Sunday, March 9, 2008 - 02:00
AFP News Briefs ListChavez calls on FARC to free hostage Betancourt
Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez on Saturday urged the leader of Colombia's Marxist FARC rebels to free Franco-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt.
"I am making a request to (FARC chief Manuel) Marulanda. Send Ingrid to us," Chavez said in a public address in Caracas with Betancourt's mother, Yolanda Pulecio, at his side.
"I ask of you," Chavez went on, "that when you are able and under whatever conditions that may be possible, that you free Ingrid."
"She is the only woman who remains, there is no sense in keeping her in the jungles of Colombia," said Chavez, also joined by sometime mediator Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba.
Chavez said that before Colombia killed FARC number two Raul Reyes in a raid inside Ecuador, he and Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa had been seeking Betancourt's release through Ecuadoran territory.
