Uribe again scuttles humanitarian exchange

President Álvaro Uribe Vélez of Colombia, in collusion with the U.S. administration, has once again sabotaged the hopes of many to be reunited with their loved ones.

In November Uribe had unilaterally and abruptly ended a process of negotiation with the Revolutionary Armed Forces-Popular Army (FARC-EP) of Colombia being facilitated by Colombian Sen. Piedad Córdoba and President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. Its goal had been the liberation of 45 people retained by the insurgent group. It was hoped that this might then lead to a general humanitarian exchange, including some of the hundreds of guerrillas held by the government.

After Uribe’s move, the FARC, in a humanitarian gesture and to “compensate the work” of both facilitators, in December offered to liberate three of the retained people anyway, without further negotiation. But due to increased bombings by the Colombian Armed Forces in the area of the jungle where the FARC and the retained people were believed to be, the liberation had to be postponed to ensure the safety of all involved.

This saga has a long chronology.

In August, Sen. Córdoba had asked President Chávez to help her mediate the humanitarian exchange of people retained by the FARC for 500 guerrilla members in Colombian prisons. Chávez accepted and eventually Uribe nominated Córdoba as the official Colombian mediator, to be assisted by Chávez.

Uribe also approved a meeting between Córdoba and the FARC.

Relatives of the retained wrote to and eventually met with Chávez. They stated appreciation for the intervention of the Venezuelan president and said that “for the first time a serious attempt” was being made to liberate their loved ones. Chávez sent a message to FARC leader Manuel Marulanda asking him to help in the process.

In September, Córdoba met in the jungle with FARC spokesperson Raúl Reyes to advance the negotiations. The FARC welcomed this as a move to liberate the retained people and the guerrillas in prisons and also to begin a process that could lead to peace in Colombia.

Relatives of three U.S. military contractors held by the FARC, who would be part of the exchange, also met with President Chávez in Caracas and thanked him for the humanitarian action.

Latin American and European countries showed support for the exchange. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Uribe then requested Proofs of Life (PoL) from the FARC to demonstrate that the retained were still alive. Sarkozy is interested in the case because one of the retained is Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate in Colombia who also has French citizenship.

Marulanda let Chávez know that he ordered the PoL. Chávez also met with FARC representatives in Caracas. He was hoping to take the PoL with him and Córdoba on Nov. 20, when they planned to visit Sarkozy in France.

Chávez expressed confidence that the PoL would be received but indicated that it might take some time, since the situation in the jungle is very dangerous. It is a war zone where the Colombian Army and U.S. military contractors and “advisers” regularly operate and bomb.

On Nov. 21, Uribe abruptly ended the mediation role of Sen. Córdoba and President Chávez. This happened after U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield stated, “We are two months and 22 days into this process and we still have no proof of life.”

Uribe argued that the negotiations were a risk to Colombia’s so-called democratic security. “Democratic Security” is basically a repressive policy tailored after the U.S. Patriot Act. Uribe harshly criticized Chávez, accusing him of having “expansionist” plans for Latin America. Venezuela recalled its ambassador to Colombia and relations between both countries went into a freeze.

Several days later, the Colombian Supreme Court opened an investigation of Sen. Córdoba for attempting “to break the law and treason to the Homeland.” She later made public that she knew of plans of Colombian government allies to assassinate her.

Families of the retained expressed anger towards Uribe and asked Chávez and Córdoba to continue the efforts to liberate their relatives.

At the end of November, the Colombian Army arrested three people in Bogotá who were carrying five videos and several letters from the prisoners to their relatives. Córdoba angrily stated that these were the PoL she and Chávez had been waiting for, and that the three people had been unjustly imprisoned. The government announced it had “decommissioned” the PoL. Córdoba accused the Colombian government of interfering and promised to get lawyers to defend the three, stating she would not leave them unaided.

In a September letter to Chávez, Marulanda of the FARC had said that Uribe did not really want peace. Chávez read from the letter in December, quoting Marulanda as saying that “while the government of Colombia refuses to clear an area for the purpose of meeting and attaining an agreement that allows the release of the prisoners, to analyze the basis for later encounters ... to attain peace, he facilitates sufficient comfort to the 2,500 or 3,000 North American military advisers.”

On Dec. 8, a message from the FARC announced it would liberate three people, but only to Chávez or a person he would designate, as a gesture of “desagravio”—compensation for the good work of Córdoba and Chávez. The people were Clara Rojas, assistant to Ingrid Betancourt; her 3-year-old son Emmanuel, who was conceived out of a love relationship with a guerrilla member during captivity, and former congresswoman Consuelo Perdomo.

From then on the mechanism for the liberation began to be worked out. Communication with the FARC established the complex mechanism that would guarantee the safety of all involved, including the prisoners and the guerrilla members who were to deliver them to safety.

Chávez wanted the collaboration of the Colombian government. He called the operation “Transparency” and requested the presence of other countries. Seven countries sent representatives: Brazil, Ecuador, Cuba, Argentina, Bolivia, France and Switzerland.

U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone was part of the international delegation, which was led by former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner. They all met in Caracas and then flew in specially marked helicopters to Villavicencio, a town in Colombia close to Bogotá. As soon as the FARC gave the OK, they would go from there to pick up the retained.

Uribe promised to help, yet every step of the way he obstructed the process, setting a deadline of Dec. 31 for the operation. Chávez, on the contrary, would not set a deadline, stating that the operation might last more days because he had heard there was heavy bombing where the FARC and the retained were located.

On Dec. 31, Chávez received a message from the FARC stating that the operation had to be postponed. The bombing had intensified after the Colombian government intercepted the PoL, making it impossible to guarantee everyone’s safety. As soon as conditions would permit it, the operation would resume, said the FARC, so that “they will be home with their relatives.”

That morning, Uribe unexpectedly went to Villavicencio. News accounts said Bush had called him that morning to ask about the exchange and the Free Trade Agreement. In early afternoon, after meeting with all the international delegates and trying to dissuade them from going through with the operation, saying they “would not be safe” with the guerrillas, Uribe held a lengthy press conference, again and again accusing the FARC of being terrorists and liars.

He presented, as a hypothesis, that the FARC were not going to liberate the prisoners because they did not have Emmanuel; that the boy was in fact in the hands of the Abused Children Department in Bogotá. Uribe had his “peace commissioner,” Luis Carlos Restrepo, who represented the Colombian government in the operation, read in detail to the press the record of abuse of a little boy Uribe alleged was Emmanuel. Uribe added that he would request a DNA sample from Clara Rojas’s relatives in order to “prove” his hypothesis.

At of Jan. 2, five DNA “experts,” all from Colombia and requested by Uribe, were in Caracas to get a DNA sample from Rojas’s relatives. What credibility will these tests results have? Probably the same as Bush’s “weapons of mass destruction.”

The international delegates accused Uribe of interfering with the operation. Chávez said that “Uribe dynamited the third phase of this operation.” Oliver Stone accused Uribe of sabotaging the exchange, telling the AP: “Shame on Colombia, shame on Uribe.” All the delegates immediately left for home, saying they were willing to return as soon as requested to continue with the operation.

An article in Argentina’s El Clarín, written by Paula Lugones, the paper’s special envoy to Villavicencio, wrote that the Colombian government “wanted to break the cohesion of the [Argentine] delegation. They even housed them in different places.” She also denounced what she said were “spy operations, where a phantom plane constantly flew over Kirchner’s room and there were microphones everywhere.”

In spite of these developments, Chávez has promised to continue the operation, even if it has to be performed clandestinely.