EL UNIVERSAL

Colombia on Wednesday surprisingly moved to discontinue Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's mediation efforts to reach an agreement with Colombia's largest leftwing guerrilla group to release a number of hostages, including French-Colombian former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.

"The President of the Republic (Álvaro Uribe) does hereby terminate Senator Piedad Córdoba's facilitation and President Hugo Chávez's mediation, whom he thanks for their help," the government of President Álvaro Uribe said in a communiqué, Reuters quoted.

The move came after Chávez -through Senator Córdoba- made a phone contact with the Colombian Army Commander General Mario Montoya, asking him questions about the hostages held by the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC).

The Colombian government explained that Uribe and Chávez had agreed to deal with the issues of the hostages personally, without using any other means.

Previously, Uribe himself asserted it was not acceptable for the FARC to abuse both his Venezuelan counterpart and a likely humanitarian swap of hostages for FARC troops who are in jail, Efe explained.

The Colombian ruler had also pointed to a bomb attack the rebels planned to launch against Cauca governor Juan José Chaux. The plot was unveiled by Army troops in the southwestern Colombian department.

The guerrilla troops "place cooking gas bottles loaded with explosives (to attack) Cauca governor, and then they appear before the international community talking like politicians," said the Colombian ruler.

"Besides the fact that they are a bunch of thugs, clowns and liars, they want to play the role of political stars to regain a position as major characters," stressed Uribe.

Further, the Colombian High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo on Wednesday stated the Colombian government was highly concerned about the FARC's delaying strategies. He suggested the rebel group did not show much "interest in addressing straightforward the issue of the hostages" with President Chávez.

Meanwhile, Colombian Minister of the Interior and Justice Carlos Holguín said the only thing Chávez had managed to do was "meeting with Iván Márquez in Caracas to talk about coastal music." The official was referring to Chávez's statements in Paris earlier this week claiming that in three months as mediator he had made more progress than the Colombian government in five years.

Translated by Maryflor Suárez R.
msuarez@eluniversal.com