[NYTr] Uribe Terminates Chavez's Mediation Efforts for Colombian Hostage Swap
 
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:58:55 -0600 (CST)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Venezuelanalysis - Nov 22, 2007
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/2884

Uribe Terminates Chavez's Mediation Efforts for a Colombian Hostage Swap

by Chris Carlson

MC)rida, November 22, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Late last night,
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe put an end to the efforts of
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to achieve a humanitarian agreement
with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Following
several months of negotiations, Uribe announced the end of the
mediation efforts after Chavez made direct contact with the Colombian
military command. Both the French government and the family of Ingrid
Betancourt expressed opposition to Uribe's decision.

After placing several new conditions on the negotiations in recent
days, the Colombian president suddenly ended the mediation efforts in
an official communication released last night. Earlier this week Uribe
placed a December 31st deadline on Chavez' efforts, and demanded that
the FARC release the first group of hostages before any meeting could
take place between the FARC leadership and the Venezuelan president.

But as President Chavez returned from a visit to French President
Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the continuation of negotiations, the
Colombian President released a statement on Wednesday night that put a
sudden end to the mediation efforts.

The brief text of the statement, read by Colombia's Press Secretary
Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, justified the decision to end mediation
efforts because of a telephone conversation between Chavez and the
Commander of the Colombian Army Mario Montoya.

"Senator Piedad Cordoba called Army Commander General Mario Montoya on
the telephone to set a meeting, and then passed the telephone to
President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez," said the official statement.
"President Chavez asked General Montoya questions about the FARC
hostages."

According to the statement, President Uribe had spoken to Chavez at the
recent meeting in Santiago, Chile, telling him that he was opposed to
the Venezuela president speaking directly to the Colombian high
military command.

"For this reason, the President of the Republic has put an end to the
assistance of Senator Piedad Cordoba and the mediation of President
Hugo Chavez, to whom we thank for the help that they were providing,"
concluded the statement.

But according to an advisor to President Uribe, Jose Obdulio Gaviria,
in a statement on a Colombian radio station today, the dialogue between
the Venezuelan President and General Montoya was a brief greeting, and
did not touch on compromising topics. Senator Cordoba said the same
thing, adding that their conversation did not last even one minute.

But Gaviria insisted that the fact that the call took place in itself
is "very serious" and justified the decision of the Colombian president
to terminate mediation efforts.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his opposition to the Uribe
decision Thursday morning, urging the Colombian president to continue
with the mediation efforts of Hugo Chavez as the best way to achieve
the release of the hostages.

"We still think that President Chavez is the best opportunity for
liberating Ingrid Betancourt and all the rest of the hostages," said
Sarkozy's spokesperson, David Martinon.

Martinon informed the press that the French president hopes that Uribe
will reconsider his decision, and that Sarkozy is in the process of
sending a letter to Bogota to urge the Colombian president to "maintain
dialog" with President Chavez.

Family members of the French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt also
expressed their opposition to the decision and criticized Uribe for
making a "drastic" decision. Betancourt's ex-husband Fabrice Delloye
accused Uribe of not wanting a solution to the Colombian conflict.

"Everyone is witness to the fact that Uribe is an extremely difficult
man who can change his mind from one day to the next," he said. "He has
demonstrated that he does not want a peaceful solution nor does he want
the hostages to return home."

Astrid Betancourt, sister of Ingrid, also criticized the decision and
called on the international community to convince Uribe of the need to
continue the mediation efforts of President Chavez.

"We had confidence in the work of Chavez and Cordoba, because it is the
only viable alternative," she said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian Senator Cordoba Piedad
have carried out mediation efforts with the FARC at the request of the
Colombian government since September of this year. The immediate goal
was the release of 49 hostages in the hands of the FARC guerrillas, in
exchange for the release of around 500 incarcerated guerrillas.

The mediation efforts began to make progress and led to a meeting
between Chavez and high level FARC leaders in Caracas earlier this
month. But Chavez insisted that a meeting with FARC leader Manuel
Marulanda would be necessary, to which the Colombian president would
not give his authorization.

Venezuela's Ministry of Communication and Information released a
statement today, in which the government expressed regret over Uribe's
decision, but said that he accepts this decision. "With surprise we
received the decision of the Colombian government to put an end to the
mediation of President Hugo Chavez and the facilitation of Senator
Piedad Cordoba in the search for a humanitarian exchange," read the
statement.

"The government of Venezuela accepts this sovereign decision of the
Colombian government, but expresses its frustration because in this way
a process is being aborted that was moving along with a strong pulse in
the midst of great difficulties, having obtained in merely three months
important advances that made one already think about the possibility of
a solution to this essentially human drama that affects our sister and
beloved Colombia," continued the government statement. Finally, the
statement also indicates that the Venezuelan government is ready to
continue to offer its service to achieve peace. 

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