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Colombian clergy 'contact' Farc Print E-mail
Written by BBC News   
Monday, 21 January 2008
Roman Catholic leader Monsignor Luis Augusto Castro said the Church was in discreet contact with the rebels in a bid to secure a Red Cross visit.

It is hoped that the Red Cross will be allowed to see more than 40 high-profile hostages in the jungle.

The Farc released two of their captives last week.

One of those released, former MP Consuelo Gonzalez, brought letters from some of the hostages she left behind, which revealed the extent of their mental and physical suffering.

Col Luis Mendieta, a police officer, was abducted nine years ago. His wife received her first letter from him in five years, in which he described being laid so low by tropical diseases that he crawled on his hands and knees for about five weeks.

"I've been crying so much, my eyes are inflamed," Maria Teresa Mendieta told the Associated Press on Wednesday in her Bogota apartment.

Spat with Venezuela

In another development, Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo launched an attack on President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who helped secure the release of the two hostages last week.

He accused Mr Chavez of mistreating the Colombian authorities and people, and called for him to have respect.

Mr Chavez, he said, "confuses cooperation with meddling, just as he confused mediation with taking sides".

The Venezuelan president earlier made a speech in Nicaragua in which he accused Colombian and US officials of conspiring against him.

"In Bogota, there are American officials and Colombian military officials conspiring against Venezuela, conspiring to kill me, conspiring to start an armed conflict between Colombia and Venezuela," he said.

Last week Bogota protested when Mr Chavez called for the Farc and fellow leftist group the ELN to be removed from lists of terrorist groups.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 20 January 2008 )