Colombia to halt military operations for hostage medical mission

sloopskipper says on Apr 1, 2008, 13:44:

bump

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lampltr says on Apr 1, 2008, 17:48:

"Once relevant authorities are informed by the humanitarian mission about the coordinates of the area where they will be admitted ... we will suspend military action there," Uribe said.

That could prove very interesting indeed....inform the authorities of the coordinates, hmm

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juancegomez says on Apr 1, 2008, 18:06:

The "coordinates of the area" could actually refer to a reasonably large region and not something too specific, so we'll see what happens.

But well, something similar had to be done during previous humanitarian operations, and at least it's better than the alternative.

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Mr. Hollywood says on Apr 1, 2008, 20:30:

After all that's gone down in the last couple months I feel reasonably confident the Colombian and US authorities know pretty well where the hostages are held. What's no doubt keeping them from rolling out the cavalry is the discouraging thought of "rescuing" a bunch of dead bodies.

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romy says on Apr 2, 2008, 11:32:

Ingrid's son is saying she has Hepatitis B and a skin disease. Others have also mentioned leishmaniasis and malaria.
Now I'm wondering how she could have possibly been infected with HepB? Unless if she's been involved in sexual activities or needle sharing... The other stuff is more reasonable.

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Mr. Hollywood says on Apr 2, 2008, 11:49:

What makes you think she contracted Hep B in the jungle, Romy? She could have had the disease for years.

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romy says on Apr 2, 2008, 11:57:

true, it could be chronic HepB. But it then would be strange that nothing had been mentioned on that regard before more recent events.

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Robert Jorge says on Apr 2, 2008, 17:35:

Hey, maybe she is into anal. (sorry, my best attempt at Utopia Cowboy jokes)

BEWARE of gold diggers.

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goin_south says on Apr 2, 2008, 21:34:

lol, Jorge. next thing... Lisa Zee will swear you're Stalking her. ; -))

Where do we go from here?

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Mr. Hollywood says on Apr 3, 2008, 13:53:

Isn't there a famous saying, "What happens in the selva, stays in the selva."

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romy says on Apr 7, 2008, 15:04:

I did have my doubts of the Hep B... a medical mission for amoebiasis? everybody gets the runs in Colombia

Francia dice Betancourt podría no estar tan enferma
lunes 7 de abril de 2008 12:43 GYT

PARIS (Reuters) - Ingrid Betancourt, la rehén más famosa en manos de las colombianas FARC, podría no estar tan enferma como se pensaba previamente, pero el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Francia dijo el lunes que su país aún desea que un médico la examine.

Francia envió una misión médica a Colombia para tratar de acceder a Betancourt, una ciudadana franco-colombiana que desde el 2002 permanece secuestrada en la selva en manos de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), pero la guerrilla aún no ha dado el permiso para que eso ocurra.

Anteriormente, Francia dijo que Betancourt, ex candidata a la presidencia de Colombia, estaba muy enferma y sufría entre otros males de hepatitis. Su hijo advirtió que la mujer podría morir en pocos días si no recibía una transfusión de sangre.

"Tenemos la impresión de que no sólo está viva sino que está mejor de lo que se ha dicho. Pero podría equivocarme," declaró el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Francia, Bernard Kouchner, a la cadena de televisión LCI.

"En todo caso, estamos haciendo todo lo necesario como si tuviéramos que liberarla inmediatamente," dijo el ministro, agregando sin embargo que la salud de Betancourt está en riesgo de empeorar.

Kouchner señaló que Francia mantenía su misión en Colombia para lograr acceder a Betancourt.

"No vamos a irnos tras 24 horas (...) Estamos esperando la señal de las FARC," aseguró el funcionario.

La madre de Ingrid, Yolanda Pulecio, afirmó en una entrevista con una radioemisora de Perú que su hija no estaría tan grave, pero que sí está deprimida y angustiada.

DEPRIMIDA Y ANGUSTIADA

"Tuve una comunicación con un guerrillero que fue capturado hace poco y que me dijo que Ingrid (...) no tiene hepatitis ni mucho menos, pero tiene amebiasis. Tiene dolor de estómago y rechazo a la comida y naturalmente está deprimida y angustiada," dijo Pulecio a la Cadena Peruana de Noticias en una conversación telefónica desde Lima.

"Eso me tranquilizó porque la hepatitis es una cosa prácticamente gravísima. Confío en que salgamos pronto de esta cosa y bueno que haya alguna comunicación con la guerrilla, es la única manera, si no hay comunicación con la guerrilla, nada se saca con hablar," afirmó Pulecio.

Betancourt hace parte de un grupo de 40 rehenes que las FARC buscan intercambiar con el Gobierno del presidente Alvaro Uribe por unos 500 guerrilleros encarcelados.

Pero las posiciones inflexibles de las partes han impedido poner fin al drama de los rehenes, algunos de los cuales completaron 10 años en campamentos rebeldes en la selva.

Uribe, quien con el apoyo de Estados Unidos lidera una agresiva ofensiva militar contra las FARC, se opone a retirar sus Fuerzas Armadas de una zona montañosa de 780 kilómetros cuadrados, en el suroeste del país, para establecer un lugar seguro en donde los delegados de las dos partes se reúnan a negociar un acuerdo humanitario.

Colombia afronta un conflicto interno de más de cuatro décadas que cobra miles de vidas al año y en medio del que se registran secuestros políticos y económicos.

(Reporte de Francois Murphy en París, con colaboración de Marco Aquino en Lima y Luis Jaime Acosta en Bogotá; editado por Silene Ramírez)

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Lisa Zee says on Apr 7, 2008, 16:13:

"Jorge. next thing... Lisa Zee will swear you're Stalking her. ; -))"

You are in DEEP water mister! you better S. THE F. UP!

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romy says on Apr 8, 2008, 18:22:

I guess we are back to where we started on the hostage release situation. Where do we go from here?
For me it's funny they keep talking of hepB and here they even talk of hepC (where'd that come from?)


France Ends Mission to Rescue Betancourt
By ANDREW O. SELSKY – 1 hour ago
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — France called off a humanitarian mission Tuesday to treat and possibly free ailing hostage Ingrid Betancourt after Colombian rebels said they wouldn't unilaterally release any more captives.

France's Foreign Ministry said late Tuesday that there was no longer any reason to keep the mission by France, Spain and Switzerland in Colombia. A French government plane has been waiting on a Bogota airstrip for days with doctors hoping to reach Betancourt, who was said to be depressed and suffering from hepatitis C.

In a four-paragraph statement released Tuesday, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia repeated what they have insisted on since 2005: that the government demilitarize two counties as the first step toward a broad hostage-prisoner swap. Only as part of such an exchange, they said, would Betancourt go free.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said he is "deeply disappointed."

"He wants to assure our compatriot's family — as well as those of all the hostages — that his determination to win their liberation remains as strong as ever," Sarkozy's office said.

Sarkozy's statement reflected the hopes that many had attached to the ill-fated mission — that a humanitarian release of Betancourt would prompt Colombia's hardline President Alvaro Uribe to make similar gestures with imprisoned rebels, providing momentum for peace talks that could bring an end to the decades-long conflict.

But the mission went nowhere, mired in mutual distrust, rhetoric and the recent killings of rebels who played key roles in negotiating other hostage releases. The rebels said the next move is Uribe's to make.

But Uribe, whose own father was killed by the rebels, has consistently rejected rebel demands to pull soldiers out of the zones in southwestern Colombia, recalling how the FARC used a demilitarized zone ceded by his predecessor to create mayhem during failed peace talks.

If no one gives in, Betancourt and dozens of other hostages likely will languish in jungle camps for a long time to come.

The rebel statement — written the day after the French-led medical team landed in Bogota — said that if Uribe had agreed to the 45-day demilitarized zone, then "Ingrid Betancourt and soldiers and the jailed guerrillas would now have regained their freedom and it would be a victory for everyone."

The rebels, who have kept up their fight against elected Colombian governments for 44 years, were unmoved by media frenzy over the effort launched by France, Spain and Switzerland. Nothing had been coordinated before the jet landed, and absent concessions by Uribe, no more hostages will be released, the FARC's ruling secretariat said.

"Rebels imprisoned in the jails of Colombia and the United States are our priority," said the rebel statement, posted on a sympathetic Web site. "We don't respond to blackmail nor media campaigns."

Colombia's government was silent Tuesday. But Astrid Betancourt, the hostage's sister, saw a ray of hope in the FARC's position.

"The FARC believes there's no reason for the humanitarian mission, but is leaving the door open to negotiations," she told The Associated Press in Paris by phone.

Concerns for Betancourt's welfare have run high since released hostages who spent time with her said she is suffering from depression and hepatitis B. The daughter of a well-to-do political family, the 46-year old Betancourt apparently also has been confrontational with her Marxist captors, who mostly come from poor rural areas.

A document the Colombian government says was recovered from a dead rebel commander's laptop in March describes Betancourt as having a "volcanic temper, is rude and provokes the guerrillas who are in charge of keeping her."

The document, one of many being studied by Interpol to ascertain their authenticity, was allegedly written on Feb. 28, 2008 by Raul Reyes, the FARC's spokesman who was involved in previous hostage releases. He was killed on March 1 in a Colombian military strike across the border in Ecuador.

The rebel high command said Reyes' death marked a huge setback for reconciliation in this bloodied country.

"We profoundly regret that while we were making palpable progress for a prisoner exchange, President Uribe planned and executed the cunning murder of comandante Raul Reyes, mortally wounding the hope for a humanitarian exchange and peace."

Uribe did agree to suspend military operations for the humanitarian mission to reach Betancourt. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has assisted in hostage releases before, said he was ready to help if Colombia and the U.S. would guarantee they would not pursue the rebels.

The Colombian government ceded a huge swath of territory to the rebels for peace talks that collapsed in 2002 after the FARC hijacked an airliner and kidnapped a senator on board. The rebels used the territory to stash hostages, launch attacks and oversee cocaine production, and the talks failed after four years without significant progress.

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Mr. Hollywood says on Apr 8, 2008, 19:33:

Maybe all those French medical professionals could use their time and resources to do some good for the poor people who live in Bogota. More likely, I'm guessing, it'll be wheels and back to France the minute the realize the FARC ain't gonna play this game.

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bamacellist says on Apr 8, 2008, 19:56:

I'm wondering if France will now downplay its offer to accept deserting farcsters - and how much that offer had to do with how the farc treated this whole thing with such utter indifference until today when it finally acknowledged the effort by slamming the door on it.

"The future is much like the present, only longer."

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eywed says on Apr 8, 2008, 20:07:

Now the deal is off the Millitary can get back to finding the nastys and kill them.

Ay Hombe!!!!!

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