In December, I wrote about Colombian president Alvaro Uribe clearly rejecting any outside intervention in the latest offered release of FARC hostages. The problem is that FARC won’t release any hostages unless there are outside witnesses involved.

The Colombian leftist rebel group, FARC, said it is willing to hand over six hostages but it will only do so in the presence of an international representative.

In a statement made public Wednesday, the FARC said it wants someone from either a “brother country” or the international community to be present when it frees the hostages.

Both the FARC and the Colombian government say they will let someone from the International Committee of the Red Cross be on hand for the hostage release. But Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has said he does not want any other international participation

So what’s a Colombian president to do? My sense is that if the FARC was ok with say having the United States as a witness then Uribe would allow international intervention. Pero, since the FARC likely is looking for a more friendly witness, in the form of Venezuela and Hugo Chavez, who is specifically who Uribe doesn’t want despite Chavez’s successful intervention in the past.

The FARC has said it would deliver the hostages to Piedad Cordoba, a Colombian opposition senator. Cordoba has been involved in previous efforts to secure the release of hostages held by the FARC in jungle hideouts.

That’s not something Uribe wants either, as she has worked closely with Chavez and has even been accused by Uribe as supporting FARC.

So what should Uribe do? Just suck it up in the best interests of the hostages?

Via / VOA News
Gracias a Patrick MacManus