Chavez urges Colombian rebels to free all hostages

[arcos]

Source: Reuters

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged the new leader of Colombia's FARC rebels on Sunday to release all prisoners held in jungle camps, in an effort to galvanize international efforts to free high-profile hostages.

Chavez, who Colombia accuses of supporting Latin America's oldest insurgency, mediated the first major hostage releases in years in January and February but there has been no further progress toward freeing more prisoners for months.

"The time has come for the FARC to release everyone ... It would be a grand humanitarian gesture -- and unconditional. That's what I propose to the new leader," Chavez said.

<snip>

"This is my message for you, Cano: 'Come on, let all these people go.' There are old folk, women, sick people, soldiers who have been prisoners in the mountain for ten years," Chavez said on his weekly TV show.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0843458420080608

[Judi Lynn]

1. End struggle, Chavez urges Farc

Page last updated at 21:16 GMT, Sunday, 8 June 2008 22:16 UK
End struggle, Chavez urges Farc

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has urged the new leader of Colombia's Farc rebels to end their four-decade struggle and release all hostages.

Mr Chavez, who Colombia has accused of financing Farc, said the rebel group was "out of step" and that its "guerrilla war is history".

Alfonso Cano was named the new leader of Farc in May after the death of long-time leader Manuel Marulanda.

Mr Chavez has been involved in recent mediation on hostage releases.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) hold many hostages, including about 40 high-profile ones they says they want to swap for imprisoned rebels.

'Peace process'

In his weekly television and radio programme, Mr Chavez said: "This is my message for you, Cano: 'Come on, let all these people go.' There are old folk, women, sick people, soldiers who have been prisoners in the mountain for 10 years."

He added: "The guerrilla war is history. At this moment in Latin America, an armed guerrilla movement is out of place."

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7443080.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reuters has misreprensented this public plea for the hostages, however, by saying Chavez has taken advantage of the change of guard in the FARC. He also made a public plea to release the hostages in the last few months, when Marulanda was still living.
Very well documented by the corporate media.

[Peace Patriot]

2. "...but there has been no further progress toward freeing more prisoners for months."

Argh, Reuters! But they don't say WHY! WHY has there been no further progress on hostage releases?

Because the U.S. and Colombia KILLED the chief FARC hostage negotiator--in their bombing raid over the Ecuadoran border in March! They blew him away, deliberately--and the 25 people with him--using U.S. high tech surveillance and U.S. "smart bombs" (and very possibly U.S. aircraft and personnel).

End of hostage releases!

This is what I mean when I say there is a "black hole" in a corporate news story. A gaping hole where important context information should be. It is a form of LYING. To leave out that the U.S. and Colombia deliberately targeted and killed the FARC hostage negotiator--in his sleep, no less--and on the eve of his release of Ingrid Betancourt and others to the presidents of Ecuador and France, constitutes a LIE. It is no mystery why there has been no further progress in hostage releases. The Bushites violently brought all such progress to an end--and almost started a war with Ecuador and Venezuela.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Unbelievable, isn't it? Unfortunately, they know a lot of people are going to let it go at that:

they read their comments, it's over. No deeper curiosity, just take the easy story and run. It's a real shame so many people are easily satisfied with quick, glib answers concerning complex situations. The result is they aren't close to understanding what has been happening, and have been duped by people who know they are indifferent, easy to mislead.

Democrats ARE more likely to read enough to grasp the story.

[Bacchus39]

4. its allright to support the UNCONDITIONAL release of the hostages now, Chavez says so

and by the way, there is nothing preventing the FARC from doing so even if their number 2 is dead. nothing.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080608/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_colombia_rebels;_ylt=AlJZWfo7zTT_Y2vydTYExEq3IxIF


Chavez urges FARC to end armed struggle By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer
Sun Jun 8, 5:03 PM ET



CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged Colombian rebels on Sunday to lay down their weapons, unilaterally free dozens of hostages and put an end to a decades-long armed struggle against Colombia's government.


Chavez sent the uncharacteristically strong message to the leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, saying their ongoing efforts to overthrow Colombia's democratically elected government were unjustified.

"The guerrilla war is history," said Chavez, speaking during his weekly television and radio program, "Hello President."

"At this moment in Latin America, an armed guerrilla movement is out of place."

Such declarations were unexpected from Chavez, a self-described socialist who earlier this year called on world governments to remove the FARC from terrorist lists and suggested the guerrillas should be recognized as a legitimate insurgent force.

Addressing new FARC leader Alfonso Cano, Chavez said, "I think the time has come to free all of the hostages you have. It would be a great, humanitarian gesture. In exchange for nothing."

[Peace Patriot]

5. Bacchus39, you really mistake me if you think that I have not ALWAYS been

FOR the unconditional release of innocent civilian hostages, and against them having been kidnapped in the first place. The problem was, and is, what is POSSIBLE in a given situation. When you are trying to bring more than 40 years of civil war to an end--or any war, for that matter--you start with what is possible, what you can get parties to agree to, and work from there.

As for military hostages, I think an exchange is a valid negotiating position, because I consider this to be a civil war. If you're going to call people terrorists, you have to include the Colombian military, their rightwing paramilitaries and the U.S. military and mercenaries, who have been responsible for far more bloodshed and suffering that FARC has been, according to all human rights groups. But why call people "terrorists" in a civil war? Both sides have been fighting for their concept of their country. The word "terrorist" is simply inflammatory. Further, it is very likely that members of FARC, who have been--in their minds--fighting for their homeland, are enduring TORTURE in Colombian prisons. If I had been fighting beside them--and, who knows? we are, after all, citizens of a revolutionary country ourselves, founded on a bloody revolt--I would certainly struggle for the release of my compadres. There are sadists in the Colombian military forces, probably trained in torture techniques by Bushite fuckheads from the U.S.A. Some of their known atrocities indicate what they are capable of in a secret torture dungeon. It is intolerable that ANYONE would be subjected to such things--and, until all FARC prisoners are released, they are at risk of it. And considered from this point of view, seeking an exchange of military prisoners seems a reasonable negotiation to me.

As for fighting on, in the cause of establishing a leftist government in the part of Colombia that FARC controls, that is not a judgment that I can make, nor that Chavez can make--although he's closer to the situation than I am, certainly. I am not a Colombian. I have not seen children's throats slit because their parents were "leftists." I have not seen hundreds of my political candidates and voters murdered. I have no family or friends who were chainsawed and their body parts thrown into mass graves, because they were union organizers. I have not seen my children poisoned with toxic pesticide spraying, and my animals killed and my crops ruined. I cannot judge those who have chosen to take up arms against these horrors. I really don't know what I would do, if I had had to endure such things.

Chavez certainly has a point, that South America has vastly changed for the better. Good, democratic, social justice governments have been elected all over the continent. But that cannot be said of Colombia. They have a rotten-to-the-core, fascist government, propped up by $5.5 BILLION in military aid from the Bush Junta (OUR tax money!). Without that prop, and their goddamned drug money, they would fall. They do NOT represent the whole country--the poor majority. They represent the rich, fascist elite and drug cartels.

Venezuela has had to absorb hundreds of thousands of refugees from Colombia--mostly fleeing government violence and oppression. Is Venezuela willing to take more refugees? Is Venezuela willing to tolerate the slaughter in the countryside that would ensue, by the Colombian military, if FARC were to stop fighting, and...what? ...turn over their rifles and surrender? To what fate? Colombian torture dungeons?

Well, I imagine Chavez has thought of some of this. He was a rebel once, and imprisoned for it. He became a hero in prison--because he had rebelled against the same kind of fascist horror that the FARC guerrillas rebelled against. I hope what he is saying is for the best, and he and others have some PLAN for peace in Colombia. Otherwise, it will be a stalemate, as I described above, in which you can only do what possible, not what is best.

[Judi Lynn]

6. As one of the courageous protesters said on April 6, at the protest demonstration

against the death squads (euphemistically termed the "paramilitaries"), the paramilitaries don't take prisoners. They simply cut them up in little pieces, instead.

That protest was targeted by Álvaro Uribe the moment they got wind that it would be held, and he thundered his anger at them publicly, then they started getting death threats, and then SIX organizers of the march were all murdered.

Also, it was well known long ago that the Colombian press self-censors for self-protection, after so many of them have also been murdered by death squads, or simply fled the country.

Uribe also attacks human rights workers, and they, as well, get death threats, and get murdered.

It seems to be the approach of the Colombian government to keep the population so terrified by constant violent, grotesque reinforcement to control them, that the majority will simply be too frightened to rebel.

The other countries are trending against this approach, even after being ruled also by US right-wing controlled puppet Presidents or juntas. Colombia has the most obvious puppet, and Peru stands a good chance of losing theirs in the next election.

It's all going to change, no matter what the fascists think they can do about it.

[AlphaCentauri]

9. is it bad because Chavez says so?

I don't see any reason to disagree for peace

[Bacchus39]

27. absolutely not, some of us have been saying that consistently

my point simply being its OK for the Chavez devotees to advocate the same position (the just position) now that Chavez has blessed the release of the FARC prisoners unconditionally.

[booley]

42. Ok but

I haven't seen anything to make me think the "Chavez devotees" had a different position before.

So I am not sure you have a point.

[justinaforjustice]

37. Peace Patriot Nails the Corporate Media on Chavez

"but there has been no further progress toward freeing more prisoners for months."

Argh, Reuters! But they don't say WHY! WHY has there been no further progress on hostage releases?

Because the U.S. and Colombia KILLED the chief FARC hostage negotiator--in their bombing raid over the Ecuadoran border in March! They blew him away, deliberately--and the 25 people with him--using U.S. high tech surveillance and U.S. "smart bombs" (and very possibly U.S. aircraft and personnel)."

The U.S. media and reporting services are owned by a handful of big corporations, thus their news is always skewed against Venezuela and President Chavez.

We need to restore freedom of the press in the U.S. by freeing the press of its concentrated corporate control. We need strong regulation concerning the ownership of media entities and the internet which will preserve independent voices.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Chavez says 'out of step' FARC should free hostages

Chavez says 'out of step' FARC should free hostages
5 hours ago

CARACAS (AFP) — Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday urged the new leader of Colombia's Marxist FARC insurgency to free all its hostages, in unusually tough words for Latin America's oldest rebel force.

"I believe that the time has come for the FARC to release all the (hostages) it has up in the mountains unconditionally. It would be a great humanitarian gesture," Chavez said on his weekly TV and radio show.

Critics often have accused the leftist Chavez of backing the FARC, which he denies.

Sunday, he bluntly said what will no doubt leave many of his opponents stunned, calling into question the FARC's existence: "This far along in Latin America, an armed guerrilla movement is out of step, and that has to be said to the FARC."

And Chavez slammed the rebels, saying their insurgency was giving the United States the excuse to make allegations of terrorism in Latin America.

"The FARC should know this: you have become an excuse, a justification for the (US) empire to threaten all of us (in Latin America); you are the perfect excuse," Chavez charged.

More:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hy9eTnWwyIsLS33OBASFwTF-R2CA

[Judi Lynn]

8. Venezuela president urges FARC to free all hostages

Venezuela president urges FARC to free all hostages
www.chinaview.cn 2008-06-09 10:00:39

·Chavez Sunday urged FARC to unilaterally free all its hostages.
·Nothing justified the presence of armed movements in Latin America, Chavez said.
·Chavez also proposed international mediation in addition to intervention from OAS.



Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez greets supporters
during a meeting with PSUV United Socialist Party
members in Maracaibo June 7, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

CARACAS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Sunday urged the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to unilaterally free all its hostages and end the decades of armed conflict in Colombia.

Nothing justified the presence of armed movements in Latin America, Chavez said at a diplomatic gathering in the northwest state of Falcon attended by Chinese and Iranian ambassadors to Venezuela.

~snip~
"It would be a great humanitarian gesture in exchange for nothing," Chavez said.

~snip~
Since September 2007, Chavez has mediated with FARC, trying to reach a deal for a hostage swap between some 40 hostages and about 500 FARC rebels jailed by Colombia.

Early this year, FARC released six hostages. Chavez said he lost contact with the rebel group following a Colombian raid on a FARC camp in Ecuadorian territory where FARC's No.2 commander RaulReyes was killed.

More:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/09/content_8329042.htm

[Peace Patriot]

10. I continue to be impressed by this China news service (xinhuanet) on South American

issues. Notice this background sentence--which is ABSENT from our corporate war profiteer press:

"Early this year, FARC released six hostages. Chavez said he lost contact with the rebel group following a Colombian raid on a FARC camp in Ecuadorian territory where FARC's No.2 commander Raul Reyes was killed." --xinhuanet

They don't go into full detail (that Raul Reyes was the chief FARC hostage negotiator, that he was deliberately targeted, using U.S. high tech surveillance, and killed in his sleep, along with 24 others, or the Ecuadoran military's identification of U.S. 'smart bombs'), but at least THEY MENTION that the HOSTAGE RELEASES were violently brought to a halt by the (U.S. funded) Colombian military.

This news service tends to include important background and context and makes an effort at even-handed, objective journalism--at least on this topic (South America).

[Zorro]

11. Chavez urges FARC to end armed struggle

Source: AP

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged Colombian rebels on Sunday to lay down their weapons, unilaterally free dozens of hostages and put an end to a decades-long armed struggle against Colombia's government.

Chavez sent the uncharacteristically strong message to the leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, saying their ongoing efforts to overthrow Colombia's democratically elected government were unjustified.

"The guerrilla war is history," said Chavez, speaking during his weekly television and radio program, "Hello President."

"At this moment in Latin America, an armed guerrilla movement is out of place."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080608/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_colombia_rebels

---

This is an interesting development.

[Unvanguard]

12. Good for him. May they comply with his recommendation. n/t

[Andrushka]

13. "This is an interesting development."

One of the most balanced things you have said about Hugo here. Well done Zorro!

[Hulk]

14. More than our Nazi leader ever did. He'd rather just nuke the whole country....

Wow....diplomacy? I can think of a dozen things Hugo Chavez has done, off the top of my head, that are positive moves affecting the pain and suffering in this world.

I can't, for the life of me, think of one this ass hat in the White House has done.

Turn it around...I can think of NOTHING Hugo Chavez has done to harm anyone anywhere.

I can think of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of things this ass hat in the White House has done to cause pain and suffering.

I certainly hope this ass hat and his puppet administration all rot in hell for their crimes against humanity.

[subsuelo]

15. Chavez is a man of peace and unity

Not surprising he is trying to end fighting amongst the people in Latin America

[ohio2007]

16. Captured FARC Gun-Runner Carried Venezuelan ID, ( CYA )

June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia yesterday captured four men, including one who may be a member of Venezuela's National Guard, who were allegedly selling guns to the region's largest rebel group, EFE reported.

Attorney General Mario Iguaran said two of the men charged with selling arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia were Colombian nationals and one of the others carried documents identifying him as a Venezuelan, EFE reported.

Colombia's foreign ministry has contacted Venezuela to verify the identity of Manuel Teobaldo Agudo Escalona, the possible guardsman, the Spanish-language news service reported.

Iguaran said the arrest of the gun-runners was tied to the same-day capture of a security chief for Jorge Briceno, known as ``Mono Jojoy,'' the FARC's top military commander, EFE reported.

The four were transported to Bogota under high security today, EFE reported.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aLI9x5eJuQXA&refer=latin_america

[Zorro]

17. That's what I'm thinking

CYA

[ohio2007]

18. Chávez Suffers Military and Policy Setbacks ( CYA )

On the same day Colombia said it had captured a Venezuelan national guard officer carrying 40,000 AK-47 assault rifle cartridges believed to be intended for leftist guerrillas, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela said Saturday he would withdraw a decree overhauling intelligence policies that he had made earlier that week.

The rare reversal by Mr. Chávez came amid intensifying criticism in Venezuela from human rights groups.

The capture of the Venezuelan officer in eastern Colombia could reignite tensions between the neighboring countries over Venezuela’s support for the rebel group FARC.


snip

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/world/americas/08venez.html

CYA before he is forced to shut down print media for running "download stories"..ect

[Zorro]

19. Wonder if the requested OAS investigation plays into this

[JohnnyCougar]

21. I doubt it. Ecuador was the one that requested the investigation.

Perhaps Chavez really does want a unified South America, and is taking steps to make that happen.

Chavez is smart. He knows that the end of the Neocons is coming, and with that means the eventual end of Colombia being a threat to stability in the region. It also means the end of the US pumping billions of dollars of guns and ammo into Colombia. I doubt Uribe wants to be a tool for US imperialism, anyways. But as long as the Neocons are in charge, that's just what Colombia will be. Neocons want to turn Colombia into the Israel of South America, and turn it into a permanent war state. That's not good for Colombia, that's not good for Venezuela, that's not good for anybody but the Neocons.

Both Colombia's and Venezuela's economies benefit from each other, and I'm sure both leaders would prefer to agree to disagree rather than go to war for the sake of the US. With Colombia a regional threat to stability, Chavez was tepidly supporting FARC because they helped serve as a buffer between Colombian territory and Venezuela's. If Colombia ever attacked Venezuela, FARC would make it harder and fight to defend Venezuela. So it was in Venezuela's national security interest not to want the FARC gone. I don't blame them for not coming out against FARC until now. But now that the rest of South America is unifying and coming together coupled with the Neocons in Washington on their way out, it makes it a lot less likely that the US will stage an attack on Venezuela through Colombia. Chavez sees this opportunity to advance peace and stability in the region, and he's going to take it.

[EFerrari]

22. You have no idea what's going on here

"Attorney General Mario Iguaran said two of the men charged with selling arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia were Colombian nationals and one of the others carried documents identifying him as a Venezuelan, EFE reported."

There is zero evidence that Chavez has been arming FARC. There is a great deal of evidence that your government is using your tax dollars to arm the rogue Colombian government. In between, a lot of people are making money in illegal arms deals.

[AlphaCentauri]

25. B* cheerleaders won't understand what's going on in latin america

their lack of knowledge about latin american history and their conviction to support the republicans foreign polices won't let them distinguish from fiction and reality. For them Chavez is bad Pinochet was good.

[ronnie624]

26. I *think* It's an accusation by inference.

You aren't supposed to contemplate beyond your gut reaction to the phrase, "including one who may be a member of Venezuela's National Guard". You're supposed to say, "Ah Ha!", and simply assume that this 'fact', which has not yet been verified, somehow implicates President Chavez.

[ohio2007]

28. You're not seeing the bigger picture

I'd like to see the link that your quote comes from. I'm sure there is no bias in that media op Ed section LOL



I don't expect many to make any connection to what's going on at the gas station
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=59279§ionid=3510213

[AlphaCentauri]

41. the bigger picture is that those countries own their oil

and we have two options, steal it or buy it.

[Bacchus39]

29. yeah, two of the four captured. one of the 4 was from the Ven national guard

try reading the entire story.

[On the Road]

23. A Lot of Insurgents Iraq

carry Iraqi police or National Guard IDs as well.

[AlphaCentauri]

24. what a great book I just found about colombia

http://books.google.com/books?id=kyl5t7_pFCMC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=colombian+posing+as+venezuelan&source=web&ots=Oc5sbk-ZGA&sig=ZQ3oCPe-H_sTb_EcBvHRVXmSrrw&hl=en

[ohio2007]

30. About the author

http://books.google.com/books?q=Robin+Kirk&as_libcat=1&sa=X&oi=libcat&ct=more-results
writes a lot of books

Makes me wonder what stories Robin Kirk could tell about Peru ;)

[AlphaCentauri]

40. I don't see any problem with his writing, he may write what others are scare to talk about

[bluesmail]

20. Did you get the message *? n/t HA!

[justinaforjustice]

31. Chavez Says ' Out of Step' FARC Should Free Hostages.

Source: The Age

June 9, 2008. VE. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday urged the new leader of Colombia's Marxist FARC insurgency to free all its hostages, in unusually tough words for Latin America's oldest rebel force. "I believe that the time has come for the FARC to release all the (hostages) it has up in the mountains unconditionally. It would be a great humanitarian gesture," Chavez said on his weekly TV and radio show...

Sunday, he bluntly said what will no doubt leave many of his opponents stunned, calling into question the FARC's existence:

"This far along in Latin America, an armed guerrilla movement is out of step, and that has to be said to the FARC."
And Chavez slammed the rebels, saying their insurgency was giving the United States the excuse to make of terrorism in Latin America.

"The FARC should know this: you have become an excuse, a justification for the (US) empire to threaten all of us (in atin America); you are the perfect excuse," Chavez charged. "The day peace is achieved in Colombia, terrorism, as the (US) says, no longer can be the US excuse," Chavez said…"


Read more: http://news.theage.com.au/world/chavez-says-out-of-step-farc-should-free-hostages-20080609-2nro.

---

The U.S. State Department has repeatedly claimed that Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, is a dictor who supports Colo mbia's FARC guerilla group who have carried on a 40 year armed struggle against Colombia's official government.

The U.S. makes these false claims despite the fact that the thrice democratically elected Chavez gracefully acceped the electoral defeat of his proposed Constitutional Reforms in December of 2007 and who has consistently maintained that his only contact with the FARC came as result of being asked by Colombia's President Uribe to negotiate the release of the FARC's many hostages. The U.S. recently collborated with Uribe's government in carrying out an attack on a FARC encampment within Ecuador's borders and fabricating documents which they claim were discovered in a computer in the camp which purport to show that Chavez has given economic support to the FARC.

Just as the reported "evidence" of Iraq's having nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction came from fraudulent sources, so with these fabricated computer files which the U.S. is now using to justify placing Venezuela on its list of "terrorist supporting countries" to justify economic sanctions against Venezuela, if not military attack.

To this end, the U.S. has revived its "Fourth Fleet" in the Caribbean, out of service since World War II, to patrol Venezuelan waters. Last month, a U.S. military plane was discovered illegaly flying over, likely for surveillance, Venezuela's Orchid Island, site of a VE military base and a residence owned by President Chavez. The U.S. has also announced plans to build a U.S. military base on the Colombia-Venezuelan border next to Venezuela's oil rich Zulia state.

The people of the U.S. must stop our government from turning Venezuela into another Iraq. Like Iraq, Venezuela has a great deal of oil.

[RethugAssKicker]

32. Somehow, we need to get the truth out to the American

people... They are constantly being fed BS by the M$M...

and most think Chavez is a communist dictator, who supports terrorist activities.

[pattmarty]

33. I believe WHEN Obama takes office our whole South American.....

.....policy will change. Hopefully we will start to work with the "new" leaders and change our awful "drug policies" that have fucked up the continent and turned the people of South America against us since Kennedy's time, when for the most part they liked us. 40+ years of fuck ups will be hard to fix though.

[Bacchus39]

36. here is a recent Obama speech in Florida regarding Latin America

fervent Chavez supporters were disappointed with it on the Latin America forum. I personally support his agenda with the exception of the war on drugs, and I have no problem with lifting the Cuba embargo.

I would like more details on the immigration issues as well but all candidates in all parties do not want address the issue for fear they will upset certain constituencies.

http://www.barackobama.com/2008/05/23/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_68.php

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

34. PING the mouth-foaming Chávez haters.

PING...
PING...
PING...
PING...
PING...

[David__77]

35. My biggest problem with Chavez is his intervention the FARC/Colombia internal war.

This is Colombia's internal affair. Chavez was merely setting himself up and creating coup pretexts with intervening in Colombia's internal war. Venezuela should make it its goal to have cooperative relations with its neighbors regardless of social system. The PSUV and other left political parties can certainly take other positions as non-state entities, however.

[justinaforjustice]

38. Chavez Officially Asked by Colombia To Mediate Hostage Release.

Last August, the Uribe government officially requested Venezuela's President Chavez to negotiate with the FARC for the humanitarian release of hostages. When he did so, and a number of hostages were on way to being released, Uribe bombed the area where they were being gathered, sending all the hostages back into the forests. Shortly thereafter, Uribe trumped up a reason to fire Chavez from the negotiating role. But, efforts were continued and Chavez was able to get six of the hostages released.

Negotiations between FARC and several South American governments was underway for the release of French-Colombian former presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, when Uribe bombed the camp of the FARC's chief negotiator, Paul Reyes, thus foreclosing Betancourt's release.

One suspects that Uribe only asked Chavez to become involved with negotiations with the FARC in order to be able to claim that Chavez was supporting the FARC. Uribe certainly didn't seem to care about the lives and wellbeing of the hostages.

Chavez's only actions vis a vis the FARC has been to urge the humanitarian release of hostages.

[Judi Lynn]

39. You're absolutely correct. Even corporate media generally acknowledged that Uribe did ask Chavez to

help "secure" the hostages. It all became crystal clear to many why he did it, too, when, as you mention, his troops started bombing the very area where the hostages were travelling, sending them running for their lives all the way back to the base, a long, long ordeal for some very tired people.

Clearly he didn't want those hostages to make it. He needs that war, it's his endless source of revenue. He has never had to work with only Colombia's budget, but has been operating with an ENORMOUS infusion of money from the U.S. taxpayers every day of his Presidency, which he intends to keep, as he extends his own length of terms indefinitely, completely unmentioned by our own corporate media, which has screamed itself hoarse shrieking about Hugo Chavez's proposed end of term limits.

Chavez responded to Uribe's own request last year. After Uribe sabotaged the hostage release, Chavez backed away until he was asked by relatives of the hostages to please help get their loved ones.

[Judi Lynn]

43. Chavez's Call for FARC Disarmament Takes Washington By Surprise

Chavez's Call for FARC Disarmament Takes Washington By Surprise
By Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet. Posted June 11, 2008.

Political chasm between Washington and Latin America continues to deepen, as Chavez rejects FARC's armed campaign.

Washington's foreign policy establishment -- and much of the U.S. media -- was taken by surprise this week when President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) should lay down their arms and unconditionally release all of their hostages. The FARC is a guerilla group that has been fighting to overthrow the Colombian government for more than four decades.

Chavez's announcement should not have come as a surprise, because he had already said the same things several months ago.

On January 13, for example, Chavez said: "I do not agree with the armed struggle, and that is one of the things that I want to talk to Marulanda (the head of the FARC who died last March) about." Chavez also stated his opposition to kidnapping, and has made numerous public appeals for the FARC to release their hostages.

Chavez had also explained previously that the armed struggle was not necessary because left movements could now come to power through elections, something that was often difficult or impossible in the past because of political repression.

The surprise in U.S. policy and media circles is a result of a misconception of Chavez's recent role in Colombia's conflict. A comparison: former President Jimmy Carter has recently called upon the United States to negotiate with Hamas -- dismissed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and its allies in Israel and Europe. Carter is not an advocate of Hamas nor of armed struggle. He has met with Hamas and called for negotiations because he is trying to promote a peace settlement.

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