[NYTr] Chavez Makes Progress on Colombia; Lula Offers Help; FARC Talks Oct 8 Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:07:23 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - Sep 20, 2007 [President Chavez has confirmed that he will host Colombian rebels in the Venezuelan capitol on October 8th to negotiate a hostage release. Agence France Presse reports that the FARC has agreed to travel to Caracas for the talks, which may lead to the exchange of 45 high-profile hostages for 500 imprisoned rebels. Chavez will meet with Brazilian President Lula da Silva today to discuss bilateral issues that include the hostage swap. The AP reports that Lula is expected to offer the use of Brazilian territory for peace negotiations. A government representative said, ""Brazil trusts President Chavez as a mediator of this conflict and has offered the possibility, should it be necessary, of holding meetings on Brazilian soil." -VIO] AP via Intl Herald Trib - Sep 19, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/20/america/LA-GEN-Brazil-Presidents.php Brazil offering Venezuela's Chavez use of its territory for Colombia mediation effort The Associated Press MANAUS, Brazil: Brazil is offering its support ? and its neutral territory ? to help Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mediate a prisoner exchange between the Colombian government and that country's leftist rebels. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected to offer Chavez the use of Brazilian territory when the two presidents meet in the Amazon city of Manaus on Thursday. Chavez is attempting to negotiate an exchange of imprisoned Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrillas for rebel-held hostages, including three U.S. defense contractors and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen. "Brazil trusts President Chavez as a mediator of this conflict and has offered the possibility, should it be necessary, of holding meetings on Brazilian soil," Silva spokesman Marcelo Baumbach said at a news conference at the presidential palace in Brasilia. Both Brazil and Venezuela share borders with Colombia and would benefit from any easing of tensions in the neighboring nation. The two leaders also are expected to discuss some proposals by Chavez ? a fiery populist harshly critical of the United States ? for regional integration. The proposals include a natural gas pipeline spanning South America and the Bank of the South ? a development bank Chavez envisions as a homegrown alternative to U.S.-based lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A proposed joint venture for nationally run oil companies Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Petroleos de Venezuela SA to build a US$4 billion (?2.8 billion) oil refinery in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco was announced with much fanfare in 2005. But more recently Petrobras has been talking about completing the refinery on its own. Silva and Chavez will meet Thursday evening with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. *** El Universal - Sep 19, 2007 http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/09/19/en_pol_art_lula,-chavez-to-deal_19A1042477.shtml Lula, ChC!vez to deal with Colombian conflict Venezuelan President Hugo ChC!vez and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet on Thursday in Manaos, northern Brazil, to discuss bilateral and regional issues, including ChC!vez mediation for a swap of hostages held by the guerrillas for imprisoned rebels in Colombia, AFP reported. The presidents will "exchange ideas on the political situation, particularly in Latin America. In this context, President ChC!vez' efforts at mediation in Colombia were noteworthy," said Marcelo Baumbach, spokesman of the Brazilian President. Brazil "supports the performance of President ChC!vez for a dialogue between the Colombian government and (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) FARC," said the official. ChC!vez is trying to get a settlement to release 45 people kidnapped by FARC in exchange of imprisoned guerrilla members. *** AFP via Google - Sep 19, 2007 http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHHEYRLccACT9dMOOdkEG1F-5gmA Colombian rebels agree to meet Chavez in Venezuela: senator Agence France Presse BOGOTA (AFP) ? Marxist rebels agreed to meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a mediator in Colombia's hostage crisis, in Venezuela next month for talks on a possible prisoner swap, a senator involved in the process said Wednesday. Chavez will meet with a leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on October 8 to discuss the group's demand that Bogota release 500 FARC prisoners in exchange for 45 high-profile hostages, Senator Piedad Cordoba told Radio Caracol. "The talks will take place in Venezuela -- that has been agreed to by (Colombian) President Alvaro Uribe as well as by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia," said Cordoba, an opposition senator named by Uribe as a mediator. The agreement has raised hopes that it will lead to direct talks between the Colombian government and FARC on trading prisoners for the hostages, who include Franco-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans. Chavez had asked Uribe on Saturday to let him meet with FARC chief Manuel Marulanda in Colombia's jungle. But Bogota denied the request and repeated that it would allow the meeting to take place in Venezuela. Chavez on Tuesday said he received a message from Marulanda and his top deputy, Raul Reyes, reiterating FARC's demand that Uribe create a demilitarized zone in Colombia to hold talks. Uribe's government restated his refusal to provide such an enclave. In the message, the rebels had also offered to meet Chavez next month in Colombian territory. The 17,000-strong Marxist FARC has been battling the Colombian government since the 1960s. Cordoba also said she would meet this week with two senior FARC members detained in the United States, in a "humanitarian gesture" requested by the Marxist group. The two are Ricardo Palmera -- nom de guerre, "Simon Trinidad" -- the highest ranking FARC member to have been extradited for trial in the United States, and Anayibe Rojas Valderrama -- known as "Sonia" -- who was sentenced in a US court in July to 17 years in prison on drug charges. Trinidad was last July found guilty of conspiracy in the FARC's kidnapping of three American contractors hired by the US government. They were abducted after their plane crashed during an anti-drug mission in Colombia. Cordoba said she would also meet in Florida during the same trip with relatives of the American captives, who have been held since February 2003. * ================================================================= 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 =================================================================