Chavez Begins Ops to
Release Colombians
President Hugo Chavez
arrived in Santo
Domingo, Venezuela, on
Friday, to supervise the
beginning of the
operation to release
three people who were
held by Colombian
insurgents.
Chavez arrived early
this afternoon in
battledress at the Santo
Domingo air strip in the
state of Tachira
bordering Colombia, 404
miles southwest of
Caracas.
Previously, in his
customary year-end
speech to the National
Armed Forces, he
announced that he would
supervise the start of
the operation.
Several planes and
helicopters will take
off from Santo Domingo
bound for the Colombian
town of Villavicencio,
310 miles from the
border, from where they
will travel to an
undisclosed point in the
forest to rescue the
group.
Colombian Senator Piedad
Cordoba, former
Argentine President
Nestor Kirchner and
Ambassadors German
Sanchez Otero (Cuba) and
Hadelin de Tour du Pin
(France) are
internationally
commissioned for the
operation.
Former vice presidential
candidate of Colombia
Clara Rojas, her son
Emmanuel (the operation
has been named after
him) and former Congress
member Consuelo Gonzalez
will be released by
unilateral decision of
the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC).
In a communiqué, the
guerrilla group
explained their action
was a gesture for Chavez
and Colombian Senator
Piedad Cordoba in the
wake of the abrupt
interruption of their
mediation efforts for a
humanitarian exchange of
prisoners. |
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