CHILE:
Bachelet to Help Seek
Humanitarian Solution
for Colombia's Hostage
Crisis
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO (IPS) -
Chilean President
Michelle Bachelet
promised to work
"quickly" and
"efficiently" to obtain
the release of the
hostages held by the
FARC, according to Juan
Carlos Lecompte, the
husband of former
Colombian presidential
candidate Ingrid
Betancourt, who was
taken hostage by the
Colombian guerrilla
group in 2002.
Acting Chilean Foreign
Minister Alberto van
Klaveren confirmed that
the president supports
all humanitarian
initiatives which may
result in the freedom of
the hostages in the
hands of the FARC
(Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia).
Lecompte arrived in
Santiago on Monday at
the invitation of the
recently formed Green
Party (Partido
Ecologista de Chile),
and met with Bachelet at
the Government Palace of
La Moneda on Tuesday.
During the 40-minute
meeting, Lecompte gave
the Chilean president
details of the four ways
in which, in his view,
she could help in the
process of freeing his
wife and the other
hostages held by the
FARC.
"The first is to support
the humanitarian
exchange that we have
been trying for years to
achieve. The bottleneck
here is the refusal by
Colombian President
Álvaro Uribe to agree to
the creation of a
demilitarised zone as
demanded by the rebels,"
Lecompte told IPS.
The humanitarian swap
that the guerrillas want
would involve the
exchange of some 40
civilian hostages and
soldiers and police
officers held hostage by
the FARC for several
hundred imprisoned
insurgents, which would
be negotiated and
carried out in a
specific zone cleared of
any military presence.
The second option is to
support a proposal which
Lecompte’s wife, a dual
Colombian-French
citizen, and Luis Eladio
Pérez, one of the four
legislators released by
the FARC on Feb. 27,
thought up while in
captivity, details of
which have not been made
public.
"Uribe has already
approved that
initiative, and on
Tuesday Pérez presented
it to French President
Nicolas Sarkozy,"
Lecompte said. "If it
remains secret,
President Bachelet
agreed to receive Pérez
so that he might inform
her about it."
The third alternative is
to support the efforts
made by Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez,
who has managed to get
the FARC to release six
hostages so far this
year.
And the fourth is to
propose a new solution
as an initiative of the
Chilean government, said
Lecompte, who returns to
Colombia on Friday,
before heading to
France.
"The president told me
she would study the
different options, and
promised she would work
unstintingly to help
find a quick and
effective solution for
the release of the
hostages," he said.
Lecompte described
Bachelet as "a very
humane person who is
warm, cordial and
compassionate. I felt
she made a sincere
commitment, from the
depths of her heart."
In his view, Bachelet’s
own history of having
been captured and
tortured by the military
dictatorship of the late
General Augusto Pinochet
(1973-1990) gives her
"the moral authority to
take part" in the
attempts to secure the
freedom of the FARC
hostages. "The president
expressed her support
for all humanitarian
initiatives, and
reiterated the
government’s goodwill in
support of all efforts
to free the hostages in
Colombia," van Klaveren
said at the close of the
meeting.
Van Klaveren called on
the guerrillas to free
Betancourt and the other
hostages
"unconditionally." He
added that the Chilean
government condemns the
practice of kidnapping
as "a flagrant violation
of human rights" and an
abhorrent form of
torture.
Lecompte is convinced
that the attack by
Colombian government
forces on a FARC camp in
Ecuador, on Mar. 1,
thwarted the imminent
release of his wife.
Twenty-five people were
killed in the
cross-border bombing
raid, including one of
the seven members of the
Secretariat of the FARC
high command, known by
the nom de guerre "Raúl
Reyes".
The death of Reyes was
"a major setback," said
Lecompte. If it had not
occurred, 12 hostages,
including Betancourt,
would have been freed on
Mar. 14 or 15, he said.
The violation of
Ecuadorean sovereignty
triggered a serious
diplomatic crisis
between Bogotá and
Quito, in which Caracas
and Managua backed
Ecuador. However, the
conflict was settled at
the Mar. 7 summit of the
Rio Group, held in the
Dominican Republic.
After a lengthy meeting
on Tuesday, the foreign
ministers of the
countries making up the
Organisation of American
States (OAS) issued a
resolution "rejecting"
the Colombian military
incursion.
Lecompte said that
Betancourt is very ill
due to a chronic liver
disease, so that urgent
action is needed as soon
as possible.
Chávez "is the only
person in the world the
rebels listen to and
respect, and so he is
the right person to
solve the problem. He
has achieved concrete
results," Lecompte said.
By contrast, Lecompte
criticised Uribe for
backing the option of a
military rescue attempt,
which would put the
hostages’ lives at risk,
he said.
At Uribe’s request,
Chávez and Colombian
opposition Senator
Piedad Córdoba began
negotiations in August
2007 to achieve a
humanitarian agreement.
But the Colombian
president abruptly
called off their
mediation efforts in
November.
On Jan. 10, the FARC
freed Clara Rojas,
Betancourt’s running
mate, and former
legislator Consuelo
González. On Feb. 27,
four former members of
parliament were
released: Gloria Polanco,
Luis Eladio Pérez,
Orlando Beltrán and
Jorge Eduardo Gechem.
Lecompte also planned to
meet with the potential
presidential candidate
for the rightwing
opposition National
Renewal Party, Sebastián
Pińera, the president of
the Senate, Adolfo
Zaldívar, and Santiago
Mayor Álvaro Erazo. |
