[NYTr] Chavez Efforts to Promote Colombian Peace Win Wide Praise Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2007 08:30:38 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - Oct 5, 2007. [Families of hostages to be released in Colombia if negotiations by President Chavez succeed are not disheartened by a delay in the talks, according to Bloomberg. One relative of a US citizen who is among those expected to be freed in the hostage-for-prisoner swap between the guerrillas and the government said, "This is the highest our hopes have ever been." The families met with President Chavez last week in Caracas. A French diplomat met with Chavez on Thursday to discuss the Venezuelan President's role in the humanitarian accord and express support for the process. Also pleased is UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, who congratulated the Venezuelan government for its efforts in supporting the peace process in Colombia, according to Venezuelanalysis. -VIO] Bloomberg - October 4, 2007 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aVhQaTQ9GbNs Colombia Captives' Families Undaunted by Talks Delay By Helen Murphy The families of 45 captives held in jungle camps by Colombia's biggest guerrilla group are confident Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez can secure their relatives' release, saying a snag in talks yesterday will be resolved. ``This is the highest our hopes have ever been,'' said Lynne Stansell, 63, the mother of U.S. hostage Keith Stansell. ``The eyes of the world are upon us.'' Chavez is seeking to set up talks with leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and mediate the exchange of hostages for as many as 500 jailed guerrillas. The initial meeting, scheduled for Oct. 8, was canceled amid unresolved questions as to how the guerrilla delegation would get to Caracas and which rebels may be eligible for release. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who has approved Chavez's mediation with the drug-funded rebels, says the FARC has no intention of freeing the hostages, demonstrated by its rejection of every previous overture by Colombia and its impossible demands. Uribe freed 150 jailed guerrillas in June in the failed hope the group would move ahead with a swap that included three U.S. Defense Department contractors, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and her vice presidential candidate, Clara Rojas. `Give a Damn' ``The FARC doesn't give a damn about human life and it doesn't give a damn about Colombian public opinion,'' said Myles Frechette, 71, U.S. ambassador to Colombia from 1994 to 1997 who is now an independent consultant on trade for Latin America and Africa. ``These are the crown jewels of FARC captives and it will play them for everything it can get; this will be a good circus though.'' Chavez, 53, has met with family members of the hostages, some of whom have been held in camps for more than a decade. He told them he will work ``tirelessly'' to bring the FARC leadership and Colombia together for a solution, Stansell said in a telephone interview. Chavez is working with Colombian opposition Senator Piedad Cordoba, who has been given Uribe's blessing to act as mediator in the swap. Cordoba met last month with FARC leader Raul Reyes in a jungle clearing and brought a videotaped message to Chavez agreeing to next week's meeting. U.S. Prisoners ``She is one of the most persistent individuals you can find and she is dealing with the most reticent people; if anyone can strong-arm the FARC, it's her,'' said Adam Isacson, director of the Colombia program at the Center for International Policy in Washington, who knows Cordoba. Cordoba canceled next week's meeting in a bid to resolve ahead of time which of the jailed guerrillas would be included in the swap. She said the meeting may take place within five days of the originally scheduled date. The FARC has hinted that without the inclusion of two rebels serving jail time in the U.S. it may not free the three U.S. citizens, employees of Northrop Grumman Corp. whose single-engine plane crashed while on a drug surveillance mission in February 2003. Uribe says he doesn't want extradited guerrillas to be part of the deal. ``We would run the risk that every time someone wants to avoid extradition or exert pressure for the return of an extradited person they would kidnap a U.S. citizen here,'' Uribe said yesterday. Guerrilla Demands Uribe also has rejected the guerrillas' demand to remove troops from an area the size of New York to facilitate a hostage swap, though he has said in the past that he would withdraw soldiers from certain towns. In a bid to prompt peace talks, former President Andres Pastrana in 1998 granted the FARC a safe haven the size of Switzerland, which it used to build up arms, run drug-trafficking operations and plan kidnappings. Colombian guerrillas, who have praised Chavez's Bolivarian revolution, have taken thousands of so-called economic hostages to raise funds for weapons purchases, and to continue their 40- year battle against the government. The 45 prisoners under discussion are considered political captives, used as bargaining leverage against the government. Ideological ties between Chavez and the FARC plus the chance for some positive international media attention, makes it likely some hostages will be released, said Robert Bottome, an analyst at Caracas-based research firm Veneconomia. `Winner' ``Chavez comes out looking like a winner, as a great mediator,'' he said. The FARC began in 1964, when Manuel 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. Should the talks fail, Uribe can say he tried everything to free the hostages and that not even Chavez can make it happen, said Frechette. Since his election in 2002, Uribe has launched a military crackdown on the FARC, leading to an 88 percent decline in kidnappings. ``There's a light at the end of the tunnel and it's not from a train,'' said George Gonsalves, 60, the father of Marc Gonsalves, another of the U.S. citizens. *** AP via Intl Herald Tribune - Oct 4, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/04/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-France-Hostages.php Venezuela's Chavez meets with French envoy to discuss possible prisoner swap The Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela ? President Hugo Chavez met with a French diplomat Thursday as the Venezuelan leader seeks to broker a deal for the release of rebel-held hostages in Colombia, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt. Daniel Parfait, director of the Americas for France's foreign ministry, came to Caracas for talks ahead of Chavez's planned visit to Paris next month to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Chavez is trying to help mediate a swap of jailed Colombian guerrillas for hostages including Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate held for more than five years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen, was kidnapped while campaigning in southern Colombia and was last seen publicly in a video statement in 2003. Sarkozy's government is urging the FARC to provide mediators with proof that Betancourt is alive. Chavez ? whose role has been welcomed by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe ? says he believes Betancourt is still alive, France's Paris-Match magazine reported on Wednesday. "In any case, we have no information that would make me think she is dead," he was quoted as saying. "All the information we have indicates she is alive." Chavez has repeatedly expressed optimism that a deal between the FARC and Uribe's U.S.-backed administration is possible, but numerous obstacles to an agreement remain, beginning with the FARC's demand that all rebels in U.S. custody be released. Uribe, a conservative who maintained friendly ties with leftist Chavez despite their ideological differences, said Wednesday that he opposes any measure that would permit two prominent rebels currently in U.S. custody to return to Colombia. *** Venezuelanalysis - Oct 4, 2007 http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/2686 Venezuelan Efforts Praised, Meeting Postponed in Colombian Hostage Negotiation By Kiraz Janicke UN High Commissioner Antonio Guterres, congratulated the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela this Wednesday, in relation to the efforts of President Hugo Chavez to achieve a humanitarian exchange of 45 hostages held by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), for guerrilla insurgents held in Colombia jails, with a view to achieving peace in Colombia. Guterres made the comments during the 58th session of the Executive Committee of the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). During its presentation at the UNHCR meeting, the Venezuelan delegation emphasized that the decades long internal conflict in Colombia generates the highest number of refugees in Latin America. It is estimated that some two million Colombians immigrants live in Venezuela, many of them fleeing the conflict in their home country. "Our most sincere thanks to all the voices of the world, of France, Switzerland, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and many other countries, as well as diverse international organizations, that have raised their voice to say YES to peace in Colombia, YES to the efforts led by President Chavez and Colombian Senator Piedad CC3rdoba," the statement from the Venezuelan delegation continued. Chavez also confirmed, in an interview published yesterday in the French magazine Paris Match, that he had received assurances from the FARC that French Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt is alive and well. "There is no reason to think she is dead. All the information that we have indicates that she is alive," he said Chavez added that a few weeks ago he had sent a message questioning the FARC in this respect, through Colombian Senator Piedad CC3rdoba, who is acting as a mediator on behalf of the Colombian government. According to IvC!n MC!rquez, a member of the general command of the FARC, the three US citizens Keith Stansell, Thomas Howes and Marc Gonsalves, have received "respectful and dignified treament." In a declaration made on September 28 and published on the FARC's website on Tuesday, MC!rquez said that this treatment contrasted with that received by the guerrillas Ricardo Palmera, alias 'SimC3n Trinidad', and Anayibe Rojas, alias 'Sonia', who are being held in prison in the US. The jury is still out on the case of Palmera, 57, who was extradited to the US by the Uribe government and is accused of "conspiracy to traffic drugs" into the US. The jury indicated on Tuesday that it could not reach a unanimous agreement over the validity of the charges against Palmero and is continuing deliberations. However, Colombian President El Alvaro Uribe, affirmed again this Wednesday that he won't accept the inclusion of 'Sonia' y 'SimC3n Trinidad' in the humanitarian exchange. "The government of Colombia says 'forcefully no' to the rebel chiefs SimC3n Trinidad and 'Sonia' being returned from the United States to Colombia". "If we accept the pressure that 'Sonia' and 'SimC3n Trinidad' are returned from the United States to participate in a humanitarian exchange with the FARC, that would be disastrous, a negative precedent" he argued. CC3rdoba, who is visiting the US to get support for the process of negotiating a humanitarian exchange, said that she has formed a team of lawyers in Washington to look at options in the case of Sonia and SimC3n Trinidad. She is also hoping to meet next week with US secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and if this happens, it will be the first time a member of the Bush government participates in the process. The position of Bush is not to negotiate with "terrorists." Despite Uribe's call for a bipartisan Congressional delegation from the US to participate in talks between Colombian officials, Chavez and the FARC, CC3rdoba said that until now, no Republican legislator has accepted to be part of the group that will travel to Caracas. Today CC3rdoba is meeting with Sonia, who is serving a 17-year sentence in Fort Worth prison, found guilty by a US court of "trafficking drugs." Meanwhile, Chavez says that the first meeting with the FARC, due to take place in Caracas on October 8, may have to be postponed, "if we consider the declarations, not those of president Uribe, other declarations of other people that have said that the Colombian Guerillas will have to come to Caracas at their own risk" However, he affirmed, "the meeting with the representative of [FARC leader] Marulanda is planned and we are planning the technical details, logistics. It's going to be very important to continue constructing an option towards the humanitarian exchange and I hope forward towards a peace accord." Chavez said he remains optimistic about the possibilities of the success of his mediation, despite the failure of previous attempts to achieve the liberation of the hostages through a humanitarian exchange. * ================================================================= 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 =================================================================