[NYTr] FARC Hostages: US Families Turn to Chavez for Help Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 16:08:53 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit AP via International Herald Tribune - Sep 5, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/05/america/NA-GEN-US-Colombia-Hostages.php Families of Kidnapped Americans in Colombia Seek Help for Kin from Venezuela's Chavez by the Associated Press WASHINGTON: Relatives of three U.S. contractors kidnapped by Colombian rebels more than four years ago turned Wednesday to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for help securing their loves ones' release under a swap of imprisoned rebels for hostages. "We're very hopeful. They are working hard to include the three Americans" in the possible exchange, Lynn Stansell, whose son Keith is among the hostages, said after a meeting with Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera. Her son was grabbed in 2003 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, along with fellow U.S. contractors Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes when their plane crashed during an anti-drug mission. "This is the most hopeful event we have had in 4 1/2 years," Stansell added. "We've not seen or communicated with our son in that time." The meeting with the ambassador was spurred by last week's efforts by Chavez to help broker an exchange between the Colombian government and FARC, which holds dozens of high-profile hostages including Colombian former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. The Colombian government holds hundreds of imprisoned rebels. A definitive list of which hostages would be included in a swap has yet to be determined. Chavez has said he hopes to meet with FARC leader Manuel Marulanda, known as "Sure Shot," to hammer out such details. Stansell's husband, Gene, said he was heartened by last week's meeting between Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who approved his Venezuelan counterpart's offer to try to broker a swap. "We feel this is one of the best opportunities to arrange a kind of a diplomatic solution to this drama," said Gene Stansell. He said the U.S. government, which lists the FARC as a terrorist organization, was unwilling to consider talks with the rebels. The United States has a standing policy not to negotiate over hostages. During his son's 54 months in captivity, "we had no proof of life ... and it does look now that there is a good chance that (with Chavez's help) something can come out of this," he said. U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Wednesday that Washington is working with the Colombian government to try to secure the hostages' freedom, and he was not aware of what Chavez's role would be in helping arrange a swap. "We continue to be concerned, certainly, about the three Americans who remain captive by the FARC," Casey said. "We continue to hold the FARC responsible for the conditions that they are held in, as well as responsible for their safety." Ambassador Alvarez Herrera told The Associated Press that the families have expressed interest in traveling to Venezuela to meet with Chavez, and they "have lots of hope that they will be helped." "If the occasion arises I will go there," Gene Stansell said. "I would even change places with my son to get him out of the FARC." *** Christian Science Monitor - Sep 6, 2007 http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0906/p01s01-woam.html Can ChC!vez Free FARC hostages? By Sibylla Brodzinsky BogotC!, colombia - Juan SebastiC!n Lozada tries not to get his hopes up too high. His mother has been a hostage of Colombia's leftist rebels for six years, one of 45 pawns in a deadlocked political game between the government and guerrillas. Time and again, Mr. Lozada and the families of other captives (including three Americans) have seen their dreams of being reunited with their loved ones dashed. A string of international diplomats, church officials, and local personalities have failed to broker a deal for the hostages in exchange for the release of jailed guerrillas. But there's a new player in the game now. Venezuelan President Hugo ChC!vez has offered to mediate between the government of conservative President Clvaro Uribe and the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). So Lozada's hopes are up again. "This is a huge step, for ChC!vez to become involved," says Lozada. During the past two weeks, the charismatic, left-leaning Venezuelan leader has held a bilateral summit on the issue with Mr. Uribe, the FARC has agreed to meet with ChC!vez in Caracas, and he has visited the families of the hostages and families of rebel prisoners. Most significantly, the FARC appear open to the idea of holding formal negotiations in the neighboring country. But ChC!vez knows making concrete progress won't be easy. "People tell me that I've gotten myself into a mess. I don't care. If I had to go to hell and back to achieve peace in Colombia, I would go," Chavez said in Caracas Saturday after returning from a one-day visit to BogotC!. Among the captives held by the FARC are three Americans who were working for Northrop Grumman Corp. on a drug surveillance mission when their plane crashed in 2003. Also being held are former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who holds dual Colombian-French citizenship, Colombian governors, senators, and 37 police and military officers. Some have been languishing in hostage camps for nearly a decade. Eleven regional lawmakers, who had also been on the list of "swappable" hostages, died June 18 while in FARC custody, in what the rebels said was a raid on the camp where the hostages were being held. The International Committee of the Red Cross recovered the remains this week after the FARC provided the coordinates of where they left the bodies. In recent years, diplomats from Spain, France, and Switzerland have presented numerous proposals to bring the two sides together but both sides have found reasons to reject them. With ChC!vez in the picture, however, things may change. "ChC!vez, more than any European government, has a chance to move this issue," says Michael Shifter of Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington, D.C., think tank. "President ChC!vez's ... ability, his shrewdness, and the prestige he has gained on the continent will help to resolve the issue of the humanitarian exchange," senior FARC commander RaC:l Reyes said in an interview published Monday in the Mexican daily La Jornada. Central to the debate is a FARC demand for the creation of a temporary demilitarized area in southern Colombia, roughly the size of New York City, where negotiations and an eventual swap would take place. A Datexco poll published last week shows Colombians are split over whether the government should grant the haven for a hostage swap. Some 46 percent said they opposed a demilitarization zone while 40 percent said they would approve it. Colombia's Uribe took office in 2002 vowing to defeat the rebels militarily, following failed peace talks between his predecessor, AndrC)s Pastrana, and the FARC. Mr. Pastrana granted the FARC a haven the size of Switzerland, which the guerrillas used as a training ground for their troops and a holding pen for their hostages. Uribe made a firm promise never to demilitarize one square meter of Colombian territory. ChC!vez offered to host the swap on Venezuelan territory, an idea rejected by the FARC. "We don't have a problem with negotiating anywhere, but the exchange of prisoners has to happen in Colombia," FARC commander Reyes told the Argentine daily ClarC-n last week. Marleny Orjuela, who represents the families of the police and military officers held hostage by the FARC, says the families have high hopes for ChC!vez's mediation. She says all help from the international community was welcome, but that ChC!vez brings a new element to the table. "It's clear that the rebels admire ChC!vez and there is a similarity in the ideology," she says. ChC!vez is a self-styled socialist who seeks to counter Washington's influence in Latin America by expanding his Bolivarian revolution in the region, a reference to the 19th-century South American hero SimC3n BolC-var, who led the liberation from Spain. The FARC also call themselves "Bolivarian." Despite the ideological chasm between ChC!vez and the right-leaning Uribe, the two have a good relationship. "Uribe has a strange but functional accommodation with ChC!vez," says Mr. Shifter. On Saturday, more than two dozen Colombians, held in a Venezuelan prison for an alleged plot to overthrow ChC!vez three years ago, were reunited with their families. ChC!vez's pardon, announced just before his meeting with Uribe, was seen as a goodwill gesture toward Colombia. Uribe, whose father was killed in a botched FARC kidnapping attempt in 1986, has been under intense domestic and international political pressure to find some solution to the hostage crisis. In June, he unilaterally ordered the release from jail of 150 low-ranking rebels. At the behest of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, he also released Rodrigo Granda, the highest-ranking FARC prisoner, in the hopes of pressuring the rebels to agree to the swap without a haven. The FARC did not budge. "If anyone can make the FARC change their position, it's ChC!vez," says Daniel Garcia-PeC1a, a former government peace negotiator and now a leader of the leftist opposition party Polo DemocrC!tico Alternativo. If he does, Mr. Garcia-PeC1a says, "everyone can come out a winner." * ================================================================= .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/ . 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