[NYTr] Colombia: FARC Hostage Release Delayed

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

al Jazeera - Dec 25, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/628D8F36-AD49-42D0-A0E3-2E5D7E293A39.htm


Farc hostage release delayed

The promised release of three hostages by the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (Farc) will not take place before Christmas, a
Colombian legislator said.

Senator Piedad Cordoba, a mediator in the hostage crisis, on Monday,
said: "They will not be freed before Christmas. They have not appeared
and for the moment there is nothing."

However, speaking to AFP news agency, she said that the release of the
three is "certain and will happen."

Farc, a self-proclaimed communist revolutionary group, said a week ago
they would free three hostages: Clara Rojas, her son Emmanuel, who was
born in captivity from her relationship with a Farc fighter, and
Consuelo Gonzalez de Perdomo, a Colombia legislator.

Rojas has been a captive since 2002, when she was seized along with
French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt as she was campaigning
for president. Perdomo was kidnapped in 2001.

Chavez mediation

According to a Farc statement, the three are to be released to Hugo
Chavez, Venezuela's president, or someone he designates.

They are among 45 prominent hostages Farc wants to swap with the
Colombian government for its about 500 imprisoned members.

As hopes that the hostage release would take place in time for
Christmas dimmed, some of their relatives planned delayed celebrations.

Patricia Perdomo, Gonzalez' daughter, said: "This is not Christmas Eve
for my family. Our Christmas Eve will be the day we're reunited ...
We're hoping my mom will be with us by Christmas.

Betancourt's husband Juan Carlos Lecompte hoped his wife could see her
two children for Christmas in photographs. He dropped 22,000 of them
from a small plane he rented and flew on the weekend over a jungle near
Brazil, where she's thought to be held. Each photo was signed "for
Ingrid from Juan Carlos". Betancourt turns 46 on Christmas Day. Alvaro

Uribe, the Colombian president, on Monday wished Christmas greetings to
the three yet-to-be-freed hostages and all other captives held by Farc.

"I want this Christmas greeting to reach the hostages, along with the
hope they will soon be released," Uribe said in a speech to a military
unit in northern Magdalena department. 

"On this Christmas, I send my greetings to the families of the 750
people Farc has kidnapped over the past 10 years."

Source: Agencies

                            ***

al Jazeera - Dec 24, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/628D8F36-AD49-42D0-A0E3-2E5D7E293A39.htm

Gifts dropped for Colombia hostage  	 	

By Monica Villamizar in Bogota

The husband of Ingrid Betancourt, a hostage held by left-wing rebels in
Colombia for the past six years, has thrown thousands of photographs of
her children from an aircraft for her birthday. 

Juan Carlos Lecompte  dropped the photos from 5,000ft above the Amazon
jungle as a gift to his wife, fulfilling a three-year promise. Lecompte
told Al Jazeera: "Ingrid's birthday is December 25. So I hope that she
can receive these pictures of her kids as a present from me." 

Betancourt is thought to be held in the jungle by the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). 

It was an emotional and personal moment for Lecompte, away from
the international campaign, backed by world leaders, for his wife's
release. 

Three weeks ago the Colombian government gave him a recent video and
letter from Betancourt dated October 2007, in which she said that her
life is a living hell. When Betancourt was abducted, her daughter
Melanie was 16 and her son, Lorenzo, 13. 

Aircraft tracked
 
Lecompte's flight on a small, rented aircraft was dangerous. Small
aeroplanes have often been shot down by fighters and the Colombian army
sometimes forces unauthorised flights to land. 

Lecompte's aircraft was tracked by the Colombian air force. For 15
minutes a fighter jet circled the aircraft, risking the safety of those
on board, including an Al Jazeera TV crew. 

Al Jazeera contacted the air force but no explanation was given for its
actions. 

Lecompte had been given rough directions to where Betancourt might be
held by Jhon Frank Pinchao, police officer. 

Pinchao lived in the same Farc camp as Betancourt and managed to escape
after eight years by breaking the chains around his neck at night and
fleeing. 

Radio message
 
Pinchao told Al Jazeera: "The only means for a hostage to have contact
with the outside world is the radio messages give us the courage to
keep on living. We only got to see a newspaper once a year."

Nevertheless, Betancourt's family will keep trying to communicate with
her in any way possible, through newspapers and the radio. However,
they say it is as frustrating as throwing a bottle into the ocean,
because they will never know if the messages ever reach her.

Betancourt, who was born in Bogota but holds French nationality, was
kidnapped when campaigning for the Colombian presidency in an area with
a high Farc presence. Farc is holding her in the hope of striking a
hostage-for-prisoner exchange with the Colombian government. 

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies