(Recasts with Colombian government statement) By Patrick Markey BOGOTA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Colombia said on Thursday military intelligence had pinpointed the location of four hostages soon to be freed by FARC guerrillas and demanded rebels release them quickly because of one captive's health. The FARC said earlier this month they planned to hand over three hostages to leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has led mediation efforts but angered Bogota and Washington by showing political support for the Marxist rebels. Colombia's announcement came after President Alvaro Uribe met with the French foreign minister for talks on hostages, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate held for six years by the FARC. "We have done everything we can to facilitate these unilateral and unconditional releases and we urge that the release be speeded up," Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said in a statement. The FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- is holding dozens of hostages it wants to swap for rebels in jails. Key captives include Betancourt and three American contractors snatched five years ago on a counter-drug mission. So far attempts to start talks on a broad hostage swap have failed, but the FARC this year released two hostages and fueled hopes for an agreement with the guerrillas. Santos said he had intelligence on the whereabouts of former lawmakers Gloria Polanco, Orlando Beltran and Luis Eladio Perez, and a fourth hostage, Jorge Gechem, whose family says is about to be freed due to his poor condition. Started as a peasant army fighting for socialism in the 1960s, the FARC has been weakened by Uribe's U.S.-backed security drive and violence from the conflict has waned. INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS Uribe has welcomed international efforts for negotiations, but the strong U.S. ally is popular at home for his hard-line stance against the FARC, who are labeled drug-trafficking terrorists by Washington and Europe. After a brief meeting earlier with Uribe in Bogota, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could join attempts by France, Switzerland and Spain to broker a hostage exchange deal. "Both President Uribe and President Sarkozy have excellent relations with Lula and they have talked about collaboration and a path they both could take toward freeing the hostages," he said. Betancourt, a former lawmaker with dual nationality, was caught by the FARC on a remote rural road in February 2002 as she campaigned for the presidency. Recent rebel videos show her looking thin and despondent in a jungle camp. Chavez won praise for brokering the release of two hostages in January, but he angered Bogota by demanding the FARC get political recognition. Colombia initially invited him to help as a negotiator, but ended his formal participation after charging him with favoring the guerrillas. Colombian Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo on Thursday said the FARC were seeking to pressure Uribe through slow releases and try to bring Chavez back into negotiations. Attempts to broker a broader hostage deal have been stalled over a rebel demand Uribe demilitarize an area the size of New York City to facilitate a hand over. But Uribe says that would allow the FARC to regroup and offers a smaller safe haven under international observation.
France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (R), accompanied by Colombia's high peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, talks to reporters during a news conference at the presidential palace in Bogota February 21, 2008. ...
