MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chavez calls FARC to release civilians and stop kidnapping

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez confirmed he was working for the release of a third group of hostages held by the Colombian guerrilla group FARC, including Ingrid Betancourt and urged the rebels to free all civilian hostages.

Addressing the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Chavez said: "Marulanda you're not seeing what's going on in Latinamerica". He added that holding people who have nothing to do with the FARC fight against the Colombian government "doesn't make sense". "If I were a guerrilla, I wouldn't have the need to hold a woman, a man who aren't soldiers," Chavez said in a televised speech Saturday night. "Free the civilians who don't have anything to do with the war. I don't agree with that. I don't agree with kidnapping". Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen, was campaigning for Colombia's presidency when she was kidnapped more than six years ago. The French government sent a humanitarian mission to Colombia last week, to give medical aid and lobby for her release â€" only to be turned away by the guerrillas. Chavez made the announcement of negotiations for the release of civilian hostages during the opening in Caracas of the conference "Intellectuals for peace and sovereignty in Latinamerica" which was aired on national television. "We continue involved with the humanitarian exchange so we can obtain the release of those held by FARC, and at the same time working for peace in Colombia". Chavez who was instrumental in securing the release of six rebel-held hostages earlier this year, said he can understand that guerrillas would capture soldiers or police officers, as prisoners of war in the decades-long conflict. "But that isn't the case of Ingrid Betancourt or the rest of the kidnapped civilians," he said. Betancourt's mother, Yolanda Pulecio, thanked Chavez for his efforts in calling for her daughter's release. "I'm worried about her health and about the military operations that are continuing uninterrupted," she said. Chavez admitted that he has had no way of reaching FARC after Colombia's cross-border attack on a rebel camp in Ecuador last month, which killed top FARC spokesman Raul Reyes. But he assured Pulecio: "we're going to keep getting involved; we need to open new channels, new paths; we Venezuelans are committed to the release of hostages". "Situations force us to change of tactics and I prefer not to talk publicly about the issue", said Chavez when asked about details of the new negotiations