Colombia Proposes FARC
to Hand Over Hostages to
Venezuela or France
Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe said on
Friday he hoped the
Colombia's Revolutionary
Armed Forces (FARC)
rebels to hand over
hostages to France,
Venezuela or the
International Red Cross.
In a speech at the
National Capitol, Uribe
made the proposal to
continue efforts for the
release of the prisoners
held by the FARC.
"If in a unilateral
decision they free
kidnapped people to
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez, to French
President Nicolas
Sarkozy or to the Red
Cross, the government
will welcome that
liberation," Uribe said.
The proposal comes two
days after Uribe
suspended Venezuela's
role as facilitator of
talks with the FARC due
to what it called
"method failures," a
decision that confused
many Colombians.
Venezuela lamented the
decision but said it
would respect the
decision and continue to
offer its help.
Uribe said he will
continue to talk with
the FARC, despite strong
differences, and to seek
the prisoners' freedom
through peaceful accords
and armed rescue
missions.
France asked Uribe to
continue to seek an
exchange of imprisoned
FARC members for
hostages held by the
FARC, including Ingrid
Betancourt, a Colombian
and French citizen.
FARC, the largest rebel
group in Colombia, is
fighting Uribe's
"democratic security
policy" that seeks to
re-establish internal
order and protect
civilians from the
depredations of illegal
armed groups.
The FARC still has at
least 50
"interchangeable"
prisoners, including
dozens of Colombians,
three U.S. citizens and
Betancourt, who has been
held since 2002. The
rebel group promised to
hand over evidence by
December that the
prisoners are still
alive.
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