Failed rocket attack adds tension to Chavez's hostage recovery mission in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Herald Tribune/Associated Press

Failed rocket attack adds tension to Chavez's hostage recovery mission in Colombia

The Associated Press
Sunday, December 30, 2007

VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia: A Venezuelan-led mission to retrieve three rebel-held hostages was stalled amid conflict and tension on Sunday after a rocket narrowly missed an air force cargo plane as it landed in southern Colombia.

Air Force chief Gen. Jorge Ballesteros said about 50 soldiers were aboard the Hercules transport plane when unknown assailants fired on it from a nearby soccer stadium in the city of Neiva, in a region long besieged by leftist rebels who dominate its coca-growing countryside.

The rocket landed about 50 meters (150 feet) away from the plane and did not cause any injuries or damage, Ballesteros said. Authorities were investigating the incident.

The latest attack added to the nervous climate surrounding the hostage release, which appeared unlikely to be completed Sunday as originally promised by the Venezuelans.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=8959025

[Judi Lynn]

1. Photos of the terrain where the helicopters are staying, awaiting instructions:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3117305

There's another link to a page of photos of a Colombian group's trip up into the area in a caravan of Land Rovers. It shows you the area is really rough:
http://legionlandrover.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=78

[Judi Lynn]

2. Two more Venezuelan helicopters enter Colombia

Two more Venezuelan helicopters enter Colombia

www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-31 04:19:59

BOGOTA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Two more helicopters that will join the fleet destined to pick up the three hostages held by Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) arrived on Sunday in Villavicencio city's airport in central Colombia.

The two Bell choppers, smaller than the MI-17's parked since Friday at this city's Vanguardia airport, may have easier access to jungle zones in case it is necessary.

The choppers are part of the "international humanitarian mission" in favor of the three hostages that the guerrillas promised to handover to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez or to whoever he would designate.

The choppers were authorized to enter Venezuelan territory by the International Red Cross Committee, although the helicopters did not have that organization's emblem upon their arrival in Colombia.

More:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/31/content_7342494.htm

[Judi Lynn]

3. Colombia hostage release put off another day

Colombia hostage release put off another day
Sun 30 Dec 2007, 21:24 GMT

<-> Text <+> By Nelson Bocanegra

VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia (Reuters) - Three hostages held for years in Colombian by Marxist guerrillas will not be handed to a Venezuelan chopper team until at least Monday but officials said they were in constant contact with the rebels.

The powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, promised two weeks ago to free two former Colombian politicians and the young son born to one of them in captivity but have not yet revealed their whereabouts.

"We don't have the time to start and finish the operation today," a senior government official said from the town of Villavicencio, where Venezuelan helicopters are waiting to be dispatched to pick up the captives.

The Marxist FARC negotiated the hostage release with neighbouring Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez, who expressed worries the handover will fail if it does not happen soon.

More:
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnN30531717.html

[cal04]

4. Colombia accuses rebels over hostage release delay

Colombia accused Marxist rebel leaders on Monday of lying and dragging their feet to delay a Venezuela-brokered deal for the release of three hostages, including a child born in captivity.
(snip)
"We know this group repeatedly lies and breaks its word," the government's peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said in the central city of Villavicencio, where Venezuelan helicopters waited to be dispatched for the handover.

(snip)
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe headed to Villavicencio on Monday to assure observers from other Latin American countries and France that his conservative government backed the mission and would do what it could to guarantee its security.

(snip)
He also speculated that radio interference by U.S. forces deployed in Colombia to back its war against the FARC and drug traffickers could be to blame.(Chavez)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071231/wl_nm/colombia_hostages_dc

Chavez's Hostage Rescue Mission Stymied
To calm the tensions, Chavez dispatched Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. Arriving by surprise in sweltering Villavicencio Monday morning, Maduro said the operation could last several more days and pleaded for ''patience and nerves of steel.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Colombia-Venezuela-Hostages.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I remembered this from the other day
He said FARC commander Ivan Marquez had reported US-made military surveillance planes flying over the area. "I hope this does not interfere," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071228/wl_afp/colombiavenezuelahostages_071228215516

[Judi Lynn]

5. Colombian military airplane with 50 troops attacked by rocket fire

Colombian military airplane with 50 troops attacked by rocket fire

www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-31 04:46:33

BOGOTA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- A rocket was fired on Sunday by alleged rebels against a Colombian Air Force (FAC) Hercules transport plane with 50 troops aboard, forcing the airplane to remain in the airport.

Military sources said the airplane was ready to take off from southern Colombian Neiva city's airport destined to Lenguizamo Port, in Putumayo department, bordering with Ecuador.

The rocket did not damage the aircraft and it exploded in Benito Salas de Neiva airport, capital of Huila Department.

The incident occurred while Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) are getting ready to release three hostages in a yet undetermined Colombian location.

Colombia's Armed Forces Commander in Huila, General Jorge Ballesteros, said those who launched the rocket allegedly escaped and officials are investigating the incident.

The Hercules airplane had 50 troops and armament aboard, Ballesteros said.

More:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/31/content_7342495.htm

[Judi Lynn]

6. US, Colombia discuss hostage situation

US, Colombia discuss hostage situation
1 hour ago

CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) — US President George W. Bush and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Monday discussed the potential release of three Colombian hostages held by leftist rebels, the White House said.

Uribe gave Bush the latest information about efforts to free the three from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), "noting that various issues were still being worked out," said spokesman Scott Stanzel.

Uribe was set to travel to Villavicencio, Colombia, Monday to meet international guarantors monitoring the potential release, as officials awaited word from the FARC on where and when the handover might occur.

The operation to retrieve the hostages has advanced in fits and starts as a FARC patrol makes its way cautiously through the jungle with the hostages -- among them a three-year-old boy -- and international envoys wait for them to give coordinates for the handover.

More:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhLx68RZuxJy-OtEFWEu_fduDyIw





Colombia's President Uribe enjoys a good working relationship from the country which
has made Colombia the third largest recipient of US taxpayers' foreign aid in the world.

[cal04]

7. Colombia rebels say army impeding hostage release

Colombian rebels said in a letter on Monday intense military activity had impeded the release of three hostages they had promised to hand over to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Chavez read the letter from the rebels on Venezuelan state television and said he would not abandon his mission to pick up the hostages, including a young child.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N31360905.htm

Colombia hostage release impossible for now: FARC
The promised release of three hostages held by FARC rebels is impossible for now, the group said in a statement Monday read by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been negotiating their freedom.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071231/wl_afp/colombiavenezuelahostagesrebels_071231200337

New delay for Colombian hostages
Colombian leftist rebels say government military operations are blocking the release of three hostages, according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Venezuelan helicopters have been waiting since the weekend to pick up two women and a boy the Farc promised to release to Mr Chavez.

They were due to be freed as a gesture but disagreements between Caracas and Bogota have dogged the process.

The Venezuelan leader read out what he said was a letter from the Farc on TV.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7166438.stm

[Judi Lynn]

8. It'd sure be good to know what Colombia has done to scare the FARCs. They had promised to allow

this thing to happen without interfering. It didn't sound likely, even then, considering the fact they don't want to let go of the war, and lose their enormous cash infusion annually from helpless U.S. taxpayers. Uribe has never had to make it without HUGE chunks of change from pResident _Bush every single year of his first Presidency, now in his unprecedented-in-Colombia SECOND Presidency, and working on his THIRD, with absolutely no bitching and whining from the U.S. right-wing a-holes who chew the scenery over the very thought of Chavez's going for a third full term.

From the Guardian:

Chavez's Hostage Rescue Mission Stymied
Monday December 31, 2007 6:16 PM
By TOBY MUSE
Associated Press Writer

~snip~
Colombia's government had vowed to stay mostly out of the operation, allowing Chavez to use his leftist credentials with the FARC to secure a speedy return of the hostages to family members waiting for days in Caracas.

But the arrival of Uribe, and harsh reprimand by Restrepo, seems to have marked an end to their hands-off approach.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7188002,00.html





Alvaro Uribe meets Condoleeza Rice

[cal04]

9. this is my question, did Uribe have to meet the observers

and could he have been doing this with our blessing to make sure Chavez wasn't given the hostages?

Uribe, who arrived in this Colombian city earlier Monday to meet international observers taking part in "Operation Emmanuel," stressed his government had provided all the security guarantees that were asked for.
(snip)
"The FARC can't keep the promise to free the hostages because they no longer have the child, Emmanuel, in their power," Uribe said, suggesting instead that a boy found in July 2006 in southeast Colombia was Emmanuel -- he was being cared for in a children's home in Bogota.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071231/wl_afp/colombiavenezuelahostages_071231215047

Chavez read out the rebels' letter and accused Colombian President Alvaro Uribe of sabotaging his rescue plan.

"Uribe went to dynamite the third phase of this operation," he said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N31554645.htm

[Judi Lynn]

10. Oh, christ! This is a new one, isn't it? If the boy Emanuel had been located,

the FARC would NOT be discussing returning him, for crying out loud. Isn't this pathetic?

Signs of torture. Yeah, right.

If they had the kid in question, this should have been brought up immediately, rather than letting the negotiations lurch along with all parties agreeing to the exchange of the two women and the child. Uribe just pulled this one out of his lower regions suddenly. Undoubtedly they decided they weren't going to let it go through, and had been casting about for a justification until someone came up with the mysterious "we already got the kid" claim.

Wouldn't you think a LOT of noise would have already been made about having located this highly publicized child by now if they had really found him?

Un-####ing-believable.

You note that this is also the day Uribe was officially in contact with _{George W. Bush.} Neither one of them would have EVER wanted this situation to go through successfully. Why would they give up their only excuse to continue the war against the poor of Colombia, extending over 40 years to the present, when it give the U.S. the excuse to be all tangled up in Colombian internal affairs, and use Colombia as a free country to squat in, and why would Uribe EVER give up the opportunity to keep using $600,000,000.00 yearly from _Bush, ON TOP of his country's budget?

They've been living like this so long they have no idea how to settle down and do things the honest way.

[cal04]

11. Colombian hostage rescue deal crumbles

(snip)
"In these conditions it would put in grave risk the lives of these people to free them," the rebels said in a letter sent to Venezuela's left-wing President Hugo Chavez, who had negotiated the deal for the release of the three hostages.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, promised earlier this month to deliver the three to Chavez, and he sent two helicopters deep into Colombia last Friday to pick them up.

Chavez read out the FARC's letter explaining its failure to hand over the hostages, and he accused Colombian President Alvaro Uribe of sabotaging his rescue plan.

"Uribe went to dynamite the third phase of this operation," Chavez said, adding that independent reports also pointed to an intensification of Colombian military activity in the area.

Chavez said foreign envoys, including former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, who are in Colombia to help the mission should now return home, although he also vowed to continue working for the hostages' release.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N31554645.htm

[Judi Lynn]

12. It'd be good to know now what was happening. Didn't we read that a US plane flew over the area?

Don't think that was a good idea.

Also, a Colombian transport plane with 50 soldiers flew over, as well.

The security issue has been paramount to these plans from the very beginning. It appears they told the hostage negotiating team one thing while going right ahead and moving the military right up into place, anyway.

Surely there's some way to get these guys out of the jungle without bloodshed, but it doesn't look as if Uribe likes that idea, after all.

Uribe is too attached to the huge budget from _Bush (actually from the voiceless U.S. taxpayers) he gots for NOT allowing peace in his country.

[Judi Lynn]

13. You know, there's something very strange in the ReutersAlertNet story, in Uribe's comments:

Rojas was kidnapped in 2002. At some point she delivered a son, whose father is a rebel.

Uribe claims the rebels can't turn him over, as he was found in 2006, and has been living in a children's home. In the Reuters article you found, Uribe also claims he shows signs of torture.

Why would the rebels, of whom one is his father, torture him? He knows nothing OTHER than life with and among them! What on earth would he be able to tell them? Not to mention the fact that when he was found living a a children's home in 2006, he could have been no older than 3 1/2 years or something similar. How strange is this?

Greed makes people do odd things, doesn't it? They are hell bent on keeping the war going, keeping huge chunks of U.S. taxpayers' hard-earned money coming in, and not being all that careful to concoct even slightly realistic lies in order to maintain their war! Just the way our own right-wing would want them to do.

On edit, adding photos:



Republican Congressman and former Schwarzenegger campaign manager, David Dreir, giving the Colombian Congress a treat by letting them have a long good look at his fat backside as he SITS on the lecturn where ordinary, lesser people simply put their papers when making speeches.

It didn't go over as well as he, as a Republican, imagined it did. They really were steamed, and it definitely got covered in their news. I wonder why our own corporate media didn't pick up on this and make a lot of noise? You can be sure they would have had this clown been a Democrat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
U.S. congressman contrite after Colombian faux pas
Thu Aug 30, 2007 6:39pm

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A U.S. congressman said on Thursday he meant no offense when he hoisted himself onto the lectern of Colombia's lower house to address his Andean colleagues, some of whom were offended or simply amused by the faux pas.

Colombian newspapers carried pictures of Rep. David Dreier, a California Republican, sitting on top of the wooden podium and talking with local legislators on Tuesday while on an official visit.

Some in the photographs are seen smiling at Dreier while others avert their eyes uncomfortably. He was criticized in the press for showing a lack of respect.

"I have the highest regard for the Congress of Colombia," Dreier told reporters in Bogota. "I meant absolutely no offense ... I simply wanted to demonstrate my warm feeling and affection."

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN3042486720070830?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews

[cal04]

14. Patience Crucial in Colombian Rescue Operation

(snip)
A new element was added with the hypothesis presented by Uribe that the child Enmanuel, who is part of the group to be released, is not in the hands of the guerrilla, but in a charity institution in Bogota.

Defining whether the boy is in fact the son of former Colombian vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas, another member of the group to be released, requires DNA tests so that this new knot in the process can be undone.

In Chavez's opinion, this was in fact an attempt to "undermine, blow up" the operation, as there was enough time to carry out DNA tests and no need to present the hypothesis precisely when the guerrilla denounced the continuation of military operations.

(snip)
In Chavez's opinion, the biggest obstacle to peace is the United States, which exercises a strong influence in Colombia. He urged Uribe to look more to the South and less to the North and get rid of the government of George W. Bush.

http://www.plenglish.com/

[Judi Lynn]

15. Good advice! South America is moving away from its hideous past

when the fascists conspired with the U.S. CIA to control the entire continent at the tragic expense of horrendous political savagery, mass murders, torture and mind-boggling viciousness. South America is bringing these criminals to justice, even getting them sent back from Europe to stand trial.

Uribe is most definitely playing for the wrong team.

[cal04]

16. Colombian hostage release turns on DNA test

Relatives of a child born to a hostage mother and a guerrilla father will undergo DNA testing Tuesday to determine whether the child is still a captive or in a Bogota orphanage, as the Colombian president has charged.

The whereabouts of Emmanuel Rojas could be crucial to the release of three hostages the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced on December 18 but which has stalled despite international efforts including those of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

(snip)

Uribe's doubts about Emmanuel's whereabouts was called "a whole bunch of smoke" by Chavez that had "torpedoed" the release effort.

Chavez said he knew "Uribe and his team well. They're a team that makes up things. My experience leads me to doubt Uribe's team and their hypotheses ..."

(snip)
Clara Rojas' brother, Ivan, said he and his mother were ready to supply DNA tests to confirm or deny Uribe's claim.

"Five experts from Colombia will arrive in Caracas at any moment," Ivan Rojas said in a Caracas hotel where his family has been awaiting the hostage release since last week. "They'll run (DNA) tests on my mother and I."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080102/tts-colombia-venezuela-hostages-emmanuel-c1b2fc3.html
Uribe, whose father was killed in a botched FARC kidnapping over 20 years ago, is popular for cutting violence and crime with his US-backed crackdown on the FARC.

"It would help if the United States could be more involved in hostage talks to balance the influence of left-wing governments like Venezuela's and Argentina's," Romero said. "This would give Uribe more confidence in the negotiations."

The United States has kept a low profile in the negotiations, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proclaimed the liberation of Betancourt a top foreign policy priority.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/1529406

[Judi Lynn]

17. Wish we could get to the bottom of this! From the Washington Post:

Colombia: Child Born to Hostage Is Not With FARC
Officials Say Boy Was Put in Foster Care

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, January 2, 2008; Page A06

BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 1 -- A 3 1/2 -year-old boy whom Marxist rebels pledged to include in a hostage release that collapsed Monday is not in their hands, and has almost certainly been living in a foster care program in Bogota, Colombian officials said in interviews on Tuesday. They believe they have located the boy and are conducting DNA tests to confirm his identity.

In an intricate operation overseen by Venezuela, helicopters from that neighboring country were to have picked up the boy, his hostage mother and another female prisoner in the jungle and flown them to Venezuela. But anguished families who have waited as long as six years to see their loved ones freed were instead shattered as the mission unraveled.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, blamed government military operations in the area for the failure of the long-negotiated release. But Colombian officials questioned how the release could have gone forward at all, saying they had learned that the boy, born in captivity to hostage Clara Rojas, had passed out of rebel hands in 2005.

An emissary working for the rebels turned over the boy, named Emmanuel, to child protective services in the isolated town of San Jose del Guaviare in 2005, two senior officials said Tuesday. From there, he apparently wound up with a foster family in Bogota, his real identity unknown to anyone, the officials said.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/01/AR2008010102341.html?hpid=sec-world

[cal04]

18. Colombia Awaits DNA Test in Hostage Saga

Relatives of a boy at the center of a hostage saga awaited the results Wednesday of DNA tests to determine if the child had been living in a foster home and not with the guerrillas who had promised to free him.

The results, expected in the coming days, will go a long way in divvying up blame for the failure of an international operation led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to rescue three hostages, including the 3-year-old boy, held by rebels in Colombia's eastern jungle.

The mission crumbled earlier this week with the rebels charging that Colombian military operations prevented the handover. President Alvaro Uribe in turn accused the guerrillas of not turning over the hostages because they possibly didn't have the boy, called Emmanuel.

On Wednesday, Colombia's chief federal prosecutor, Mario Iguaran, confirmed that DNA tests had been performed in Caracas, Venezuela on the mother and two brothers of Clara Rojas, a former Colombian vice presidential candidate held captive by the rebels. Rojas is believed to have had Emmanuel with a guerrilla captor.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7193520,00.html