By DPA
Bogota : Colombia has put a stop to efforts by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to negotiate a prisoner swap with leftist Colombian guerrillas.
Conservative President Alvaro Uribe withdrew Chavez’s authority as a mediator after Chavez spoke on telephone Wednesday with the head of the Colombian military, General Mario Montoyas, which broke an agreement on the negotiations, the presidential palace said in a statement.
The decision came 10 days after Uribe asked Chavez at the Iberian American Summit in Santiago not to have direct talks with high-ranking Colombian military officers.
The palace statement dashed the hopes of relatives of about 50 kidnapped politicians, police officers and soldiers, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, for a prisoner exchange with Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Chavez has had no concrete results to show from his mediation, which began in September. During a visit to France Tuesday, he said the FARC would provide proof that the French-Colombian Betancourt was still alive after nearly six years of captivity.
Uribe also withdrew the mediation authority of Colombian opposition Senator Piedad Cordoba, who had also called General Montoyas.