[NYTr] Chavez in Colomvia for Mediation Meetings Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:58:21 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit excerpted from VIO Venezuela News Roundup - Aug 31, 2007 [A prisoner-for-hostage swap being mediated by President Chavez in Colombia is a top news story today. Reuters reports that the involvement of Chavez has given new hope to families of victims there because he is respected by leftists as well as the government, and is generally an influential figure in the region. Colombia's foreign minister is quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the process will be "difficult," but that "we have to see what alternatives or initiatives he presents." In a first step toward brokering peace yesterday, Chavez pardoned 41 Colombians serving jail terms in Venezuela for an attempted coup in 2004, according to the Associated Press (already distributed - NYTr). El Universal reports that a six-hour meeting today between President Chavez and Colombia's President Uribe will also be used to address bilateral economic and development issues. -VIO Prensa Latina also reports on Chavez's trip, the positive reaction to his involvement by hostage families and the French government -NYTr] Reuters - August 31, 2007 http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN3020397720070831 Chavez steps into Colombia's hostage fray By Patrick Markey BOGOTA - Better known for his trademark anti-U.S. tirades, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez takes on a more delicate role on Friday when he tries to broker a deal to free hostages held by Colombia's Marxist guerrillas. Chavez steps into a bitter deadlock between President Alvaro Uribe, a U.S. ally popular for his hard-line stance against rebels, and Latin America's oldest guerrilla group resisting attempts to end a 40-year conflict. At stake in the talks in Bogota is the freedom of hundreds of kidnap victims wasting away in rebel jungle camps, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt snatched in 2002 and three U.S. contract workers captured a year later. "Chavez's leftist credentials, strong ties to Cuba and growing regional influence have stirred hope for families of victims he can give the talks initiative a new jolt." "The kidnappers say they admire Chavez. They might not obey him, but they do take note," Betancourt's husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, said. "It's the first time I see there could be a small light at the end of the tunnel." French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing for Betancourt's release and has asked Uribe to free a top rebel leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to foster talks. He spoke with both Uribe and Chavez on Thursday, urging them to work for the release of hostages. But Uribe and the FARC are entrenched in their positions and Chavez could struggle to find a deal that has eluded European governments, the Roman Catholic Church and families of politicians, police and soldiers held for as long as a decade. Attempts at talks are stalemated over two rebel demands: a safe haven the size of New York City in southern Colombia for the exchange and the release of two rebels held in the United States before the FARC considers freeing its U.S. hostages. ribe, whose father was killed two decades ago in a botched FARC kidnapping, has spearheaded a U.S.-backed campaign to disarm paramilitaries and push the FARC back into the jungles. Cities and highways are safer and violence has eased. 'TWO UNALTERABLE POSITIONS' While he initially accepted a proposal by France, Switzerland and Spain for a safe haven, Uribe refuses to pull back troops under FARC conditions, saying it would allow rebels to regroup and rearm. "We have two unalterable positions. One is no demilitarized zone. This country demands a state presence, the people demand that they do not have to sleep in the countryside waiting for a guerrilla kidnapping," Uribe said recently. Raul Reyes, a top FARC leader, told an Argentine newspaper recently he welcomed Chavez's involvement and said guerrillas would hold talks anywhere. But he insisted on a demilitarized zone and an exchange of hostages inside Colombia. Demilitarization is a sensitive issue in Colombia. Uribe's predecessor gave up a Switzerland-sized chunk of land for peace talks. After three years, negotiations collapsed with the government charging the FARC kept kidnapping and rearming. "The great challenge for Chavez is to get each side to cede without appearing they have lost anything," Alfredo Rangel, a security analyst at the Bogota think tank Security and Democracy, wrote in a recent column. *** The Financial Times - August 30, 2007 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/146334b2-5730-11dc-9a3a-0000779fd2ac.html ChC!vez plans to broker hostage release By Anastasia Moloney Hugo ChC!vez, Venezuela?s president, will on Friday meet Clvaro Uribe, his neighbouring counterpart, in a bid to kick-start talks to negotiate the release of hostages held by the Farc. According to Francisco Santos, Colombia?s vice-president, Mr ChC!vez?s visit to BogotC! represents a ?fantastic opportunity? to discuss a possible humanitarian prisoner swap between 47 hostages and imprisoned guerrilla members. The Farc?s high-profile hostages include numerous army and police officers, three US citizens, and a former presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, who has dual Colombian and French nationality. Some have been held in captivity for up to a decade. Mr Uribe has faced increasing pressure to seek a diplomatic solution to end the country?s hostage crisis, following the killing of 11 Colombian deputies held captive by the rebels in June. A campaign, led by the French, Spanish and Swedish governments, in favour of a humanitarian exchange has been gaining momentum in Europe. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who recently declared the release of Ingrid Betancourt a national priority, on Thursday publicly backed Mr ChC!vez?s efforts. However, Mr Santos is careful not to raise false expectations. ?The government is ready to make a deal, but unfortunately the Farc hasn?t moved an inch in these last years and hasn?t put anything on the table, so we don?t know whether this will achieve anything or not. Let?s hope Farc will not let this chance go down the drain,? said Mr Santos. Breaking the long-standing deadlock between the government and Farc, the country?s largest guerrilla group, is plagued with difficulties as both sides appear unwilling to compromise on the issue of a demilitarized zone. To negotiate a humanitarian exchange, the rebels insist that the government must first withdraw troops in order to establish a demilitarized zone in two southwestern Colombian municipalities, where talks could be held. But this demand has been rejected by President Uribe and his supporters who fear that a demilitarized zone would strengthen the rebels while weakening the country?s armed forces and place vulnerable rural communities at risk from insurgent attacks. AndrC)s Arias, the Colombian minister of agriculture and rural development, has recently toured parts of the country lobbying against the setting up a demilitarized zone which he says farmers are ?begging? the government not to introduce. Richard Howitt, a British MEP who is in BogotC! this week urging the government to push forward with a prisoner swap, said that a European peace-keeping force could be offered to police such a zone. However, the Farc?s stance remains entrenched: ?We continue seeking the demilitarization of Pradera and Florida (municipalities), and we would ask President ChC!vez to use his political weight to contribute to this, which would allow us to sit at the negotiating table and arrive at an accord to release the prisoners,? RaC:l Reyes, a Farc leader, told the told Argentinian daily, Clarin, last week. He also insisted that a handover of hostages must take place in Colombia. Mr ChC!vez, who has offered to act as an intermediary between the government and the rebels, has warned that both sides would need to ?give in? for an eventual deal to be brokered. He has also offered to host talks between the two sides in Venezuela. *** Bloomberg - August 31, 2007 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aavxECS8Cjs0 Chavez Bid to Free Colombian Hostages `Difficult', Holguin Says By Helen Murphy Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is unlikely to broker the freedom of hostages held by Colombia's biggest guerrilla group, Colombia's Interior Minister Carlos Holguin said. Chavez, who has offered to talk face-to-face with rebel leaders, is scheduled to meet Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe during a visit to Bogota today to push efforts to exchange 45 hostages for about 500 jailed members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. He also will meet with Holguin and Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo. ``We have to see what alternatives or initiatives he presents,'' Holguin said in an interview at his office in Bogota. ``Each meeting between Chavez and President Uribe is constructive in general, so this will be too, but on this issue, I see it as very difficult.'' Holguin, 66, said he believes the FARC, as the group is known, has no intention of freeing the hostages since it has rejected Uribe's every effort to show flexibility. Uribe in June freed 150 jailed guerrillas in the failed hope the FARC would move ahead with a swap that would have included three U.S. citizens and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. ``I am very pessimistic about it,'' said Holguin, who took office in August 2006. ``They have a concept that they have the key to political power.'' Safe Haven Chavez, 53, who recently called FARC founder Manuel Marulanda a ``great Colombian,'' met in Caracas Aug. 20 with family members of the hostages, some of whom have been held for more than a decade in jungle camps. His offer to provide an area in Venezuela to make the swap was rejected by the FARC, which holds as many as 3,222 prisoners, according to Fundacion Pais Libre, a nongovernment organization that assists kidnap victims and their families. ``If President Chavez is successful, he'll be like a hero for Colombians,'' said Fernando Gerbasi, a former Venezuelan ambassador to Colombia, on Globovision. ``If he's not successful, at least he's tried.'' Millions of people throughout Colombia last month protested the murder of 11 hostage lawmakers just weeks after Uribe freed the captured guerrillas, including the highest-ranking jailed rebel leader, Rodrigo Granda. The deaths of the lawmakers derailed joint efforts by France and Colombia to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. `Immense Flexibility' Uribe has refused the guerrillas' demand to remove troops from an area the size of New York to facilitate a hostage swap. In a bid to prompt peace talks, former President Andres Pastrana in 1998 granted the FARC a safe haven, which it used to build up arms, run drug-trafficking operations and plan kidnappings. ``We will continue to ask for the demilitarization of Pradera and Florida and we ask President Chavez, given his political weight, to help achieve this demilitarized zone,'' Raul Reyes, FARC spokesman, said in an interview with Argentina's daily Clarin published Aug. 26. Colombian guerrillas, who have praised Chavez' Bolivarian revolution, have taken thousands of so-called economic hostages to raise funds for weapons purchases and to continue their battle against the government. The 45 prisoners under discussion are considered political captives, used as bargaining tools with the government. ``The FARC is very complex; it's a way of living. It's also an ideology, and they see Chavez as a hero,'' said Gerbasi. Drug Funds Holguin said Uribe is running out of tools to negotiate with the guerrillas. ``The government is reaching the limits of its flexibility,'' said Holguin, a former mayor of Cali. ``Uribe has shown immense flexibility; and the FARC, where are they? The same as the first day.'' Since his election in 2002, Uribe has launched a military crackdown on the FARC and on the smaller National Liberation Army, as well as their rightist paramilitary foes. He was re- elected last year with 62 percent of the vote on pledges to end four decades of violence among guerrillas, paramilitary fighters and the government. Kidnappings have declined fallen by 83 percent since 2002 and homicides are down 40 percent, according to government figures. About 40,000 paramilitary and guerrilla fighters have handed in their weapons in return for reduced jails sentences and job training. The FARC began in 1964, when Marulanda and 48 rebels were attacked in a jungle hideout by thousands of troops. It has since battled 11 administrations. The group turned a poorly armed band of peasants fighting for survival and land reform into a uniformed army of about 17,000 fighters armed with modern weapons, financed by drug funds and ransom payments. ``Their struggle has no connection with political ideals,'' Holguin said. ``But as long as we can't eradicate drugs, it will be very difficult to see an eradication of the violence.'' *** El Universal - August 30, 2007 http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/08/30/en_pol_art_chavez-uribe-meeting_30A971197.shtml ChC!vez-Uribe meeting to last six hours Colombian President Clvaro Uribe and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo ChC!vez will hold a brief meeting on Friday at a country house next to BogotC! in order to discuss bilateral matters, particularly a potential settlement between the Colombian government and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) to swap hostages for imprisoned rebels. According to the press, ChC!vez would like to stay in BogotC! for two days to talk also with other people about the humanitarian swap, including relatives of hostages and imprisoned guerrillas. As quoted by DPA, the agenda disclosed by Casa de NariC1o, Colombian President's head offices, the visit will last about six hours. During that time, ChC!vez and Uribe will hold a private meeting, followed a press conference and a luncheon. The rulers wanted to cash in on the occasion to deal with trade, agriculture, energy, development on the common border and a recent controversy about the establishment of toll posts in a bordering Colombian area. *** Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Venezuela: Chavez Arrives in Colombia Bogota, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Colombia to accomplish a six-hour official visit with his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe, to help achieve a humanitarian agreement between the government and the guerrilla. A few minutes after 10:00 local hour the Venezuelan presidential plane landed in Catam military airport, north of this capital where the Bolivarian leader was received by Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo. Chavez did not answer questions from the press but said he was optimistic on the exchange and in favor of peace for Colombia and all over America. Chavez came along with Foreign minister Nicolas Maduro and other officials as well as a group of journalists hr/abo/rc/mf *** earlier stories: Chavez to Colombia Today Bogota, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) Bilateral economic issues and Venezuelan mediation in a humanitarian accord between the Colombian government and the guerrilla are the center of talks Friday between Presidents Alvaro Uribe and Hugo Chavez. The agenda also includes trade, tolls along the border zone, the construction of a bi-national gas pipeline and the possibility of a prisoner exchange. If there is no last minute change in the agenda, the Venezuelan leader is due to arrive at about 10:00 local time at the Catam military airport, where he will be welcomed by Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo, to later go to the Hato Grande presidential estate. President Alvaro Uribe will be there and after a ceremony with military honors, both statesmen will hold a two-hour bilateral meeting in the retreat's main dinning room. Also on the list are a news conference and a private lunch, then Chavez will return to Venezuela at 15:00 local time. Many here consider the meeting a new stage for the long internal Colombian conflict. Chavez' mediation at the request of Colombian liberal senator Piedad Cordova offers another perspective to find a humanitarian accord in a struggle that for most Colombians has been deadlocked due to positions between the government and insurgency. hr/iff/rc/mf *** Hostage Families Trust Chavez Bogota, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' visit to this city on Friday aroused the hopes of the relatives of people detained by the Colombian guerrillas, and they are confident that it might open new spaces for a humanitarian agreement. Cautiously waiting for the results of the meeting with Presidents Hugo Chavez and Alvaro Uribe, they coincide in their confidence of what the neighboring country's president could bring about. In statements to El Colombiano, a daily of Medellin, Yolanda Pulecio, mother of ex presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt said she is still holding out hope, but was prudent about the presidential meeting. Patricia Perdomo, daughter of ex Congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez de Perdomo, also said she was confident, and that although relatives were not called to participate, they are willing to attend it if the presidents consider it necessary. hr/iom/rc/mf *** France Praises Chavez Mediation Paris, Aug 31 (Prensa Latina) France highlighted Friday talks between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Venezuelan statesman Hugo Chavez, in favor of the release of a group of people detained by the Colombian guerrilla. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner referred to the phone call Tuesday between Sarkozy and Chavez for the prioritized freedom of former Colombian presidential candidate and citizen Ingrid Betancourt. Also on the list are contacts by the French head of State with his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe. "We hope that President Chavez' efforts are useful," Kouchner told the France Info radio station. The Venezuelan leader is due to visit today Bogota, where he is expected to analyze with Uribe the possible exchange of 45 prisoners from the Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for 500 imprisoned guerrillas.. Ingrid Betancourt has been in the hands of the FARC since February 23, 2002. hr/iff/ft/mf * ================================================================= .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org . List Archives: https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ . Subscribe: https://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================