Swiss role in hostage release was discreet

[struggle4progress]

January 12, 2008 - 6:30 PM

Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has praised the discreet Swiss role played in the liberation on Thursday of two women held by left-wing rebels in Colombia.

However, she said media pressure surrounding another hostage - former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt – might be negative.

"We prepared the groundwork which made the release possible," while working "in the background" Calmy-Rey explained in an interview with the Lausanne newspaper Le Matin.

She said Switzerland had been the first country to have contact with rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) regarding the hostages ...

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Swiss_role_in_hostage_release_was_discreet.html?siteSect=105&sid=8617390&cKey=1200158527000&ty=st