Chavez to visit Colombia to push for hostage swap

BOGOTA, Aug 18 (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit Colombia this month to try to jump-start talks aimed at freeing hostages held for years in Colombian jungles by leftist rebels, officials said today.

Colombia is at a stalemate over starting hostage swap talks with the 4-decade-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which is holding dozens of high-profile hostages like French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

Firebrand leftist Chavez will meet with his conservative Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe on August 31, said Colombian opposition Sen Piedad Cordoba, who has close ties to Chavez and helped arrange the meeting.

''The goal is to advance talks toward a hostage exchange,'' Cordoba told Reuters. ''The exact agenda for the meeting will be defined in the days to come.'' Betancourt was captured by the rebels during her 2002 presidential campaign. The FARC is also holding other politicians, army and police officers, as well as three American defense contractors taken during a 2003 anti-drug mission.

Uribe rejected the FARC's demand that he pull state security forces out of a New York City-sized rural area to provide a safe haven for talks aimed at exchanging FARC hostages for guerrillas held in government jails.

Colombian and US officials have accused Chavez, a self-described socialist revolutionary eager to spread his influence through the region, of supporting the FARC in neighboring Colombia. He denies the charges.

''If Chavez can help get a hostage deal, it will reflect well on leftist politicians like Senator Cordoba ahead of October provincial elections,'' Bogota-based political commentator Ricardo Avila said.

''Uribe has to accept the meeting with Chavez even though it would be a slap in the face if Chavez can succeed where he has failed.'' Calls for a hostage swap have grown since the June deaths of 11 provincial lawmakers who were held for more than five years. Uribe says the FARC murdered the hostages, while the rebels say the 11 were cut down in cross-fire during a rescue attempt by an unidentified military force.

Reuters SZ VP0340