President Chavez helps secure release of Colombian hostages

[RedRalph]

From BBC

Freed hostages land in Venezuela

Ms Gonzalez urged Mr Chavez not to give up on the other hostages
Two women hostages freed by Colombian Farc rebels have arrived on a private jet at an airport near Caracas and have been reunited with their families.
Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez had been held for several years.

Both women have thanked Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for helping mediate their release.

Earlier they were flown out of the Colombian jungle by helicopter, in an operation overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"We are being reborn!" Clara Rojas said, as she was reunited with her elderly mother, Clara Gonzalez de Rojas, who was tearful as she hugged her daughter.

Ms Gonzalez was reunited with her two daughters and also met her two year-old granddaughter for the first time.


Ms Rojas said being freed was like being reborn

"This is like living again," she said. "Sometimes I think it's a dream."

In a brief statement Ms Gonzalez thanked Mr Chavez by satellite phone for his role in her release and praised his "commitment to human beings".

Ms Gonzalez, 57, was kidnapped in 2001. Ms Rojas, 44, an aide to former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, was seized in 2002, while she and Ms Betancourt were out campaigning.

Ms Rojas told Colombia's Caracol radio network she had had no news in three years of Ms Betancourt, who is still in captivity. She said they had been split up by the rebels for security reasons.


A similar attempt to rescue the two women was called off last month amid recriminations between the rebels and the Colombian government.



In December, the Farc promised to release the women and Ms Rojas's three-year-old son, believed to have been fathered by one of the rebel captors.

But the rebels accused the Colombian government of sabotaging the hostage release by continuing military operations in the area.

The government said the Farc backed out of the deal because they no longer held the young boy, who was found to be living in a foster home in Bogota.



Thursday's operation came about after Mr Chavez announced that he had received the co-ordinates for a handover.

Military operations in three areas in the south-eastern state of Guaviare were suspended to allow the handover to take place. Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said his troops watched as the helicopters landed just 2km from their base.

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Colombia says the hostages' release is a coup for Mr Chavez, who has shown he has influence with the Colombian rebels.




He says the Venezuelan leader can now position himself as the mediator with the best chance of securing the release of the other 43 hostages, which the guerrillas are thought to want to exchange for hundreds of rebels in prison.

Whilst the Colombian government officially welcomes the release of the two hostages, President Alvaro Uribe will have to reassess his position as pressure mounts on him to make concessions to the Farc, our correspondent says.

Asked by reporters when he would meet the two women, Mr Chavez said: "Later, if it's possible, I'll greet them personally, we'll have a coffee together. But that has no importance at the moment."

He said he spoke to the freed women earlier by phone and that they were emotional and in good health.

"They are free. I told them both: 'Welcome to life'," he said.

A job well done President Chavez. Kudos to you

 

[Arwon]

What does that last line mean? It might be because it's late, but I can't parse it properly.

 

[Ondskan]

Yeah...He's man enough to say he's deeply sorry about his latest politics aswell. Saying that he will go back to the foundations of socialism: Fighting poverty and for justice instead.

But It will take alooooot more to convince me again. I wrote him a mail, I hope he read it or at least that someone did. I wouldn't want him to be corrupted by the power and trust that was given to him by his loving people just like so many others as he almost became, thank god the people knew better than to vote yes on that referendum.

More on topic:

I hope that this can bring the people of Colombia closer to each other aswell.
That country is split up worse than the U.S. Criminal gangs run free while the different guerillas, paramilitaries and government forces fight each other.




Oh and Kudos=Thanks on Japanese ^.^
lol I just looked it up myself because I wasn't sure. Wiki says it's like fame, many kudos "much fame, acknowledgment to you"...
Arrrghh I sUx

 

[Tabasco Sauce]

Good Job. Still suspicious of him, but he deserves some credit for this.

 

[RedRalph]

Good Job. Still suspicious of him, but he deserves some credit for this.

Fair play. I can respect that you dont like him, but will give credit where it's due. Rarely happens on these boards.

 

[RedRalph]

From BBC:

The revolutionary offensive has begun," was how Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez began his first TV show of 2008.



Mr Chavez has promised his version of the three Rs

Dressed in a smart red shirt, the socialist leader seemed ready and refreshed for a new phase in his political campaign as he introduced 13 new cabinet ministers following a major reshuffle.

"This is the start of a new public battle," he told viewers.

It was the first edition of his show "Alo Presidente" since an election defeat that had knocked Mr Chavez for six and slowed his socialist revolution.

Mr Chavez has had a month to reflect on what went wrong in December.

Venezuelans narrowly rejected wide-ranging reforms of the constitution that were aimed at cementing socialism into Venezuelan law and that would have given the president the chance to stand for re-election as many times as he wished.

"I am responsible for that defeat," he told the nation. "We weren't prepared and didn't have the level of organisation or consciousness for such a big step in the revolution."

"I am forced to put the brakes on this march," he warned, telling his ministers it was time to make some big changes.

"This will be the year of the three Rs: revision, rectification and relaunching," he said, promising to thoroughly review all his policies and ministries.




Mr Chavez has often been criticised for concentrating too much on socialist ideology and affairs in other countries, rather than tackling real problems at home.

Some Venezuelans questioned why he was spending so much time trying to end neighbouring Colombia's conflict with the Farc rebels - although the fruit of his labour appears to be the release of the two women hostages, Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez, on Thursday.

Others question why he was investing so much in creating new continent-wide political institutions.


Three zeros have been lopped off the currency to tackle inflation

Here, people are more interested in rising crime, food shortages, rampant inflation and more mundane problems like the lack of rubbish collections in many parts of the capital, Caracas.

Perhaps sensing he had taken his eye off these key issues, Mr Chavez has this year begun to talk about them more.

"Insecurity and corruption are inherited evils that we must not allow to continue expanding. If we don't stop them, they become the biggest enemy of our revolution," he said. "And a revolutionary government cannot ignore piles of rubbish."

Mr Chavez has also offered pardons to a number of people involved in a coup against his government five years ago and he has talked about reaching out to the middle classes, a part of society he usually has little time for.

All this seems to indicate a toning down of his left-wing rhetoric and confrontational politics.

But this is a clear contrast from a few weeks ago, when he used swear words to describe the opposition's victory and pledged his reforms had been halted only "for now".



Giant billboards and banners around Venezuela proclaiming this message ensure no one forgets that his political aims are still firmly in place.

So what is going on? Has Mr Chavez's much loved and much loathed style altered?

"Yes he looks like he's moderating," said Daniel Varnagy, a professor in politics at Caracas's Simon Bolivar University.

"But his ideals haven't changed. He's not going to suddenly get less lefty.

"Maybe he's realised that an aggressive approach isn't the best way to accomplish his goals. But he won't have lost track of his main focus. And he'll be focused on concentrating power this year."

Both Mr Chavez and his political opponents now have their sights set on October's regional elections for governors, mayors and local councils.

"The opposition will concentrate all their force and imperialist money to get me out of power," the president said on his show. "We can't afford to lose a day or even a minute in our campaign."




While those behind what is known here as "Chavismo" have been analysing why they lost last year's key referendum, political opponents have been trying to capitalise on their rare victory. They believe now is the time to attack.





"Just 12 months ago, Hugo Chavez strode Venezuela's political scene like a colossus and the opposition was worn thin, worn down and worn out," wrote the authors of opposition blog site Caracas Chronicles.

"Now, it's Chavismo that's looking dazed and confused."

As the opposition parties begin to choose their candidates, they will place more emphasis on showing they can be a united force.

"Our responsibility is to continue this atmosphere of unity so democracy can progress," the executive president of the New Era Party, Omar Barboza, said after a recent meeting of allies.



They will be trying to win over some of the three million voters who in the past had voted for Mr Chavez but who abstained in December's referendum.

Mr Chavez is hoping his new political party will also create some unity within his ranks. More than five million people have registered as members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), with the most active of these formed into thousands of battalions.

This is meant to be grass roots politics offering the party bases more say in what goes on at the top.

But it is not without problems. Infighting and disagreements have plagued it from the start with some striking schisms within Chavismo unearthed.

With the PSUV's first national congress this weekend, all those involved know that 2008 will be a crucial year for their revolution.

True mark of a dictator, no? anyone want to comment or are you just going to ignore this because it dosent fit with your image of chavez as a dictatorial lunatic?

 

[Kozmos]

He's still a dictatorial lunatic. Few saved hostages dont change that.

 

[Tabasco Sauce]

From BBC:



True mark of a dictator, no? anyone want to comment or are you just going to ignore this because it dosent fit with your image of chavez as a dictatorial lunatic?

Napoleon did the same thing with Monarchists in France. Its a shrewd political move. History has shown that people like Chavez have eventually found ways to become a dictator, but I hope I am wrong, because the last thing the world needs is another dictator of the proletariat killing the bourgeoisie, nationalizing everything, and going down the same path every other Socialist country has gone down, the path of capitalism. (See damn near every socialist or formerly socialist country.)

 

[luiz]

Let's not forget that his first attempt was a fiasco, and that the FARCs lied to him about the true identity of Emmanuel. That is, Chávez was wrong and Uribe was right.

Still it's good that he helped to released hostages. But that good is minimal next to the fact that he supports a hostage taking, drug dealing, terrorist organization like the FARCs.

 

[Ondskan]

Farc takes hostages so that the hostages held by the government can be traded for. Just like all sides in wars take prisoners of war and then exchange them. Their "war" is political so their hostages are mostly political figures.

 

[MobBoss]

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Colombia says the hostages' release is a coup for Mr Chavez, who has shown he has influence with the Colombian rebels.

Errr. I am not sure that this is necessarily a good thing for Chavez to be soliciting. Not sure that being a 'friend' of murdering kidnappers is an image I would want to portray.

 

[skadistic]

Farc takes hostages so that the hostages held by the government can be traded for. Just like all sides in wars take prisoners of war and then exchange them. Their "war" is political so their hostages are mostly political figures.

The gov. doesn't take FARC hostages. It arrests FARC terrorists.

 

[Ondskan]

Farc sees the gov. as the terrorists. It's not really important what I or you label them. It's a guerilla war/civil war and that's the end of it for me.

 

[skadistic]

Farc sees the gov. as the terrorists. It's not really important what I or you label them. It's a guerilla war/civil war and that's the end of it for me.

Its easy that way isn't it. You just trow your hands up and ignore the facts. FARC are narco trafficking terrorists. They are criminals. Its not a civil war.

 

[Arwon]

People dead from state violence are just as dead as those dead from guerilla or paramilitary violence. It's a three-sided civil war.

'Sides which, the paramilitaries are the bigger player in the drug trafficking business down there.

 

[Ondskan]

Ya and in the end they all profit from the drugtrade.
None of them really want it but it's the only real way they can finance their struggle.

Ofcourse the Gov. also has military aid from the US. (Instead of, ofcourse, economic aid which would lead to that the guerillas would stop fighting the injustice and poverty, etc.).

 

[skadistic]

Ya and in the end they all profit from the drugtrade.
None of them really want it but it's the only real way they can finance their struggle.

Ofcourse the Gov. also has military aid from the US. (Instead of, ofcourse, economic aid which would lead to that the guerillas would stop fighting the injustice and poverty, etc.).

Really just military aid? Are you sure about that?
http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/aidtable.htm

Look for 139.5 and tell me what that amount (in millions) goes to.

Since you have no idea what your talking about, much like your 9-11 thread, I give you a hint. Its down at the bottom. And sure the narco-terrorists want the military to not get aid. How else would the military be able to stop them. Its not like the gov. can just sell billions in coke to pay for their weapons or kidnap people and demand ransoms.

 

[Ondskan]

Ya...Compared to 600 million in Military aid instead of -------> Economical/Social aid.


http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/aidtable.htm

Same link..lol. I can't belive you pwned yourself with the link. Heck next time I'll just click on your links and post them as my sources ^.^


Ya... the ebül narco terrorists!!!! EBÜL...! The truth is so simple.
You really make me laugh



LOOOL.
I didn't even see it.

Only a few million (roughly 1-2 million) goes to food for peace program and economic aid.
The rest of the 134 millions goes fighting drugs.


So basicly you got 740 million in Military training aid, Military equipement aid, Counter Insurgency, Anti Drug (anti FARC) aid.

While tackling the reasons to the whole guerilla war and thus Farc and thus Farcs part of the drug trade gets about 0,3%.
I mean did you even read that link at all or just post it as fast as you could to try and prove me wrong because you hate communism, hate anything anything to do with leftist struggle be it peaceful or violent and have no respect for the people leaving their families and sacrifising their lives for the struggle.

Nor do you seem to care about the civilians that are in the middle of this fight, getting killed by both farc, paramilitaries and the gov. because the same aid keeps funding the same problem.

 

[luiz]

Farc takes hostages so that the hostages held by the government can be traded for. Just like all sides in wars take prisoners of war and then exchange them. Their "war" is political so their hostages are mostly political figures.

The FARCs take much more civilian hostages than government hostages, and demand money from their relatives to release them. It's their second source of income after narcotics.

Their war is not political and political hostages are only a tiny tiny minority, even if highly visible.

It's a disgrace that people accross the world think that most hostages are political enemies, a vision that is spread by evil bastards like Oliver Stone.

 

[skadistic]

Ya...Compared to 600 million in Military aid instead of -------> Economical/Social aid.


http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/aidtable.htm

Same link..lol. I can't belive you pwned yourself with the link. Heck next time I'll just click on your links and post them as my sources ^.^


Ya... the ebül narco terrorists!!!! EBÜL...! The truth is so simple.
You really make me laugh



LOOOL.
I didn't even see it.

Only a few million (roughly 1-2 million) goes to food for peace program and economic aid.
The rest of the 134 millions goes fighting drugs.


So basicly you got 740 million in Military training aid, Military equipement aid, Counter Insurgency, Anti Drug (anti FARC) aid.

While tackling the reasons to the whole guerilla war and thus Farc and thus Farcs part of the drug trade gets about 0,3%.
I mean did you even read that link at all or just post it as fast as you could to try and prove me wrong because you hate communism, hate anything anything to do with leftist struggle be it peaceful or violent and have no respect for the people leaving their families and sacrifising their lives for the struggle.

Nor do you seem to care about the civilians that are in the middle of this fight, getting killed by both farc, paramilitaries and the gov. because the same aid keeps funding the same problem.

How exactly did "pwn" myself? You said:

Instead of, ofcourse, economic aid

I showed where they do get economic aid. The "pwn" here was on you. Where did I say I didn't care about civilians? Why do you have to make things up? Leftist struggle? They are drug cartels. How does aid to fight terrorist fund the problem? It goes to fight the problem. Just another "truther".