From NPR’s top-of-the-hour newscast this morning at 8am Pacific, correspondent Frank Browning reports from Paris on efforts to negotiate the release of Ingrid Bettancourt, who’s been held for six years by Colombian rebels.
[French Foreign Minister Bernard] Kouchner faces one of the trickiest challenges since becoming France’s chief diplomat. Bettancourt is only one of many political figures held by the FARC, while the FARC has many of its operatives held in the jails of Colombia’s government.
Earlier efforts by Colombian President Hugo Chavez to free hostages held by the FARC ended after the FARC’s chief negotiator was killed in a raid by Colombian forces in Ecuador.
I know that people have accused Chavez of wanting to become president-for-life, I hadn’t realized that he’d already taken over a country other than Venezuela!