FARC set to release more hostages to Venezuela [View All]

[Joanne98]

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) plan to release "within days or weeks" four Colombian ex-legislators who have been held hostage for as many as five years, the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner announced after meeting Wednesday evening with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in Caracas.

Two weeks ago, Chávez announced the names of three of the lawmakers to be released, Gloria Polanco, Eladio Pérez, and Orlando Beltrán. Yesterday, he told Kouchner that the identity of a fourth hostage will be revealed soon.

The hostage release represents "important progress" and is a "synonym of hope, strengthening the path toward peace," said Kouchner, who will now head to meetings with Colombian President Álvaro Uribe in Bogotá.

The motive of the meetings is "to accelerate the process of liberation of hostages by the FARC, with the important mediation of President Chávez and the Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba," Kouchner communicated to Colombian newspapers. Chávez and Kouchner also debated proposals for a multi-state negotiating group for humanitarian exchange and peace accords in Colombia, an idea which Kouchner will now discuss with Uribe.

According to the Colombian government the FARC currently hold over 700 civilian, military, and political hostages, one of whom is Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen who was running for the French Presidency at the time of her 2002 kidnapping. French President Nicolás Sarkozy has made the release of Betancourt a top priority of his administration, and this month marks six years since her capture.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3189