[NYTr] Colombia: FARC to Release 3 Hostages to Chavez

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

IPS News - Dec 19, 2007
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40537

COLOMBIA:

FARC to Release Three Hostages to Chávez

by Constanza Vieira

BOGOTÁ, Dec 19 (IPS) - The leaders of Colombia’s FARC guerrillas
ordered the release of two women hostages and the young son of one of
them as a gesture of "compensation" for the frustrated facilitation
efforts made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Colombian Senator
Piedad Córdoba, and of goodwill towards the hostages’ families.

"The order to free them in Colombia has already been given," says a
seven-point communiqué sent by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia) guerrillas dated Dec. 9 and sent by email Tuesday to the
Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, which published it a few hours later.

The hostages, politicians Consuelo González and Clara Rojas, and the
son of the latter, who was born in captivity, must be received by
"President Chávez or someone designated by him," says the statement.

The FARC said the gesture is "an unquestionable show of the hope that
we had deposited in the facilitator role" of Córdoba and Chávez, whose
mission was to negotiate an exchange of hostages held by the rebels for
imprisoned insurgents.

But their efforts, which began in mid-August when Córdoba was appointed
facilitator by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and enlisted Chávez’s
support, was abruptly brought to an end by him on Nov. 21, causing
severe tension between Venezuela and Colombia.

After Chávez said the FARC statement was authentic, government Peace
Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo announced that "the Colombian
government welcomes" the unilateral release of the hostages.

The communiqué is dated two days after Uribe’s Dec. 7 proposal to
establish a 150 square km demilitarised zone for 30 days to negotiate a
hostage-prisoner swap -- a proposition that the FARC reject in the
statement.

For that reason, journalist Carlos Lozano, director of the Communist
weekly Voz, also had doubts about the authenticity of the message.

He told IPS that when he had contact with the guerrillas on Dec. 13,
they did not mention the communiqué.

If the statement is authentic, the FARC are standing by their demand
for the creation of a demilitarised zone in the southern municipalities
of Florida and Pradera in order to negotiate an exchange of around 45
hostages -- mainly members of the security forces captured in combat --
for 500 guerrillas currently in prison.

The facilitators and the hostages’ families had asked the FARC to
unilaterally hand over a group of women hostages and hostages who are
ill. Chávez reached an agreement with the rebels for the release of a
small group before Dec. 31.

"We accept their request," says the FARC statement.

Chávez, who is in Uruguay to attend the summit of the Mercosur
(Southern Common Market) trade bloc, confirmed that "a few days ago I
received the response from (FARC commander Manuel) Marulanda
anticipating that he would order the release of a group (of hostages)
as a gesture of goodwill and compensation."

With respect to the difficult process of handing over the two women and
the boy, he said that "we will evaluate things as we go; we have
several alternatives, none of which are easy. They are in the middle of
the jungle; I can't go and personally receive them as I would like."

"I hope the Colombian government will collaborate. It is possible that
international bodies will also cooperate to achieve their prompt
release," he added.

Clara Rojas was the running-mate of former Colombian presidential
candidate Ingrid Betancourt, the highest-profile hostage, who holds
dual French-Colombian nationality. The two women were seized in
February 2002, after peace talks broke off between the government and
the FARC in the southern region of Caguán.

Rojas’s son Emmanuel, whose father is a guerrilla fighter as revealed
by Colombian journalist Jorge Enrique Botero in April 2006, was
reportedly born in December 2004.

Consuelo González was taken hostage in September 2001 when her car was
intercepted on a highway in southern Colombia. At the time, she was a
member of the lower house of Congress representing the Liberal Party.
Her husband, Jairo Perdomo, died in 2005 and she has a granddaughter
she has never met.

In a video recording obtained by Botero in 2003 to prove that she was
still alive, a dejected-looking González appears, crying. Her family
also received a letter from her in 2002.

The handover of the two women and the boy should take place "in
circumstances that prevent base deeds" by the government "like what
occurred with the ‘proof of life’" documents, says the FARC statement.

The guerrillas were referring to two messengers who were carrying video
recordings and letters showing that Betancourt and 16 other hostages
are still alive, provided by the rebels as part of the negotiations for
a hostage-prisoner swap. The two women were arrested by the Colombian
authorities on Nov. 29 in Bogotá, even though the "proof of life"
documents had been specifically requested by Chávez.

"The outrageous cancellation of (Chávez’s) facilitator role was an act
of diplomatic barbarity against the legitimate head of state of a
sister country and against the Venezuelan people," adds the statement.

The all-out effort by Chávez and Córdoba had won broad international
support. After Uribe unexpectedly cut off their mission, they were
asked by the hostages’ families to continue their successful work
towards a hostage-prisoner swap, based on international humanitarian
principles.

Córdoba is currently in Washington to meet with Democratic Rep. Jim
McGovern and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, an aide to the
senator told IPS.

Since 2003, the FARC have held three U.S. military contractors who were
seized while working within the context of the Washington-financed Plan
Colombia counterinsurgency and anti-drug strategy.

French analyst Pascal Drouhaud, who until recently was head of foreign
affairs in the governing party, the Union for a Popular Movement, told
IPS from Paris that the release of the three hostages would be "a
humanitarian gesture of great significance."

"We are all congratulating ourselves on this, because we all feel
solidarity towards the hostages and their families. But at the same
time, it is a very well thought out, astute political gesture, which
shows that the FARC and the group’s leadership have a strong sense of
strategy," he said.

"We are entering a very complex political negotiation," he warned.
"This gesture shows that the FARC have their ears open to national and
international demands, and that they are not isolated."

Drouhaud believes the FARC are sending the following message: "We are
willing to carry out in-depth negotiations. You, the European Union and
France, want Ingrid’s release. We have dozens of ‘exchangeable’
hostages. Let's sit down and really negotiate."

"They are thinking, analysing, interpreting, to defend their interests
of course. They are studying how to move within the strong
international pressure that has been so clearly revealed over the past
few weeks," he added.

However, Drouhaud does not believe that these humanitarian advances are
sufficient reason for the FARC to be removed from the EU list of
terrorist organisations.

"Today that is the position of the EU, adopted in May 2002. And there
is no reason to believe that there will be any change for now in the
bloc’s stance. As the FARC’s humanitarian gesture shows, everything is
in flux, but I don't think that at this point there are any signs" that
the rebel group, which is seeking international recognition as a
"belligerent force", will be taken off the list of terrorist
organisations. (END/2007)