[NYTr] FARC Blames Hostage Hang-up on Colombian Military Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:41:01 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit [Reuters UK is also reporting that the FARC and the Colombian government are "trading accusations" on who's impeding the release. -NYTr] BBC - Dec 31, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7166438.stm New delay for Colombian hostages Colombian leftist rebels say government military operations are blocking the release of three hostages, according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Venezuelan helicopters have been waiting since the weekend to pick up two women and a boy the Farc promised to release to Mr Chavez. They were due to be freed as a gesture but disagreements between Caracas and Bogota have dogged the process. The Venezuelan leader read out what he said was a letter from the Farc on TV. Military operations "impede us for now from turning over" the three hostages, the Farc were quoted as saying. Promising that the operation would continue, Mr Chavez said the Farc required a "real ceasefire" before it would let the hostages go. The operation had to be postponed on Sunday when Venezuelan officials said the Farc had not provided the co-ordinates for the handover and that there was not enough time to complete the mission. Colombian officials say they blame the rebels for the delays. Women and child Those due to be freed are Clara Rojas, an aide to ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, with whom she was kidnapped in 2002, and Ms Rojas's son, Emmanuel, said to have been fathered by one of her captors. The other captive is former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez de Perdomo, who was kidnapped in 2001. Fifteen members of the hostages' families, who have not seen their loved ones for more than five years, have been waiting in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. Mr Chavez has been trying to negotiate an exchange of other hostages for guerrillas imprisoned in Colombian jails but he has been accused by the Colombian authorities of overstepping his mandate as a mediator. In response, he has threatened to freeze ties with the neighbouring state, which is a close trading partner. It is believed that the Colombian government wants to regain the initiative with respect to the prisoner exchange and does not want Mr Chavez, perceived as being too friendly with the Farc, to hijack negotiations. *** AFP via Sydney Morning Heralod - Jan 1, 2008 8:50 am AU time http://news.smh.com.au/colombian-hostage-release-stalls-indefinitely/20080101-1jpi.html Colombian hostage release stalls indefinitely Colombian rebels Monday said they would not now be able to release three hostages as planned, accusing the Colombian government of failing to guarantee the guerrillas' safety. The release of two women held for more than five years in the Amazon jungle, and a three-year-old boy born in captivity, hit a new snag Monday after days of frantic preparations. "Intense military operations in the zone make it impossible now" to release the three, the Marxist FARC rebels said in a statement read by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been spearheading the delicate mission. "To continue under these conditions would endanger the lives of the people to be released, the other prisoners of war and the guerrillas carrying out this mission," the rebel statement added. Helicopters have been on stand-by here since Friday awaiting word to fly into the jungle to pick up Clara Rojas, her son Emmanuel born in captivity, and former lawmaker Consuelo Gonzalez. Chavez said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, one of the world's oldest insurgencies, had called for a "real ceasefire" before letting the hostages go. But Colombian President Alvaro Uribe denied reports of fighting and said Bogota had agreed to open a safe corridor for the mission, which is operating under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). "We were asked to establish a kind of strategic corridor. We accept this," Uribe said, adding "there has not been any fighting in this area." Uribe, who arrived in this Colombian city earlier Monday to meet international observers taking part in "Operation Emmanuel," stressed his government had provided all the security guarantees that were asked for. "What has the attitude of the FARC been? One of lies, and cheating," Uribe said in a speech shown on television, accusing the rebels of deliberately delaying the hostages' release. Gonzalez and Rojas were snatched in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Rojas was a top aide to Franco-Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was seized at the same time and was not due to be released with the others. But Uribe raised the possibility the rebels could not complete the handover of the hostages as they were no longer holding the little boy. "The FARC can't keep the promise to free the hostages because they no longer have the child, Emmanuel, in their power," Uribe said, suggesting instead that a boy found in July 2006 in southeast Colombia was Emmanuel -- he was being cared for in a children's home in Bogota. Uribe proposed that DNA tests be carried out on the child and Emmanuel's grandmother to see if they were related. The FARC has been fighting to overthrow the government for decades and holds hundreds of hostages including Betancourt and three US contractors whose plane was shot down in 2003. The hostage handover had been due to take place in the 310,000-square-kilometer (120,000-square-mile) wilderness of central and southeastern Colombia, where there are few roads but numerous landing strips used by drug traffickers. B) 2008 AFP *** [Consider the source of this one and treat with caution. -NYTr] Voice of Amerika - Dec 31, 2007 http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-12-31-voa48.cfm Chavez: Colombian Rebels Say Army Impeding Hostage Release Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he has been informed by Colombian leftist rebels that military operations in Colombia are preventing the handover of three hostages held in the jungle for several years. President Chavez spoke in an interview Monday with Venezuelan television. Mr. Chavez has been negotiating the release of the hostages, who are being held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. But the Venezuelan leader said efforts to secure their freedom will continue. Earlier, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe denied that military operations were responsible for the delay. He made his comments in central Colombia, where he met with international observers who have been waiting for the handover to take place. Colombia's top peace envoy, Luis Carlos Restrepo, blamed the delay on the FARC. The observers and Red Cross representatives have been waiting since Friday. The White House says Mr. Uribe spoke to President Bush by phone Monday and updated him on the situation, noting that "various issues" were still being worked out. Officials say the rebels have not disclosed where in Colombia's dense jungle they would release former lawmaker Consuelo Gonzalez, as well as former vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas and her three-year-old son, Emmanuel, who was fathered by one of the captors. The FARC has demanded the release of hundreds of rebels held in Colombian prisons, in return for freeing several high-profile hostages. The FARC has been fighting the government for decades. It holds more than 40 so-called high profile hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, kidnapped with Rojas in February 2002, and three American defense contractors [sic]. *** AP via Google - Dec 31, 2007 http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g4KHTkP2iDNsZIPq48q97-4SvKOQD8TSKJ600 Chavez's Colombia Hostage Rescue Falters By TOBY MUSE VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia (AP) b A Venezuelan-led mission to rescue three hostages held by leftist rebels in Colombia's vast jungles was tottering on the edge of collapse Monday, with guerrillas still not revealing where they'll free the hostages. Colombian officials accused the rebels of failing to keep their promise to release the hostages, while international observers grew increasingly impatient with the delays, some threatening to return home. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was traveling to this central Colombian city to reassure observers from France, Switzerland and five Latin American countries that his government was providing all the necessary security guarantees to carry out the stalled operation, which was originally to be completed by Sunday. His top peace envoy blamed the delays squarely on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has so far failed to tell Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez exactly where in the France-sized eastern jungles it will free the hostages. "We are enormously worried over the FARC's attitude of repeatedly lying and not fulfilling its promises," peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo told the 150 journalists who have camped at Villavicencio's airport since Thursday. The FARC announced two weeks ago that it would free the three hostages b former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez, Clara Rojas and her 3-year old son fathered by one of her captors, Emmanuel b to Chavez. The guerrilla group has made no public statements since then. On Friday, Chavez sent the first two of four helicopters to Villavicencio, but there's been no new movement, other than the arrival of U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone. To calm the tensions, Chavez dispatched Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. Arriving by surprise in sweltering Villavicencio Monday morning, Maduro said the operation could last several more days and pleaded for "patience and nerves of steel." Colombia's government had vowed to stay mostly out of the operation, allowing Chavez to use his leftist credentials with the FARC to secure a speedy return of the hostages to family members waiting for days in Caracas. But the arrival of Uribe, and harsh reprimand by Restrepo, seems to have marked an end to their hands-off approach. "It appears that the (Venezuelan) communication with the FARC is not working," said Restrepo. "We Colombians have spent 40 years enduring this terrorist group and their lies. ... Naturally, it doesn't surprise us the FARC isn't keeping their promises." On Sunday, former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner was seen angrily loading his luggage into an SUV and had to be coaxed to stay by panicky Venezuelan diplomats, according to a member of the international delegation who requested anonymity so as not to interfere with the operation. Several other envoys have also complained privately about the delays and are threatening to abandon the city in time to return home before the New Year's holiday. Uribe last month abruptly ended Chavez' efforts to broker a wider swap of 44 high-profile hostages b including three American defense contractors and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt b for hundreds of jailed rebels. But family members have urged the firebrand leftist on, saying he is the only intermediary capable of breaking a government-rebel deadlock. The two sides have not held face-to-face talks since Uribe took power in 2002. Uribe has instead used some $600 million in annual military and intelligence aid from Washington to push the half-century-old insurgency deeper into the jungle. * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================