By Prensa Latina
Paris : The sister of Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen in the hands of guerrillas since 2002, reiterated on Wednesday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s participation as mediator of her sibling’s release is essential.
Astrid Betancourt said on Tuesday in Geneva and repeated the words on Wednesday in Paris that Chavez is the only person capable of making possible a humanitarian exchange of detainees, between FARC rebels and the Colombian government.
“Chavez knows how to talk to the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC); he knows how to make progress and is the unavoidable choice for me,” she told journalists.
Astrid and the solidarity Committees with Ingrid Betancourt in France emphasized that the detainees’ families completely oppose the Colombian army enclosure of the areas where prisoners are supposed to be.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has never wanted to negotiate with the FARC because of political, economic and emotional reasons, asserted Ingrid’s sister.
The French government asked Colombia to avoid any action that could put detainees’ life in danger.