Colombia's Uribe eases on hostage talks with rebels
Source: Reuters
By Patrick Markey BOGOTA, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Thursday softened his stance on talks with Marxist rebels over the release of hostages held by the guerrillas, including three U.S. contract workers taken three years ago. Hopes for negotiations between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC had ended in October when Uribe broke off efforts to broker a hostage release following a string of rebel attacks. Uribe has agreed to allow France, Switzerland and Spain to resume efforts to help negotiate an exchange of jailed FARC fighters for kidnap victims as an initial step to ending Colombia's four-decade conflict. "I have given authorization for the international commission comprised of France, Switzerland and Spain to establish new contacts with the FARC," said Colombia's peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo told local radio. "We are open to having direct contact," he said. Uribe, who has received millions in U.S. aid to fight the FARC and the cocaine trade, was re-elected in May after he reduced violence by sending troops to retake parts of the country controlled by rebels or illegal right-wing militias. The FARC, established in the 1960s, has been pushed back in the jungle by the security drive. But hundreds of troops and police are still killed in attacks and thousands of civilians are driven from their homes by fighting each year. The guerrillas want to exchange 62 key hostages, including former presidential candidate and dual French-Colombian national Ingrid Betancourt, scores of lawmakers and the three U.S. citizens who were captured in 2003 when their aircraft was shot down on a drug eradication mission. "Thank God today we now have a chance once again to see our loved ones," said Faisuri Perdomo, relative of a local state lawmaker kidnapped nearly four years ago. The shift comes as Uribe comes under fire from opponents over a scandal linking some of his congressional allies to illegal paramilitary groups. More than 30,000 paramilitary fighters who once fought the FARC have surrendered their weapons in exchange for short jail terms and confessing to their crimes. The government brands the program one of its successes that have cut violence. Three pro-Uribe lawmakers have been arrested and six more are now under investigation for ties with paramilitary bosses charged with drug-trafficking, massacres and kidnapping. The Attorney General's office on Thursday also said it had opened a probe into the country's deputy public advocate for possible links to the militia warlords.
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