EL UNIVERSAL

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez asked the new leader of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) Alfonso Cano to unconditionally release all the hostages held by them and commented that the "guerrillas warfare has gone down in history" in Latin America.

"I think that there is time for FARC to free all the hostages they have in the mountain for nothing. It would be a great humanitarian token," said Chávez in his TV and radio show aired on Sundays "Aló, Presidente," AFP quoted.

"At this point, in Latin America, an armed guerrilla group is off-topic and this should be told to FARC," said the ruler.

Chávez said at the beginning of this year that the rebels should be acknowledged as insurgent forces. This time, he clarified, "it was perhaps what I wanted to tell (FARC top leader Manuel) Marulanda (who died last March). I never wrote to him anything. He sent me letters, yet I did not deem it appropriate to answer to him. I wanted to talk to him personally."

"But now, I tell Cano: 'Come on, release those people and then let us start peace talks,'" he added.

Translated by Conchita Delgado