CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged Colombia's leftist rebels Saturday to free all civilians hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
Speaking at a Caracas gathering that included Betancourt's mother, Yolanda Pulecio, Chavez directed his comments to the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, saying holding people who have nothing to do with the rebels' war against the Colombian government "doesn't make sense."
"If I were a guerrilla, I wouldn't have the need to hold a woman, a man who aren't soldiers," Chavez said in the televised speech. "First, free the civilians who don't have anything to do with the war. I don't agree with that."
Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen, was campaigning for Colombia's presidency when she was kidnapped more than six years ago. Last week, the French government sent a humanitarian mission to Colombia to give medical aid and seek her freedom — only to be turned away by the rebels.
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