Venezuela calls for
more Colombian help with
FARC rebel talks
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez on Sunday
urged his Colombian
counterpart Alvaro Uribe
to work with him for the
release of 45 hostages
held by Colombia's
largest armed rebel
group, the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC).
Speaking on his weekly
radio and television
show Alo Presidente,
Chavez said that a
meeting planned for
Monday with FARC
representatives in
Caracas had been
suspended due to
security concerns.
Chavez called on Uribe
to provide a private
plane to sent FARC chief
Pedro Antonio Marin, who
is better known by his
alias Manuel Marulanda,
to travel to Venezuela
for the meeting.
Chavez criticized
Colombian Defense
Minister Juan Manuel
Santos, who publicly
said last week that FARC
leaders must pay for
their own travel and
that it would be at
their own risk because
Colombian government
forces would do all they
could to catch them.
"I know there are people
in Colombia who want to
knock this game on the
head, but I also know
that both Uribe and the
FARC want an agreement,
and I want to help
them," Chavez said.
The show also detailed a
report sent by left-wing
Colombian legislator
Piedad Cordoba, Uribe's
special envoy to the
FARC, who also appeared
on the show in person.
Cordoba said she was
pleased with Chavez's
work in support of a
humanitarian accord to
swap FARC hostages for
jailed members of the
rebel group. Chavez has
been playing a role in
the process since
August.
She added that human
rights organizations
were preparing to give
concerts in the capitals
of France, the United
States, Colombia, Brazil
and the Dominican
Republic to raise
awareness about the
issue.
Colombia has been locked
in a civil conflict
since the mid-1960s, the
longest in Latin
America, in which
government forces fight
leftist guerrillas. The
conflict kills an
average of 3,000 people
each year.
Colombians hope the
humanitarian accord, if
achieved, will be the
first step toward the
end to the conflict
between the FARC and the
government. |
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