MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia: no more international humanitarian missions

Colombia will allow no more international missions seeking the release of hostages held by leftist cocaine funded rebels after a Venezuela-led plan dissolved in a flurry of accusations last week, the government announced Monday in Bogota. However FARC said the handover operation is still on and Argentina expressed “dismay” at the Colombian government's attitude.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, promised in December to turn three of its captives over to Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez. The mission to pick up the captives brought foreign envoys from several countries including former Argentine leader Néstor Kirchner to Colombia and cinema director Oliver Stone but it crumbled on New Year's Eve with Chávez and the FARC accusing the government of ordering disruptive army operations in the area where the handover was to take place. It turned out that one of the hostages, a young 3 year old child named Emanuel who was born in captivity to a kidnapped mother and a rebel father, had been quietly freed in 2005 and was living in a Bogotá foster home. The revelation damaged the FARC credibility. "The mission that the government of Venezuela organized left a bad taste," Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo told reporters, saying Colombia did everything possible to guarantee the success of the handover. "They came to criticize the government and perhaps spread FARC propaganda," he said. "It was not a good experience. That's why these missions must not be repeated". Araujo also criticized the Venezuelan government saying "they are looking towards the other side", and added that "Venezuela should ask FARC, who lied to them, why did they offer the handover of hostages and did not honor their word". Chávez has fallen out with conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe over the hostages but says he still wants to help release Clara Rojas, who is Emanuel's mother, and Consuelo González, a lawmaker captured in 2001. Chávez said on Sunday he was waiting for guerrilla leaders to communicate with him. The FARC, which took up arms four decades ago, is expected to insist that Chávez continue acting as mediator. Uribe, whose father was killed in a botched FARC kidnapping in the 1980s, refuses rebel demands that he pull troops from a large southwestern rural area to allow the FARC to enter and swap dozens of high-profile hostages for jailed guerrillas. The stalemate leaves some high-profile captives, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three US anti-drug contractors, in limbo. The FARC, estimated to have 17,000 fighters, funds its war through extortion and cocaine trafficking. It holds a total of about 750 hostages for ransom and political leverage. From Buenos Aires the Argentine Foreign Affairs ministry said it was "surprised and dismayed" with minister Araujo statements that "Colombia will tolerate more humanitarian commissions" that sponsor FARC. Araujo also touched a delicate point when he regretted that so many people were cheated by FARC and said the international delegations were made up of people who "ignore the Colombian situation and the FARC" and have been taken to "criticize the government and praise the guerrilla". Besides former president Kirchner, Argentina was also represented by Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana. "With all respect, Mr. Araujo's words contradict the attitude of President Uribe who personally thanked all members of the humanitarian commission for having gone to Colombia and for their efforts in favor of the hostages held by FARC", said undisclosed sources from the Argentine Foreign Affairs ministry. Furthermore, "Argentina's involvement in the commission was under indications of President Uribe and the Colombian Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, and as far as we know Mr. Araujo played no part in the handover operation", insisted the Argentine sources. However in an interview somewhere in the Colombian jungle, FARC number two Raul Reyes said that "FARC does not back step on its word, does not change of opinion, lie or manipulate", and insisted that the two women hostages, "under their responsibility" will be handed over. Regarding the liberation of another 45 high profile hostages including Ingrid Betancourt for whom the French government has interceded, Reyes said FARC demands the Army large rural areas which the government refuses to accept given previous non corresponded attitudes from the guerrilla movement. Reyes also stressed that the promised handover of the two women is not currently possible until the Colombian Army ceases all operations in the region.