Venezuelan president meets former political hostage of Colombian rebels
9/12/2008 16:45
President Hugo Chavez met yesterday with Ingrid Betancourt, a former
Colombian politician held hostage by Colombia's FARC guerrillas for six years
before being released in July.
Betancourt thanked Chavez for his contribution
to her release, local media reported.
The Venezuelan president started a
mediation process with FARC that allowed the release of many hostages held by
the guerrillas, she said.
"If that process did not begin, I think the
Operation Jaque (the one that liberated her) would have not been possible,"
Betancourt said.
Betancourt told the press that she is sure the other
hostages kept by FARC will be released soon.
Betancourt, a former Colombian
senator who was kidnapped in February 2002 and held for six years, was released
along with 14 other hostages in an operation of the Colombian Army. She has
since been gathering support from world leaders to release the remaining FARC
hostages.
FARC is still holding 28 hostages as political prisoners with the
aim of exchanging them for its members held in Colombian and US jails, local
media reports said.
Xinhua
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