Venezuela's Chavez basks in hostage release triumph
11 Jan 2008 00:28:20 GMT Source: Reuters
By Frank Jack Daniel CARACAS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, hit by recent setbacks to his socialist revolution, scored a major political victory on Thursday by winning the freedom of two hostages held by Colombia's Marxist rebels. Colombia's conservative government last year told the fiery Chavez to drop his negotiations with guerrilla leaders but Chavez insisted and secured the release from a jungle camp of two women politicians, Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez. The deal raises hopes for dozens of other captives languishing in secret camps and vindicates the efforts of the left-wing president, who was widely criticized when a previous attempt to free the hostages collapsed on New Year's Eve. The hostages' freedom also brought international praise for Chavez, a fierce critic of the United States, and he even received grudging acknowledgment from Washington. Analysts said Chavez's international reputation was boosted by the deal, just a month after he suffered a stunning defeat at home in a referendum vote on extending his powers. "With this tangible and welcome result, Chavez can now claim that he is a regional leader committed to peace," said Michael Shifter, a Latin American expert at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank. After their release, the delighted Chavez brought the two women to Caracas, where he was photographed hugging them, stroking Rojas' hair and holding Gonzalez' granddaughter on the steps of the Miraflores presidential palace. Chavez often rails against the U.S. government and has clashed repeatedly with his rivals in Latin America and Spain. The opposition says his abrasive, folksy style damages Venezuela's reputation abroad but he sees himself as an influential statesman and has improved ties with U.S. antagonists such as Russia and Iran. Chavez vowed on Thursday to work to free more of Colombia's war hostages and for a peace deal in the decades-old war. He invited Colombia's government and guerrilla leaders to hold peace talks on Venezuelan soil. "I am prepared to place a humanitarian peace camp in Venezuela," he said. "Let's start a peace dialogue, not only to free them, that's the first step, the second step is peace." It was the first major release by Colombia's guerrilla army in more than six years, and rebel leaders made clear they would only hand over the captives to Chavez or one of his envoys. Speaking by satellite phone from the jungle clearing where they were handed over, the two women heaped praise on Chavez. "I don't know how to tell you, how to express my thanks for your humanitarian effort," Gonzalez told him in images broadcast repeatedly on television. She asked Chavez to keep trying for the release of more hostages. RECENT DEFEATS Chavez leads a growing group of leftist presidents in Latin America but his reputation had been hit by a string of recent problems in Venezuela and abroad. He squabbled repeatedly with Colombia's conservative President Alvaro Uribe over the hostage talks and with Spain's King Juan Carlos, who told him to "shut up" at a summit meeting in November. The biggest blow came at home, when voters last month rejected a series of reforms that would have allowed Chavez to run for reelection indefinitely and given him broad powers to push ahead with his declared socialist revolution. A brash former paratrooper who led a failed coup in 1992 but won power at the ballot box six years later, Chavez had hoped to lead Venezuela for decades to come. Delivering a breakthrough in Colombia's hostage crisis repairs some of that damage. It vindicates Chavez's efforts and could put pressure on Uribe to break a deadlock and start talks to swap dozens more hostages for rebels locked in government prisons. French-Colombian politician Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors are among about 40 high-profile hostages who could be freed under any broader deal. Betancourt's release is a priority for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who thanked Chavez for his efforts. (Editing by Saul Hudson and Kieran Murray)
Yolanda Pulecio (C), mother of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt who was kidnapped by FARC rebels, and Bogota's mayor Samuel Moreno (R) attend a protest in favor of a humanitarian ...
