Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) kingpin Manuel Marulanda, alias Tirofijo, put the blame on some Colombian army generals for hindering a swap of hostages, according to a letter authored by him and released by Venezuelan state-run news agency Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN).

"The irremovable of (Colombian) President Álvaro Uribe are one of so many pretexts in the mind of some generals to hamper the humanitarian swap," said the FARC commander in a letter dated December 24th, disclosed on Wednesday by ABN.
 
Earlier this week, the FARC addressed a letter to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, where they announced that the handover of three hostages would be deferred in the absence of appropriate security conditions due to the operations of Colombian military, AP quoted.

The FARC had promised Chávez to free ex Congresswoman Consuelo González; former assistant to presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, Clara Rojas, and his son Emmanuel, born in captivity to a guerrilla man.

On December 28th, Chávez set an international operation in motion to pick up the hostages. However, the action came to a standstill three days after, following the FARC notice.