[NYTr] Chavez boosts image in messy Colombian mediation

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Reuters vis Yahoo - Oct 11, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071011/wl_nm/venezuela_colombia_chavez_dc

Chavez boosts image in messy Colombian mediation

By Saul Hudson

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has improved his
international image by mediating with Colombian rebels to release
high-profile U.S. and French hostages despite a sputtering start to
talks.

Chavez's anti-American, anti-capitalism diatribes typically distance
him from Western governments. Outside Latin America, he focuses much of
his foreign policy on cozying up to other U.S. antagonists such as
Iran, Belarus and Russia.

But the chance in recent weeks to aid his neighbor, Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe, has brought immediate diplomatic gains even though he has
failed to arrange a first meeting with the FARC guerrillas.

Chavez won praise in telephone calls with French President Nicolas
Sarkozy, while the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America met his foreign
minister for the first time and 41 European nations issued a statement
supporting his efforts.

Chavez has irritated Colombian officials with his talkative and folksy
style, exposing differences with the conservative Uribe, a firm U.S.
ally. But the pluses for him far outweigh the minuses.

"For Chavez, the upside is obvious," said Michael Shifter of
Washington's Inter-American Dialogue think tank.

"The opportunity to break the long-festering hostage-prisoner impasse
seems tailor-made for a man who is using his country's considerable oil
wealth to finance an effort to build a Latin American alliance opposed
to the United States," he said.

"If Chavez can project the image of a regional leader committed to
peace, that's all the better for his cause."

While Chavez risks being blamed for failure, his involvement at Uribe's
request is awkward for Washington.

U.S. officials have accused him of aiding the rebels on his avowed
drive to spread socialism and blunt U.S. "imperialism."

THE CHAVEZ SHOW

On Friday, Chavez visits Uribe to discusses ways to jump start talks
with the Marxist rebels that were postponed this week after the two
leaders argued over the logistics of his FARC meeting.

For the first time in years, Latin America's oldest guerrilla group,
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly known as FARC, has
shifted to possibly freeing hostages by agreeing to talks with Chavez.

That has raised hopes that a French-Colombian woman and three U.S.
anti-drugs contractors could be freed, which would help Uribe who is
facing political heat because of the deaths in captivity this year of
11 provincial lawmakers.

Chavez has taken full advantage of the opportunity. On his weekly TV
show, he comments on behind-the scenes negotiations, displaying his
correspondence with the guerrillas, and appeals to Uribe to soften his
position.

Cameras have shown him meeting a Colombian senator go-between, a French
envoy and hostages' families. He held the hands with children related
to a U.S. captive, leading the blond boys down his red-carpeted palace
steps.

Still, his style brings risks.

Colombia, whose aggressive stance has weakened the guerrillas in recent
years, balks at Chavez's showmanship, complicating his chances of
success.

"The only thing his (public statements) do is stoke fear and rejection
and close off the path to an accord," Colombian Vice President
Francisco Santos said.

"Chavez runs the risk of becoming a third player in the actual conflict
if he is unable to negotiate discreetly -- and that's something many
people doubt he can do," said Carlos Romero, a Venezuelan analyst of
international politics.

(Additional reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel in Caracas and Patrick
Markey in Bogota)