ARGENTINA: President Cristina Fernandez de Kircher shows interest in Colombian hostage crisis on first day of presidency

Record ID: 449059

  • Title: ARGENTINA: President Cristina Fernandez de Kircher shows interest in Colombian hostage crisis on first day of presidency
  • Date: 12th December 2007
  • Summary: (W4) BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (DECEMBER 11, 2007) (REUTERS) VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ LEAVING HOTEL, SAYING: I HAVE TO GO THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE CHAVEZ MOTORCADE DRIVING
  • Embargoed: 27th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAAXXUKAL52KNCJHBIVPL9Z1DTN
  • Story Text: Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner met with key players in the Colombian hostage crisis on Tuesday (December 11), her first day in office.
    After a busy inauguration day on Monday (December 10), Fernandez arrived mid-morning to the government house in Buenos Aires to meet with Spain's Prince Felipe de Asturias. Details of what the two discussed were not made public.
    Fernandez later met with Colombian president Alvaro Uribe to discuss the hostage crisis. Colombia's principal rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has been holding hostages for years, among them French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.
    Fernandez and her husband, former president Nestor Kirchner, are sympathetic to the situation, meeting with Betancourt's mother and pushing for a solution.
    After meeting with Fernandez, Uribe spoke with the media outside the government house.
    Considered to be hardliner in negotiations, Uribe flexed last week when he offered a safe meeting place for talks with rebels.
    Uribe also said he had explained to Fernandez his plan to lure low-ranking rebels out of the Colombian jungles.

    "I explained to President Kirchner that a fund of 100 million U.S.
    dollars has been created and offered to the low-ranking rebels who take care of - read, torture - the hostages so those rebels who are not bosses reflect and free the hostages and free themselves. Because the rebels are being held hostage just as much as the hostages who suffer the torture. It's so the rebels demobilise their groups and bring the hostages with them. We have said both of them will be free. We are looking a for a legal solution so those rebels enjoy freedom if they free the hostages and besides that have the payment of 100 million dollars," he said.
    Hostage talks took a blow recently when Uribe revoked Venezuela's Hugo Chavez position as negotiator for what he saw as a breach in protocol, touching off a diplomatic row between the two countries.
    When asked about Chavez, Uribe said the Venezuelan had to work 'extremely cautiously' as a third party, but applied the same principle to himself.

    "I owe the Colombian people respect as the president who manages international relations - and also respect to the people of Venezuela and to the democratic government of Venezuela. That's why I have to proceed with prudence and, I hope, a lot of equanimity so that at some point things take a constructive turn," he said.
    Chavez, who was also in town for Fernandez's inauguration, later met with Fernandez at the government house. The charismatic leftist leader presented Argentina's first elected president with his standard gift of a sword, but with a feminine touch: the sheath was laden with flowers.
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