MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

French hostage mission to leave Colombia

The French mission has been grounded outside Bogota since Thursday

France called off a humanitarian mission Tuesday to treat and possibly free ailing hostage Ingrid Betancourt after Colombian rebels said they wouldn't unilaterally release any more captives.

France's Foreign Ministry said late Tuesday that there was no longer any reason to keep the mission by France, Spain and Switzerland in Colombia. A French government plane has been waiting on a Bogota airstrip for days with doctors hoping to reach Betancourt, who was said to be depressed and suffering from hepatitis B. In a four-paragraph statement released Tuesday, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia repeated what they have insisted on since 2005: that the government demilitarize two counties as the first step toward a broad hostage-prisoner swap. Only as part of such an exchange, they said, would Betancourt go free. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said he is "deeply disappointed" he was unable to save Betancourt, who holds French and Colombian nationality. "He wants to assure our compatriot's family â€" as well as those of all the hostages â€" that his determination to win their liberation remains as strong as ever," Sarkozy's office said. Sarkozy's statement reflected the hopes that many had attached to the ill-fated mission â€" that a humanitarian release of Betancourt would prompt Colombia's hardline President Alvaro Uribe to make similar gestures with imprisoned rebels, providing momentum for peace talks that could bring an end to the decades-long conflict. But the mission went nowhere, mired in mutual distrust, rhetoric and the recent killings of rebels who played key roles in negotiating other hostage releases. The rebels said the next move is Uribe's to make. But Uribe, whose own father was killed by the rebels, has consistently rejected rebel demands to pull soldiers out of the zones in southwestern Colombia, recalling how the FARC used a demilitarized zone ceded by his predecessor to create mayhem during failed peace talks. Maria Victoria Llorente, director of Ideas for Peace Foundation, said it is "very unlikely" Uribe will grant the demilitarized zones. "Uribe has based his presidency on his security policies and rejecting the old DMZ," the head of the Bogota think tank said, adding that she doubts a hostage-prisoner exchange is possible while Uribe is president. If no one gives in, Betancourt and dozens of other hostages likely will languish in jungle camps for a long time to come. The rebel statement â€" written the day after the French-led medical team landed in Bogota â€" said that if Uribe had agreed to the 45-day demilitarized zone, then "Ingrid Betancourt and soldiers and the jailed guerrillas would now have regained their freedom and it would be a victory for everyone." The rebels, who have kept up their fight against elected Colombian governments for 44 years, were unmoved by media frenzy over the effort launched by France, Spain and Switzerland. Nothing had been coordinated before the jet landed, and absent concessions by Uribe, no more hostages will be released, the FARC's ruling secretariat said. "Rebels imprisoned in the jails of Colombia and the United States are our priority," said the rebel statement, posted on a sympathetic Web site. "We don't respond to blackmail nor media campaigns." Colombia's government was silent Tuesday. But Astrid Betancourt, the hostage's sister, saw a ray of hope in the FARC's position. "The FARC believes there's no reason for the humanitarian mission, but is leaving the door open to negotiations," she told The Associated Press in Paris by phone. Concerns for Betancourt's welfare have run high since released hostages who spent time with her said she is suffering from depression and hepatitis B. The daughter of a well-to-do political family, the 46-year old Betancourt apparently also has been confrontational with her Marxist captors. A document the Colombian government says was recovered from a dead rebel commander's laptop in March describes Betancourt as having a "volcanic temper, is rude and provokes the guerrillas who are in charge of keeping her." The document, one of many being studied by Interpol to ascertain their authenticity, was allegedly written on Feb. 28, 2008 by Raul Reyes, the FARC's spokesman who was involved in previous hostage releases. He was killed on March 1 in a Colombian military strike across the border in Ecuador. The rebel high command said Reyes' death marked a huge setback for reconciliation in this bloodied country. "We profoundly regret that while we were making palpable progress for a prisoner exchange, President Uribe planned and executed the cunning murder of comandante Raul Reyes, mortally wounding the hope for a humanitarian exchange and peace." Uribe did agree to suspend military operations for the humanitarian mission to reach Betancourt. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has assisted in hostage releases before, said he was ready to help if Colombia and the U.S. would guarantee they would not pursue the rebels. The Colombian government ceded a huge swath of territory to the rebels for peace talks that collapsed in 2002 after the FARC hijacked an airliner and kidnapped a senator on board. The rebels used the territory to stash hostages, launch attacks and oversee cocaine production. (AP)