petrosur (a
regional South American
oil company), the South
American mega-gas
pipeline, and Unasur
(Union of South American
Nations).
"That is why peace is
important," he said,
addressing Uribe, a
large landowner who,
with heavy U.S. support,
has been waging an
all-out offensive for
the past five years
against the FARC
(Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia), a
rural guerrilla army
that emerged in 1964.
"It was Colombia’s turn
to host the Unasur
summit this year. It
didn't happen,"
complained Chávez, while
talking to reporters
about the postponement
of the release of
Colombian hostages
Consuelo González and
Clara Rojas and the
latter’s young son
Emmanuel, born in 2004.
His father is a
guerrilla fighter.
González, a former
congresswoman, has been
held by the FARC since
2001. Rojas was seized
in February 2002 along
with then presidential
candidate Ingrid
Betancourt, who holds
dual Colombian-French
citizenship. Rojas was
her running-mate at the
time.
"Emmanuel, I want to
have some ice cream with
you," Chávez said
recently.
Uribe had approved the
Venezuelan leader’s role
as a mediator in
negotiations for a
humanitarian swap of the
hostages held by the
guerrillas for
imprisoned insurgents.
Chávez’s help was
enlisted in mid-August
by opposition Senator
Piedad Córdoba, who was
designated to broker the
negotiations, and by the
families of the 45
hostages.
But Chávez and Córdoba’s
mediation was abruptly
and inexplicably cut off
by Uribe in late
November, triggering a
diplomatic crisis
between the two
countries, with
Venezuela recalling its
ambassador for
consultations and
threatening to freeze
economic relations,
which are vital to
Colombia.
The FARC responded by
announcing that they
would unilaterally
release the three
hostages, to compensate
Chávez and Córdoba for
their efforts. The Uribe
administration
authorised the use of
Colombian airspace for
the operation.
However, "Operation
Emmanuel", led by Chávez,
was postponed on New
Year’s Eve by the FARC,
which said in a
statement that continued
military operations by
the Colombian government
in the area would
endanger the lives of
the hostages.
Chávez had reserved
certain details of the
operation for the
Colombian government,
the Red Cross, and the
delegates of Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba,
Ecuador, France and
Switzerland, who are
acting as international
observers.
Under Operation
Emmanuel, the Venezuelan
government sent aircraft
with the Red Cross
symbol to the airport in
Villavicencio, capital
of the central Colombian
department (province) of
Meta, 90 km south of
Bogota.
The team of
international observers,
including former
Argentine president
Néstor Kirchner, was
also flown in to
Villavicencio, where
they waited until New
Year’s Eve.
The only thing expected
of the Colombian
government was a
suspension of military
activity in the area.
In the third phase of
Operation Emmanuel, two
helicopters were to fly
towards an unknown
destination in the
jungle to pick up the
three hostages. The
pilots were to receive
directions in mid-flight
from the FARC.
But "the third phase
began to run into
difficulties," said
Chávez, who added that
he had heard from
different sources, not
only the guerrillas,
that Colombian military
activity continued in
the area -- not combat
actions, but military
pressure, he clarified.
No further details have
been made available.
The international
observers flew home from
Villavicencio, but are
prepared to return when
the conditions are in
place to allow the
release to go ahead
safely. However, Red
Cross representatives
stayed behind in the
town.
When Uribe authorised
the use of Colombian
airspace by Venezuelan
aircraft, he apparently
did not agree to a
ceasefire in the area in
question, but only to
the creation of a
"humanitarian corridor"
for flying the hostages
out.
But, said Chávez, "he
knows it’s impossible"
to create such a
corridor, because that
would "require two
points," and only one
will be known ahead of
time.
The reason for this is
that the FARC will only
provide the coordinates
for the spot chosen for
the hostage handover
once the helicopter
pilots are in flight,
through means that
cannot be intercepted
electronically, since
the Colombian
counterinsurgency
forces, using
cutting-edge technology
provided as part of the
U.S. military aid to the
country, are more than
keen on learning the
location of the rebel
unit escorting the
hostages.
Now Chávez has two
Emmanuels to choose from
to eat an ice cream cone
with: the one to be
handed over by the FARC,
and a boy that Uribe
said was discovered a
few days ago in an
orphanage in Colombia.
In a speech given on
Dec. 31 at an air base
near Villavicencio,
Uribe speculated that
the FARC were delaying
the release because they
were no longer holding
Emmanuel. He also
announced that DNA tests
were being carried out
to determine whether the
little boy in the
orphanage, who shows
signs of physical abuse,
was Emmanuel.
Chávez said Uribe
presented that version
"to blast the third
phase of the operation."
In theory, Uribe cannot
produce the second
Emmanuel because
Colombian laws protect
the identity of minors.
DNA taken from Clara
Rojas’s family members
will be checked against
the samples provided by
the Colombian
government.
IPS found out that
voices within the
Democratic Party in the
United States and in
Europe have called for a
European commission to
carry out independent
DNA tests on "Emmanuel
II" and the Rojas
family.
Besides South American
integration and business
activities, there is
something else at stake
here.
Chávez has stated that
if he can speak face to
face with FARC leader
Manuel Marulanda for 20
hours, he can convince
him that today it is
possible for the left in
Latin America to make it
to power through
elections.
Or, in the words of
Senator Córdoba, "we,
who have the chance of
creating a better world,
have to fight in another
way: at the polls."
"Uribe believes they can
defeat the FARC, that
they can wipe them
out…but they can’t,"
said Chávez in Monday’s
news briefing. He added
that he said the same
thing to Iván Márquez, a
FARC leader who visited
him in November in the
presidential palace in
Caracas.
"Neither side is going
to be able to put an end
to the other side's
determination to fight,"
he said.
"This is a struggle that
is wearing out and
breaking down Colombia,
and that is wearing out
Venezuela as well," said
the president, who will
continue to push for the
hostages’ release.
But apparently not
everyone concerned is
interested in seeing a
hostage release go
through.
Interestingly, just
before Uribe called off
Chávez’s mediation
efforts, and just before
he announced the
appearance of "Emmanuel
II", he received phone
calls from the same
source: U.S. President
George W. Bush. |
