European nations press rebels on hostages

Bogota, June 6: France, Spain and Switzerland today pressed leftist rebels to respond to Colombia's release of a top guerrilla to try to broker a deal over rebel hostages, including a French-Colombian politician and three Americans.

The three European countries have been engaged in efforts to break a deadlock between President Alvaro Uribe and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, which as Latin America's oldest left-wing insurgency has held politicians, police and soldiers hostage for as long as eight years.

Uribe late yesterday released Rodrigo Granda, known as the FARC's foreign minister, to act as a facilitator under a plan to free around 180 jailed rebels in a gesture the government and families hope will prompt the FARC to release hostages.

''Colombian authorities have shown their willingness to advance toward a humanitarian exchange,'' the countries said in a statement.

''The three countries urge the FARC to respond to this initiative in a constructive way.'' Uribe is popular for his U S-backed campaign to reduce violence from the conflict by driving back the FARC and disarming illegal paramilitaries that once fought the guerrillas in a dirty war fueled by the country's huge cocaine trade.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had asked Uribe to release Granda to facilitate talks on freeing French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, captured while campaigning for the presidency in 2002.

Rebels also hold three U S Defense Department contract workers kidnapped in 2003.

The initiative to release Granda and other rebels proceeded even after the FARC rejected the plan and reiterated a demand that Uribe remove troops from a rural area around the southern towns of Florida and Pradera as a precondition to any talks on exchanging kidnap victims for jailed rebels.

Just as Uribe was announcing his initiative in Bogota on Monday, FARC guerrillas kidnapped the police commander of Florida, Capt Guillermo Javier Solorzano, in a false military checkpoint. He had been off duty at a farm when he was snatched with two other men, police said.

The first batch of around 50 guerrillas was transferred from a prison today to an empty recreational center where they will start government programs to adjust to civilian life. But opposition leaders and Granda's own lawyer have questioned how effective his release will be in securing a hostage deal.

Reuters>