IPS-English CHILE: Bachelet to Help Seek Humanitarian Solution for Colombia's Hostage Crisis
 
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:17:53 -0800

 
Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, Mar 19   (IPS)  - Chilean President Michelle Bachelet promised
to work ”quickly” and ”efficiently” to obtain the release of the hostages
held by the FARC, according to Juan Carlos Lecompte, the husband of
former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was
taken hostage by the Colombian guerrilla group in 2002.

Acting Chilean Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren confirmed that
the president supports all humanitarian initiatives which may result
in the freedom of the hostages in the hands of the FARC (Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia). 

Lecompte arrived in Santiago on Monday at the invitation of the recently
formed Green Party (Partido Ecologista de Chile), and met with Bachelet
at the Government Palace of La Moneda on Tuesday.

During the 40-minute meeting, Lecompte gave the Chilean president
details of the four ways in which, in his view, she could help in
the process of freeing his wife and the other hostages held by the
FARC.

”The first is to support the humanitarian exchange that we have been
trying for years to achieve. The bottleneck here is the refusal by
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe to agree to the creation of a demilitarised
zone as demanded by the rebels,” Lecompte told IPS.

The humanitarian swap that the guerrillas want would involve the
exchange of some 40 civilian hostages and soldiers and police officers
held hostage by the FARC for several hundred imprisoned insurgents,
which would be negotiated and carried out in a specific zone cleared
of any military presence.

The second option is to support a proposal which Lecompte's wife,
a dual Colombian-French citizen, and Luis Eladio Pérez, one of the
four legislators released by the FARC on Feb. 27, thought up while
in captivity, details of which have not been made public. 

”Uribe has already approved that initiative, and on Tuesday Pérez
presented it to French President Nicolas Sarkozy,” Lecompte said.
”If it remains secret, President Bachelet agreed to receive Pérez
so that he might inform her about it.”

The third alternative is to support the efforts made by Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez, who has managed to get the FARC to release
six hostages so far this year. 

And the fourth is to propose a new solution as an initiative of the
Chilean government, said Lecompte, who returns to Colombia on Friday,
before heading to France.

”The president told me she would study the different options, and
promised she would work unstintingly to help find a quick and effective
solution for the release of the hostages,” he said.  

Lecompte described Bachelet as ”a very humane person who is warm,
cordial and compassionate. I felt she made a sincere commitment, from
the depths of her heart.”

In his view, Bachelet's own history of having been captured and tortured
by the military dictatorship of the late General Augusto Pinochet
(1973-1990) gives her ”the moral authority to take part” in the attempts
to secure the freedom of the FARC hostages. 
”The president expressed her support for all humanitarian initiatives,
and reiterated the government's goodwill in support of all efforts
to free the hostages in Colombia,” van Klaveren said at the close
of the meeting.

Van Klaveren called on the guerrillas to free Betancourt and the
other hostages ”unconditionally.” He added that the Chilean government
condemns the practice of kidnapping as ”a flagrant violation of human
rights” and an abhorrent form of torture.   

Lecompte is convinced that the attack by Colombian government forces
on a FARC camp in Ecuador, on Mar. 1, thwarted the imminent release
of his wife.

Twenty-five people were killed in the cross-border bombing raid,
including one of the seven members of the Secretariat of the FARC
high command, known by the nom de guerre ”Raúl Reyes”.

The death of Reyes was ”a major setback,” said Lecompte. If it had
not occurred, 12 hostages, including Betancourt, would have been freed
on Mar. 14 or 15, he said.

The violation of Ecuadorean sovereignty triggered a serious diplomatic
crisis between Bogotá and Quito, in which Caracas and Managua backed
Ecuador. However, the conflict was settled at the Mar. 7 summit of
the Rio Group, held in the Dominican Republic.

After a lengthy meeting on Tuesday, the foreign ministers of the
countries making up the Organisation of American States (OAS) issued
a resolution ”rejecting” the Colombian military incursion.

Lecompte said that Betancourt is very ill due to a chronic liver
disease, so that urgent action is needed as soon as possible. 

Chávez ”is the only person in the world the rebels listen to and
respect, and so he is the right person to solve the problem. He has
achieved concrete results,” Lecompte said.   

By contrast, Lecompte criticised Uribe for backing the option of
a military rescue attempt, which would put the hostages' lives at
risk, he said.

At Uribe's request, Chávez and Colombian opposition Senator Piedad
Córdoba began negotiations in August 2007 to achieve a humanitarian
agreement. But the Colombian president abruptly called off their mediation
efforts in November.

On Jan. 10, the FARC freed Clara Rojas, Betancourt's running mate,
and former legislator Consuelo González. On Feb. 27, four former members
of parliament were released: Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Pérez, Orlando
Beltrán and Jorge Eduardo Gechem.

Lecompte also planned to meet with the potential presidential candidate
for the rightwing opposition National Renewal Party, Sebastián Piñera,
the president of the Senate, Adolfo Zaldívar, and Santiago Mayor Álvaro
Erazo.


*****
+ COLOMBIA-ECUADOR: OAS Rejects Military Incursion (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41639)
+ COLOMBIA: French Negotiators Were to Meet Reyes the Day He Was
Killed (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41513)
+ COLOMBIA: Hostage Talks ”Still Alive,” Despite Diplomatic Crisis
(http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41434)
+ COLOMBIA: Newfound Hope on Sixth Anniversary of Ingrid's Kidnapping
(http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41317)
+ Partido Ecologista de Chile - in Spanish (http://www.partidoecologista.cl)


(END/IPS/LA IP HD CS BO/TRASP-VD-SW/DE/JSP/08)


 
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