Saturday 06 December
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
Latin America Discusses
Financial Crisis,
Migration
Panama Economy
will Shrink in 2009
Fidel Castro Says
Cuba Open To Dialogue
With Obama
Colombian
Officers Convicted of Extrajudicial
Murder
Brazilian President
Calls On Colombian
Rebels To Release
Hostages
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Brazilian President
Calls On Colombian
Rebels To Release
Hostages
Rio de Janeiro -
Brazilian President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva on
Friday called on the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC)
to release all hostages
it is holding.
In a meeting with Ingrid
Betancourt, a
French-Colombian former
politician held hostage
by FARC guerrillas for
six years before being
released in July, Lula
said the FARC should
"believe in democracy"
if it wanted to join the
political arena.
"The FARC need to learn
that you do not do
politics by kidnapping
innocent people, you
must understand that the
great chance is to
believe in democracy,"
he said.
Betancourt thanked Lula
for his contribution to
her release and for
offering Brazilian
territory as a neutral
field in which the FARC
and the Colombian
government could
negotiate.
Betancourt, a former
Colombian senator who
was kidnapped in
February 2002 and
incarcerated for six
years, was released
along with 14 other
hostages in an operation
of the Colombian Army.
Since then she has been
gathering support from
world leaders to release
the remaining FARC
hostages.
The FARC is still
holding 28 hostages as
political prisoners with
the aim of exchanging
them for its members
held in Colombian and
U.S. jails, local media
reports said.
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