Chavez says could meet Colombia rebels in Venezuela

CARACAS, Aug 17 (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he was willing to host talks with Colombian guerrillas on Venezuelan soil as part of humanitarian efforts to secure the release of hostages.

Conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's talks with leftist rebels to release hostages that have been held for years as part of 40-year civil war remain stalled.

Following a meeting yesterday with a politically sympathetic Colombian senator working to mediate with the guerrillas, Chavez said Venezuela could receive emissaries of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

''If the government of Colombia thought it were helpful, if the FARC thought it were helpful (to have) a meeting in Venezuelan territory we would be open and willing to cooperate,'' Chavez told reporters following his meeting with Senator Piedad Cordoba.

Chavez said in early August he wanted ''to speak politically'' with FARC commanders to help assure the release of hostages. Colombian and US officials have accused the leftist Chavez, a self-described socialist revolutionary, of supporting the FARC. Chavez and Venezuelan authorities deny the charges.

Venezuela has recognized that FARC forces are able to move across the sparsely populated and poorly patrolled border between the two nations, but point out that no credible evidence has been offered linking Chavez to the guerrillas.

Violence in Colombia has lessened as Uribe sent the armed forces to take over areas once held by armed groups.

But the hostage plight has sharpened in recent weeks after Colombian authorities blamed guerrillas for the deaths of two kidnapped soldiers and 11 local lawmakers they kidnapped five years ago.

Reuters SZ VP0750