Skip to main content

Colombia ready to free rebels if hostages are released

  • Story Highlights
  • Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped in 2002 after venturing into rebel territory
  • Hostages freed recently by the FARC said that Betancourt is in poor health
  • The rebels have freed six hostages in the last three months
  • Next Article in World »
Decrease font Decrease font
Enlarge font Enlarge font

(CNN) -- The Colombian government says it will free jailed guerillas if the rebels free hostages such as Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen whose captivity has attracted worldwide attention.

art.chavez.jpg

Six hostages were freed in three months in deals brokered by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

The offer of humanitarian exchanges comes amid reports that Betancourt is in failing health.

The government's high commissioner for peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo, told reporters Thursday night that President Alvaro Uribe had signed a decree authorizing the early release of guerillas if their rebel army first frees some hostages.

"It is enough, simply, that Dr. Ingrid Betancourt be released immediately for us to consider that a humanitarian agreement has been reached and ... to be able to deliver the benefits of a suspended sentence to members of the guerilla group," Restrepo said.

Betancourt is a former candidate for the Colombia presidency who was kidnapped on Feb. 23, 2002 after venturing into rebel territory. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is among many who have urged the FARC to free Betancourt.

A few hostages who were freed recently by the FARC said that Betancourt is in poor health, and Restrepo alluded to that in his statement on Thursday night.

"The government has joined the national and international clamor so that the life of Dr. Ingrid Betancourt will be saved," he said. "We cannot run any risks in this case, and there is no more time to wait."

The Colombian government is prepared to suspend the sentences of imprisoned FARC fighters if the rebel force frees Betancourt or other high-profile hostages, such as three U.S. defense contractors who who fell into rebel hands after their plane went down during a drug-eradication flight in 2003, Restrepo said in a statement.

Established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, FARC is Colombia's oldest, largest, most capable and best-equipped Marxist rebel group, according to the U.S. Department of State. The United States, the European Union and Colombia classify FARC as a terrorist group.

The FARC holds roughly 750 hostages in the jungles of Colombia, including several dozen prominent hostages that it has offered to exchange for jailed rebel fighters. The rebels have justified hostage-taking as a legitimate military tactic in a long-running and complex civil war that also has involved right-wing paramilitaries, government forces and drug traffickers.

The rebels have freed six hostages in the last three months -- two in January and four in February -- in deals brokered by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

Tension flared between Colombia and Venezuela this month after a Colombian military raid killed about two dozen FARC rebels in Ecuadoran territory. Ecuador and Venezuela condemned the action as a violation of Ecuador's sovereignty and moved troops toward their borders with Colombia before reaching an agreement meant to defuse the crisis.

The raid killed the FARC's second-in-command, and Colombia called it the most significant blow to the FARC in more than 40 years of warfare.

The rebels suffered another major setback days later, when a rebel shot and killed another senior FARC commander, deserted the rebel army and met with Colombian authorities. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

All About Ingrid BetancourtFARC

  • E-mail
  • Save
  • Print