MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fidel condemns Colombian guerrilla over kidnappings

“Those were objectively cruel actions,”

Veteran Cuban leader Fidel Castro celebrated the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt and fourteen other hostages and criticized the Colombian FARC guerrillas because he said kidnapping is under no way justifiable.

Castro said at the end of a historical article in the Cuban official newspaper Granma he was "gladdened" by news of Betancourt's release according to reports in the Miami Herald but also underlined that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia should not have taken civilian hostages or kept soldiers prisoner for years in jungle camps. "Those were objectively cruel actions," Castro said. "No revolutionary purpose could justify them. In due course, it will be necessary to analyze the subjective factors in depth. In Cuba, we won our revolutionary war by granting immediate and unconditional freedom to our prisoners." Castro who took power by force in 1959 and has since ruled with an iron hand said that "we handed over to the International Red Cross all soldiers and officers captured in each battle only keeping their weapons. No solider will lay his arms down if he expects death or ill treatment". Castro recalled that Cuba acted as an "international guarantor" for the release last January of hostages held by FARC, Clara Rojas who was kidnapped with Ms Betancourt in 2002 and the former Colombian Congress member Consuelo González. "A chapter of peace was opening for Colombia, a process which Cuba has been supporting for over 20 years as the most convenient for the unity and liberation of the peoples of Latinamerica", added the Cuban leader in his article. However he also cautioned that the "empire is doing its outmost to exploit what happened in Colombia to shadow and justify horrendous genocides against other peoples of the world" and at the same time "deviate international concern from its interventionist plans in Venezuela and Bolivia". In related news Ingrid Betancourt, who also holds French citizenship arrived in Paris to a presidential welcome Friday, two days after being rescued from rebels in the Colombian jungle. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, along with his wife Carla Bruni, greeted Betancourt and her family on the tarmac. "It's a very, very moving moment for me: breathing the air of France, being with you," Betancourt told supporters and reporters gathered on the tarmac. "France is my home and you are my family." Sarkozy had made Betancourt's release a major priority for his government. "All those who suffer, like you, throughout the world should know that... there is a light at the end of the tunnel," he said in greeting her. "You are free, radiant, with your life ahead of you and surrounded by your family." This weekend, Betancourt is expected to undergo medical exams at Val-de-Grace military hospital in Paris. The chief doctor in Sarkozy's office, Christophe Fernandez, has already given her a preliminary medical exam. Betancourt, who may suffer from a form of Hepatitis, says she suffered from various illnesses while held captive in the Colombian jungle. Next week Ms Betancourt is scheduled to meet the Pope in the Vatican.