[NYTr] Colombia's Uribe Endangering Lives of FARC Hostages: Ortega

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Reuters - December 15, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSN15356371


Ortega says Colombia condemning hostages to death

MANAGUA - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused Colombian
President Alvaro Uribe on Saturday of effectively condemning to death a
well-known hostage held by Colombian leftist rebels by suspending talks
for her release.

It was the latest dispute between the two countries, after Colombia
attacked the leftist Ortega on Friday for referring to the leader of
Colombia's FARC rebels as a brother. Nicaragua and Colombia are also at
odds over sovereignty of small islands in the Caribbean.

Ortega, an ally of Venezuela's anti-U.S. government, said Uribe was
risking the life of French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, a
former presidential candidate in Colombia who has been held by the FARC
since 2002.

Uribe, a conservative who is close to Washington, last month broke off
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's attempts to negotiate the release of
Betancourt and other hostages and accused Chavez of overstepping his
mandate.

"He (Uribe) is condemning Ingrid Betancourt to death, that's what he is
doing," Ortega told a news conference.

International pressure is building for Uribe and the FARC, who have
been waging Latin America's longest-running rebel insurgency, to reach
a deal to free hostages, who also include American contractors.

Colombia's government on Friday formally complained to Nicaragua after
Ortega, an ex-Marxist guerrilla, referred to Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia, or FARC, chief Manuel Marulanda as a "dear brother" during
a speech. (Reporting by Ivan Castro, writing by Cyntia Barrera Diaz,
editing by Alan Elsner)