COLOMBIA: GOVERNMENT CALLS OFF NEGOTIATIONS WITH FARC AFTER BOMBING IN BOGOTA.
| Cargo | Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia |
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe broke off hostage-exchange negotiations with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) after a bombing injured 23 people in Bogota. Uribe had previously expressed an openness to negotiations, an unprecedented stance during his time as president, but the Oct. 19 bombing reversed his willingness to enter into talks. Opposition figures questioned Uribe's claims that the FARC was responsible and conjectured that the timing of the attack might have had something to do with the visit of high-level officials from the US and the renewal of funding for the US's Plan Colombia military-aid program.
Prisoner swap talks over before they begin
At the end of September, Uribe had been preparing to remove troops from a southwestern portion of Colombia about the size of New York City to begin "humanitarian-exchange" talks. The municipalities of Florida and Pradera were designated as "meeting zones" for talks that would have covered the release of captives the FARC has held for years in exchange for the release of hundreds of imprisoned rebels. The guerrilla force holds many prominent Colombians including 59 politicians, soldiers, and police, along with former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three US contractors.
The rebels kidnapped French-Colombian citizen Betancourt during her 2002 presidential campaign and US military contractors Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell during a 2003 mission to locate crops used to make cocaine.
Uribe had vehemently rejected any possibility of an exchange and peace negotiations in the first four years of his presidency, despite calls from family members of those being held, European nations, and human rights groups that he do so.
Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said that the Uribe government would not repeat the mistakes of the 1999 failed negotiations with the FARC when President Andres Pastrana (1998-2002) set up the region of San Vicente del Caguan as the scene for talks (see NotiSur, 1999-10-29 and 2002-03-01). The defense minister explained the change in Uribe's position on negotiations as the result of a new "demonstration to the country and to the guerrillas of the willingness to seek a humanitarian agreement." The government ordered troops to pull out of an 850-sq km area around Florida and Pradera in advance of negotiations.
Official FARC spokesperson Raul Reyes said that an exchange was near on Oct. 1. "We are ready," he said in a press interview.
A French group calling for Betancourt's release said they were optimistic that she would be freed. Herve Marro, a spokesperson for the Ingrid Betancourt Support Committee, said, "For the first time in four and a half years, the FARC and Uribe seem to be on the same wavelength."
But Uribe was angered by...
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