Colombia puts year-end deadline on hostage talks

I'm not certain we could see anything other than the "proof of life" for an important hostage (or a few) before the end of the year...so it's indeed a very short deadline, but on the other hand Chavez shouldn't expect to have 5 years either...

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Colombia puts year-end deadline on hostage talks

By Hugh Bronstein Mon Nov 19, 10:31 PM ET

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia on Monday placed a year-end deadline on talks led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez aimed at freeing rebel-held kidnap victims including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

The statement released by the government puts pressure on left-winger Chavez, who is trying to broker an exchange of the hostages for rebels held in government jails.

Analysts said it also shows conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's impatience with the talks, which have so far yielded no breakthroughs.

"This is Uribe's way of saying that Chavez does not have an open-ended invitation to be involved in Colombia's internal affairs," political commentator Ricardo Avila said.

Chavez, who says socialism can unite Latin America against U.S. "imperialism," was invited by U.S. ally Uribe earlier this year to act as an intermediary with the four-decade-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Among the hostages held by the cocaine-funded group are Betancourt, taken during her 2002 presidential campaign, and three U.S. defense contractors captured during an anti-drug mission in 2003.

The hardening of Colombia's stance came just after Chavez, in France on Monday to meet with the government about Betancourt, said that Uribe was be willing to sit down and negotiate with the leader of the FARC.

Colombia fired back with a statement saying Uribe's willingness to meet with FARC top commander Manuel Marulanda was conditional on the rebels freeing all hostages and entering into broader peace talks.

The statement said that by talking about a possible meeting between Uribe and Marulanda, Chavez had revealed information from secret discussions at an early November meeting between the two presidents.

"President Uribe told President Chavez that this mediation process should have a time limit," the statement said. "The government thinks that limit should be the month of December."

Colombian columnist Daniel Coronell, who often criticizes Uribe, said the imposition of the deadline was "a death sentence for any possible exchange of prisoners by way of Chavez."

(Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Stuart Grudgings)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071120/wl_nm/colombia_hostages_dc_1

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Chávez asks Colombia to be patient

EL UNIVERSAL

President Hugo Chávez Tuesday asked Colombia to be patient regarding his mediation efforts for the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) to release a group of 49 hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen and former Colombian presidential candidate.

Chávez met Tuesday in Paris with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and both addressed the issue of the hostages held by the guerrilla group, Reuters reported.

Further, the Venezuelan ruler replied to Colombian President �?lvaro Uribe who set next December 31 as the deadline to achieve the humanitarian swap.

"I have to talk to Uribe to clarify this issue and ratify that we all need to be patient," Chávez told reporters following his meeting with the French President.

"The (Colombian) High Commissioner for Peace has been trying to make it for five years. In only three months, we have made achievements that were not made in five years. Therefore, we will have to be patient," Chávez said, in a reference to the work of Luis Carlos Restrepo.

During his news conference, Chávez branded as "weird" a communiqué Restrepo read on Monday setting a deadline for the Venezuelan ruler's mediation in the humanitarian swap.

The Venezuelan head of State said, "the condition that all of the hostages were released" was never mentioned.

According to Chávez, the agreement involved the guerrilla group to release a first group of hostages as "a gesture of goodwill." Then Chávez was expected to launch talks in Caguán.

Chávez added he had forwarded this message to FARC leader Manuel Marulanda.

"Knowing that President Uribe is willing to go Caguán and talk is very important, as it shows the Colombian ruler's goodwill."

"I interpreted that Uribe was ready to go to Caguán, but it is up to him to clarify this."

Chávez asked the Colombian President to let him meet with Marulanda, as "that is the key for the release" of hostages.

Chávez believes that one the elements preventing peace in Colombia is the role of the United States in that country.

Chávez assured President Sarkozy that Betancourt is alive and he will be able to produce the relevant evidence, DPA reported.

"Ingrid is alive, I am absolutely positive," he said. The Venezuelan ruler said the release of the hostages was "imminent."

Regarding a referendum next December 2 on his proposed changes to the Constitution, Chávez claimed a number of biased opinion polls have been published suggesting that his initiative would be rejected. He stressed that his proposal would be approved in the vote.

When asked about student protests rebutting the constitutional reform, Chávez said the demonstrations were staged "by a group of rich children."

Traslated by Maryflor Suárez
msuarez at eluniversal.com

http://www.eluniversal.com/2007/11/20/en_pol_art_chavez-asks-colombia_...

By juancegomez on Nov 20, 2007, 11:14 in Politics & the war.

Sr Tertius says on Nov 21, 2007, 16:34:

Maybe I've been missing this all along, but, what's the policy after the deadline? Chavez will be excluded from mediating so that WHAT would happen? Maybe I'm too dense.

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

0 funny, 0 helpful.

juancegomez says on Nov 21, 2007, 23:50:

I had some ideas, but the recent suspension / cancellation of the mediation makes them irrelevant at this point.

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Sr Tertius says on Nov 22, 2007, 08:09:

Juance, I'd like to hear your ideas. The cancellation simply sped up the eventual end of Chavez/Cordoba's mediation. What now? What's the plan?

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

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juancegomez says on Nov 22, 2007, 13:56:

The thing is, in my mind, it was likely that one of two things would have happened:

a)Nothing of note, thus placing us in a similar situation to the uncertain state we're facing now.

b)There would indeed be some sort of significant "proof of life" or (much less likely) partial prisoner release, and Uribe could be more willing to extend the mediation effort or grant other minor concessions due to that.

Whether that second scenario wouldn't have run out of gas as well (only later) is, of course, open to debate.

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