Colombia's Uribe Agrees to Betancourt Release Deal, AFP Reports

billyb says on Jun 14, 2008, 21:17:

Hopefully this is true. That woman's suffering needs to end.

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billyb says on Jun 14, 2008, 21:38:

FARC rebel wants deal for Betancourt By Patrick Markey
Fri Jun 13, 8:03 PM ET



BOGOTA (Reuters) - A Colombian FARC rebel has offered to release French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt and other guerrilla captives in exchange for protection from extradition, President Alvaro Uribe said on Friday.

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Efforts to negotiate with the FARC over its hostages, who have been held for as long as a decade in jungle camps, are stalled. But the rebels have been weakened by recent deaths of three commanders and desertions fueled by government bounties.

Uribe said Colombia's intelligence agency, DAS, has responded by offering the guerrilla protection from extradition should the hostages be freed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But he gave few details or names.

"We sent a note to the guerrilla who offered to hand over Ingrid Betancourt and other kidnap victims," he said. "The DAS director send it with my authorization, saying there will be no extradition if this goes through. We hope this is true."

Betancourt, a former presidential candidate, was kidnapped more than five years ago while campaigning. She is the FARC hostage with the highest profile. Others include three U.S. defense contractors kidnapped in 2003.

Uribe's announcement may signal a bid by FARC members to break away and surrender with hostages as the rebels struggle to remain united and come under more pressure from the military.

But some analysts questioned why Uribe would make public such a delicate negotiation.

"It seems contradictory, announcing this makes it less likely to happen," said Pablo Casas at the Security and Democracy think tank in Bogota. "If there is a FARC front holding Betancourt, everyone in the FARC knows which front that is, and they would take countersecurity measures."

FARC CHANGE AT THE TOP

Betancourt was last seen in a rebel video at the end of last year looking gaunt and despondent in a jungle camp. She is sick and has been chained up after repeated escape bids, say former hostages recently freed by the rebels.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made freeing Betancourt a foreign policy priority for his government.

Two top guerrilla commanders have been extradited to the United States. The FARC wants them included in any deal to swap hostages for imprisoned rebel fighters.

Latin America's longest-running insurgency, the FARC has been weakened after billions of dollars in U.S. aid helped troops retake areas once under rebel control. Violence from the conflict has dropped sharply, especially in urban areas.

To entice rebels to surrender, Uribe has offered cash bounties, reduced sentences and residency overseas in countries such as France to guerrillas who come in from the jungles with kidnap victims they are guarding.

Following the death in March of the FARC's top chief and founder, Manuel Marulanda, the rebels have been commanded by Alfonso Cano, a former student activist who is seen as more open to possible negotiations with the government.

But Cano could face resistance from the FARC's hard-line military wing. Any tensions and desertions could prompt splinter groups to surrender with hostages they are holding as the FARC struggles to stay united, analysts say.

The FARC, now engaged in Colombia's cocaine trade, want Uribe to pull troops back from an area the size of New York City to broker any hostage exchange. But he has refused and offers a smaller safe haven under international observation.

(Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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Sam Salmon says on Jun 14, 2008, 21:40:

***Colombia's*** suffering needs to end-just for the record Betancourt hasn't suffered anymore than thousands and thousands of others.

Many will be glad to see her gone for good, if she's smart she'll retire to the south of France there to write her memoirs/tend her garden/take spa treatments/generally STFU.

Of course Francia is where a lot of (ex) FARC will be heading too......

' a la orden!'

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billyb says on Jun 14, 2008, 21:42:

"But some analysts questioned why Uribe would make public such a delicate negotiation."

This is a good point. It is rather stupid, or could have been done to signal other fronts that their comrades are negotiating and working out amnesty deals and possible compensation, so they better join the party or get left out in the cold.

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Medellin Traveler says on Jun 14, 2008, 22:41:

billyb,

You basically answered your own question. Good job, carry on.

"Huevos Rancheros en Medellin, No Quiero Taco Bell." - www.medellintraveler.com

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billyb says on Jun 15, 2008, 00:00:

" Colombia's*** suffering needs to end-just for the record Betancourt hasn't suffered anymore than thousands and thousands of others."

I am in the camp that believes she brought this on herself, but i get no joy out of that. The fact that she is being used as a pawn by the french, the colombian governament, chavez, correa and worst of all, the FARC, makes me grieve for her, that's not to say that I don't equally grive for the rest of those poor souls rotting in the jungle.

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romy says on Jun 15, 2008, 00:31:

is this the unofficial announcement of FARC becoming a belligerent force... do we negotiate with terrorists?

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billyb says on Jun 15, 2008, 00:43:

negotiating their ( the various FARC groups now splintering off) surrender (as opposed to negotiating with them a power sharing agreement that would normally be accorded to groups that have legitimate belligerent status and still pose a credible threat to the state), along with their release of hostages, has what to do granting them belligeent status?

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romy says on Jun 15, 2008, 00:50:

"we do not negotiate with terrorists"

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billyb says on Jun 15, 2008, 01:05:

Yes you do, but only from a position of strength. Let me try to think of an example for you. I've got it. Kind of how Colombia and Uribe has the FARC, for the first time (assuming they are not complete morons, and that is not completely out of the question, sadly) knowing that there is no way in hell that they are going to even have at sniff taking power by force of arms. The FARc will splinter into three distinctive factions, those that have access to the FARC's caletas will just disappear with their guerrilleritas and the cash, those that turn themselves in and take advantage of the reinsertion prorgams and hopefull bring in the hostages with them, and those that will stop the charade that has gone on for the last 15 years and openly acknowledge that they will henceforth be nothing more than a few more of the innumerable cartelitos now plying their trade in Colombia

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romy says on Jun 15, 2008, 01:30:

Uribe has stood up for the concept of not negotiating with terrorists (period). No ambiguity was shown, like you are suggesting.
However, I recognize the complexity of the issue (there's a lot of literature on this). But I think it's funny how Uribe's 'hardline' politics are such an illusion. It's more like, convenience politics.
good read : http://www.ideaspaz.org/articulos/download/42_el_lenguaje_del_presiden...

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goin_south says on Jun 15, 2008, 01:40:

I think Colombia is an illusion... so, his 'hardline' politics fit right in.

Ciao! Gustav. Bienvenitos, Ike.

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lampltr says on Jun 15, 2008, 07:43:

Way to go GS jeje

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goin_south says on Jun 15, 2008, 11:43:

did you read that other thread?
NOW,... Surely... surely it has not been UN PATICO... saying that Uribe Will Most Assuredly Run for and Be Elected to a Third Term ;-)

(Siempre! Muchas Gracias a ...La_Campiña... por la Inspiracione!)

Ciao! Gustav. Bienvenitos, Ike.

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goin_south says on Jun 15, 2008, 11:54:

and, you know if Uribe is able to (receive the credit in some way) for the release of betancourt, then that is enough, not only for a third, but...POSSIBLY EVEN A 4TH TERM

Ciao! Gustav. Bienvenitos, Ike.

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Joel y Luza says on Jun 15, 2008, 12:51:

he and Chavez can share tactics on how to become presidente for life in their respective country? Is there Presidential term limits in Colombia?

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Jun 15, 2008, 12:57:

It was one before Uribe changed the constitution.

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

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goin_south says on Jun 15, 2008, 23:40:

IMHO..... a 3rd term is now almost a certainty.
A 4th?.....
If the Red Sox can win a WS Championship after an 80 year drought... then anything can happen.

Ciao! Gustav. Bienvenitos, Ike.

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tomtom33 says on Jun 16, 2008, 06:24:

A 3rd term? The constitution was changed to allow for a second term. It would have to be changed again to allow for a third term. And the change to allow the second term has been challenged. I have heard nothing that indicates these problems have been solved to even allow for a third term.

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goin_south says on Jun 16, 2008, 07:23:

stranger things happen, now... EVERY YEAR.

Ciao! Gustav. Bienvenitos, Ike.

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