EL UNIVERSAL

President Hugo Chávez Tuesday asked Colombia to be patient regarding his mediation efforts for the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) to release a group of 49 hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen and former Colombian presidential candidate.

Chávez met Tuesday in Paris with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and both addressed the issue of the hostages held by the guerrilla group, Reuters reported.

Further, the Venezuelan ruler replied to Colombian President Álvaro Uribe who set next December 31 as the deadline to achieve the humanitarian swap.

"I have to talk to Uribe to clarify this issue and ratify that we all need to be patient," Chávez told reporters following his meeting with the French President.

"The (Colombian) High Commissioner for Peace has been trying to make it for five years. In only three months, we have made achievements that were not made in five years. Therefore, we will have to be patient," Chávez said, in a reference to the work of Luis Carlos Restrepo.

During his news conference, Chávez branded as "weird" a communiqué Restrepo read on Monday setting a deadline for the Venezuelan ruler's mediation in the humanitarian swap.

The Venezuelan head of State said, "the condition that all of the hostages were released" was never mentioned.

According to Chávez, the agreement involved the guerrilla group to release a first group of hostages as "a gesture of goodwill." Then Chávez was expected to launch talks in Caguán.

Chávez added he had forwarded this message to FARC leader Manuel Marulanda.

"Knowing that President Uribe is willing to go Caguán and talk is very important, as it shows the Colombian ruler's goodwill."

"I interpreted that Uribe was ready to go to Caguán, but it is up to him to clarify this."

Chávez asked the Colombian President to let him meet with Marulanda, as "that is the key for the release" of hostages.

Chávez believes that one the elements preventing peace in Colombia is the role of the United States in that country.

Chávez assured President Sarkozy that Betancourt is alive and he will be able to produce the relevant evidence, DPA reported.

"Ingrid is alive, I am absolutely positive," he said. The Venezuelan ruler said the release of the hostages was "imminent."

Regarding a referendum next December 2 on his proposed changes to the Constitution, Chávez claimed a number of biased opinion polls have been published suggesting that his initiative would be rejected. He stressed that his proposal would be approved in the vote.

When asked about student protests rebutting the constitutional reform, Chávez said the demonstrations were staged "by a group of rich children."

Traslated by Maryflor Suárez
msuarez@eluniversal.com