By IANS
Bogota : The Colombian government has announced its acceptance of a plan by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for the release of three hostages being held by Colombia’s leftist rebels, Spain’s EFE news agency reported Thursday.
The hostages would be handed over to a multinational delegation that will travel to Colombia aboard a Venezuelan aircraft.
The Revolutionary Armed forces of Columbia (FARC) said last week it would release three hostages – Clara Rojas, the campaign manager of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who is also being held hostage, Rojas’ three-year-old son Emmanuel and former lawmaker Consuelo Gonzales, held since 2001.
Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo said Wednesday the Colombian government approved the proposal after consultations with President Alvaro Uribe.
He said Uribe’s peace commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo, would join representatives of the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and France in witnessing the process.
Chavez named former interior minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin to represent him on the mission, and said that France, Cuba, Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia would also send their representatives.
“The only thing we need is the authorization of the government of Colombia for the humanitarian operation to get under way,” he said.
Chavez said the mission would be carried out by Venezuelan helicopters and light aircraft bearing Red Cross markings.
He said the plan called for the Red Cross-flagged air caravan to travel to the central Colombian city of Villavicencio, where the planes would remain while the helicopters flew to locations still to be designated by the FARC.
The three hostages are among the 45 high-value captives the FARC has been trying to trade for hundreds of jailed insurgents.
The FARC said the decision to free the trio was a gesture to their families and to Chavez and Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba. Their efforts to broker a prisoner exchange were abruptly ended last month by Uribe, who said Chavez had violated the terms of mediation by speaking directly to the Colombian Army.
Chavez said Wednesday he was confident he could secure an agreement for the release of all the hostages if Uribe would grant him permission to travel to Colombia for talks with the FARC chief.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident the Colombian police have rescued a nine-year-old boy who was abducted along with his father by FARC guerrillas from Ataco town in central Colombian province of Tolima last May, the official said.
“The boy was found in the Neiva neighbourhood of Huila province. One of his kidnappers was also captured. The kidnappers had been demanding a ransom of $50,000,” a police official Orlando Paez, told reporters.
The FARC is Colombia’s oldest and largest leftist guerrilla group with an estimated 20,000 fighters. The FARC is on both the US and EU lists of terrorist groups.